October 01, 2007

I bought a 60th Anniversary Fender Stratocaster Neck

This was intended for modding my SX Stratocaster copy (SST 62). However, it didn't fit on the SX so I put it on my Deluxe Players Fender Strat - and I'm very happy with the results!

I do like the stock Deluxe Players neck, in fact it is gorgeous and it looks like a bit more solid quality than this 60th Anniversary neck. However, the difference is the radius. This new neck is 9.5 inches, while the Deluxe Players is 12 inch which is a little fatter and chunkier for the hand. I have kind of weak hands, so I want to play a 9.5 inch radius neck for a while to see what I like best.

Here's what it looks like on my blue Deluxe Players Strat:

The 60th Anniversary neck is maple, and so is the fretboard. The 60th Anniversary Strat was made in Mexico during 2006, and I have actually played one of these guitars recently. It's very nice for a MIM strat. It's very easy to play and bend the strings. The wood on mine is unfinished, so I am contemplating adding a few coatings of Tru-oil, which works great for treating guitar necks.

My neck is almost new. It was played very sparsely by a friend of mine. He didn't need it, so I figured I'll help both him and myself by buying it off him. The frets are medium jumbo but they don't seem to quite as nice as the frets on my Deluxe Players. Still, they are fine enough for me.

The nut has been upgraded with a Tusq nut, which is great. These nuts I really like. They help with getting a good tone. They are hard, like real ivory, but they are made of what they call "Man Made Ivory", whatever that means. I guess we can call it fake, but that doesn't mean they are not good.

My SX copy already has a Fender Custom Shop '54 pickups in it, so with this neck it's almost a Fender! Maybe I'll call it "Robert Renman Custom Shop" - heh...

By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com

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Posted by Robert Renman on October 01, 2007