EXPERT Squire DIY Help Much Needed~~

[ksl]

Hi all..... I've begun my first DIY & badly need help before ordering a neck. The body, according to the seller, is an Affinity, comes with stock trem assembly, but my own pickguard & all black hardware except for neck & nut. Neck will (hopefully) be ebony on maple with 6130 frets, 22 fret (with overhang), 25 1/2", not sure about the radius yet...i'd like it to be much like my prized 60's neck pictured....any guesses on my radius I have there? Is the anything I need to be careful of before I spring a few bills for a nice neck & have it professionally installed? I'll surely wait until the body gets here & measure the pocket & go from there. Anything else to concern myself with? Thanks in advance, folks~~

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[Phil O'Keefe]

Your vintage neck almost certainly has a 7.25" fingerboard radius. It wasn't until much later that Fender started using anything else on any of their Strats.

 

My only advice would be... are you SURE you want to put a really nice, custom-made neck on an Affinity body?

 

 

[ksl]

Yeah, the neck, which will definitely be a keeper, & all the

hardware will make its way to new body if the Affinity fails. But no other measurements to be careful of when building the neck, besides the pocket & placement of the neck, which I dare not do myself?

Thanks.

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[jtr654]

Buy another guitar the Affinity and its hardware are junk. The new neck + hardware will be big $$$.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Yeah, the neck, which will definitely be a keeper, & all the

hardware will make its way to new body if the Affinity fails. But no other measurements to be careful of when building the neck, besides the pocket & placement of the neck, which I dare not do myself?

Thanks.

🕉

 

If it’s built to Fender specs, it should just bolt right on.

 

[badpenguin]

What Phil hinted at. Get a REAL body for such a nice neck.

This reminds me of a little story. What do you get when you add a spoon full of wine to a bottle of sewer water? A bottle of sewer water.

What do you get when you add a spoonful of sewer water to a bottle of wine? A bottle of sewer water.

 

You're spending that kind of cash on a REALLY nice neck, spend some extra cash, and get a NICE body, and hardware too. Why waste it on a Squier body?

[Freeman Keller]

You can buy a nice MIC neck for a hundred or so dollars. A good tech would probably charge you two or three hours of labor to install it - it will need fret work and all the details of a good setup. Figure that at whatever rate your tech charges.

 

For a custom neck to your specs plan on spending 4 or 5 hundred dollars, particularly with the ebony board. In fact you can get a pretty good idea by running the custom neck builder wizard at Warmoth

 

https://www.warmoth.com/Pages/CustomNeck.aspx

 

Again, figure 2 or 3 hours to install and set it up. Now decide what kind of body, finish, pups, electronics... you want that neck on.

 

I also build custom necks, but then I put them on custom guitars.

[ksl]

I couldn't agree with you all more. For what I want, Warmoth was 400+ minimum. Best Guitar Parts is mid 2's for exactly what I want. Hardware was 80ish & body 50. As soon as the right color 'road worn' body comes around, I'll jump.

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[gardo]

The neck is where it happens for sue but it seems like the body is is just an afterthought

I have an affinity Tele and would not use the body for a serous build . The body is made thinner and just doesn’t feel right

[Freeman Keller]

I couldn't agree with you all more. For what I want, Warmoth was 400+ minimum. Best Guitar Parts is mid 2's for exactly what I want. Hardware was 80ish & body 50. As soon as the right color 'road worn' body comes around, I'll jump.

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I have no experience with the Best Guitar necks - it will be interesting to see what yours is. Like Warmoth they are made in the old US of A. The one I looked at was not finished, you'll have to add that to the cost of installing (or do it yourself). They have both 21 and 22 fret necks - remember that tele and strat neck pockets are slightly different. Definitely plan on fretwork - every aftermarket neck I've ever seen has needed some work.

[mikesr1963]

Wow.  I love Squiers and have several.  I have a couple Affinity's too and while the body is Alder like their more expensive brethren I don't think I'd drop $400 plus on a neck.  Affinity necks can be made to feel and play great with a little work like highly polishing the frets and rounded the edges of the neck to give it a more worn in feel.  The headstock can be clear coated and polished out to a high gloss.  Things that are quite easy and cheap to do yourself that you really play for on more expensive guitars and/or necks.