Pre CBS Fender strat neck !!! restoration ??

[jaberwock]

I found this locally ( Taiwan ) it belongs to an old guy who busked Taiwanese " cha cha cha " songs in the park

opposite my house, whose music career has been sadly, curtailed by arthritis; he said he bought it from an American service man back in the seventies, and was part of a trashed guitar ( he also said he has some other parts salvaged from that guitar somewhere in his house ) He kindly let me photograph it.

The finger board has been replaced with a bound ebony, one with jumbo frets at some point,

: the neck is straight, with no breaks, or cracks, and plays well; there is no date stamp on the heel of the neck, and the back of the neck appears to have been refinished in a non nitro finish

:the neck plate ( with original screws ) reads 74099 and appears to be genuine, as do the Kluson tuners; if this is the real deal this would hark from 1962 !!!

Having owned a 1964 Strat this under very close scrutiny to appears to be genuine.

Questions:

Would it be feasible to replace the finger board with out affecting the finish ?

Along with some other original pieces would it make the basis of a good restoration project, ie new, vintage correct body, pickups etc

Thanks Jaberwock I'm not sure if the images have attached, so I'll post them again.

If the above are good to go, any idea of what would be a fair price for the neck, neck plate, and screws ?

[jaberwock]

More pics

[Armitage]

Why replace the finger board? What's wrong with it?

[jaberwock]

Why replace the finger board? What's wrong with it?

I would like to make it looks as close as possible to an original; that would mean a slab rosewood fingerboard.

Is Brazilian rosewood, if available, prohibitively expensive these days ?

Jaberwock

[BCR Greg]

That's bound rosewood, and it may be original.

Send me more pics.

[jaberwock]

That's bound rosewood, and it may be original.

Send me more pics.

It is ebony, although it may look like rosewood in the picture; it is black, not dyed, and has a very smooth, tight grain structure.

Thanks Jaberwock

Another picture.

[cmatthes]

Definitely not original, but cool!

Fender didn't cap the fret ends on their bound necks.

Whoever did the work did a nice job though!

[jaberwock]

Definitely not original, but cool!

Fender didn't cap the fret ends on their bound necks.

Whoever did the work did a nice job though!

The brass nut, and jumbo frets would look to be very "eighties"; I totally agree it's not original.

I would love to use this as the basis of a slab rosewood, sunburst, 1962 Strat, so whilst I realise it would be a waste to remove what was obviously a quality repair, I would like it to look as period correct as possible.

Got to love the colour, and patina on the headstock though; none of the reissues, or relics come anywhere close.

Jaberwock

[Steve Haynie]

Leave it alone and try it on a body. There may be a vibe to that neck you do not want to lose in an attempted restoration.

[murkat]

that is an excellent job who ever did that, mucho mojo there. I would not mess with, put it on a guitar and enjoy the personality of it, or sell to me

as is.

[jaberwock]

I have to agree the replacement board was a nice job; would it be possible to replace the binding with something to match the colour of the fingerboard ?

The neck was mounted on a "Jedson" Strat copy of very dubious quality; I cleaned it up, set the action, and intonation, and slapped some new strings on it before I gave it back to the old guy. The neck plays well, but it's very difficult to gauge it's sonic vibe given the horrendous, pickups, and generally sh#t components on the guitar. I don't have a Strat at present, been playing mainly Tele's for the last ten years.

The old fellow mean while has dug out two potentiometers (one with original capacitor ), three control knobs, a jack plate and socket, and two strap buttons which he salvaged from the original guitar. I checked out the potentiometer prices on ebay and was stunned to find that they want 180 dollars for one !!! that is insane.

Thanks for all your advice Jaberwock