Help - tell me about my Centaura neck join

[RevMatt]

Hi all

New here and wanting to get your expert opinion on my 1990 USA Centaura.

I bought this recently and noticed the neck joint felt a little rough under my hand - I noticed that where the bass and treble side horns curve round to join the neck, they appear to have 'lost' the tiny sliver of wood that smooths out the curve to join the neck. The guitar was refinished some time in the past so my suspicion was that the chipped off bits of wood had been neatly rounded off prior to the refinish.

However, I was browsing pictures of Centauras on the web and noticed that other examples look to have very similar shaping, so wondered if my suspicions were completely wrong and this is in fact just the way they're made.

Opinions on this would be much appreciated.

While I'm at it, can you confirm what kind of control knobs this should have (metal knurled type)? Mine has tophats finished in blue that perfectly matches the colour of the guitar, but look a bit rubbish so I'll probably replace them.

[zenmindbeginner]

When finishing a guitar, some guys don't put a finish on the neck pocket where the wood meets the neck. The Centauras all had those tiny little sort of "sculpted shelf" areas you are referring to and they can have finish like they came from the factory or they might not have any since one wouldn't notice that that area isn't covered by the neck unless they looked REALLY closely.

And sometimes necks are shimmed... sometimes they are even sanded to get a better angle due to wood expansion/contraction/humidification/dehumidification throughout the years. I think my Centuara's neck had a shim in it when I took a look at it last (why don't I make notes of this stuff?!?!?WTF?)

You put whatever knobs you want on... metal knurled DOME knobs do look best though. What I would do is get metal knurled knobs that match your hardware color and choose an acrylic cap that matches the color of the finish job

[Bennyboy-UK]

I watched this one come up a couple of times on eBay, but ended up not bidding. Hope you got a great deal!

I'll go and check my centaura neck joints tomorrow, and let you know what they look like compared to the above.

...welcome BTW!

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

How much did you pay for it? Also, black knurled knobs are default on these with a grub screw...

[RevMatt]

Thanks for all the replies - sounds like the neck joint is all ok from what you say.

It's a great guitar with a superb neck.

I think it was a good deal: I paid £380 delivered but it came an MXR pedal so having sold that it actually only cost £340.

I've removed the aftermarket neck pup which was white and an waiting for a Dimarzio Pro Track in black to arrive. Ill also get some black knurled knobs to put on at which point it should require no further changes...

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

That's a great price! I sold my 91 Cent for £325 in the UK and my 88 Cali for £525 (I wish I'd never sold the Cali but I needed the money to pay the deposit on a house move unfortunately). I'd get another of either model at the right price again

[Bennyboy-UK]

Great deal fella, I'm a big centaura fan now, having had Cali Blindness.

Looking at the price list for 199x they were actually pretty close to the top of the price list for bolt on rockers.

...add options for extra expenditure!

[Bennyboy-UK]

Here, 1993...

[Jem]

That was the list Benner but they were discounted to fuck after a time, just too expensive compared to everything else, I mean the Diablo was half the price FFS !

[Jem]

Double post !

[Bennyboy-UK]

Shhh don't tell anyone they got discounted!

Im trying to get the value up on mine

[RevMatt]

Thanks for all the info. I've had the guitar a few weeks now, but have made some changes (improvements) so thought I'd share some pictures.

I've replaced the blue knobs / switch tip with black, and the white SD Lil59 that was in the neck has been replaced by a Dimarzio Pro Track. Not only does it look better, but with a bit of a set up and the new pup in place, it now plays and sounds even better too!

Here's how it looked when I bought it:

Here's how it looks now:

[Bennyboy-UK]

Yeah that's the ticket.

Dibs BTW

[RevMatt]

Dibs BTW

Cheeky....!

But, I kind of have a saying - everything's for sale for a price. So if you're serious, feel free to make an offer.