Fractal Talk

I just slow buy the parts on the used market for the most part. And then usually just order the neck from Warmoth because that's where I get really picky.
I've been getting my necks on the used market as well.

For my two builds I decided to get genuine Fender necks. I loved the necks on my American Elite Stratocaster and Telecaster so I picked up one of each and installed them on my Pawnshop Offset Special and '93 MIJ '52 Reissue Telecaster.

The necks came with locking tuners that are incredibly smooth, ebony boards, medium jumbo frets, 9.5-14" compound radius necks with a C to D carve, and a truss rod adjustment wheel at the heel of the neck making adjustments much easier. They make my partscasters play like boutique instruments costing thousands more now.

While harder to find now they do come up for sale on occasion with maple board versions more common. A saved search on eBay should yield results within a month. I got mine for less than $500 with tuners but they are commonly in the $600 range without tuners now.

One nice aesthetic plus is that they have the Fender logo on the headstock and I don't have to deal with the moral quandary of putting a Fender decal on a non-Fender part. They turned out really well and I couldn't be happier with them.

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I should just start wiring you money every month, shouldn’t I? That’s a niiiiiiice neck.
Lol. Thanks. I love Warmoth. I've never gotten anything from them I thought was less than excellent. And I love how I can pick about anything I want. That one has SS frets and glowy side dots. And I absolutely adore the standard thing profile. I get that every time.
 
Just got this one in a few days ago. It's a vintage-spec boatneck profile. 6150 nickel frets, 71/4" radius. I usually troll the showcase and look for ones with the straightest grain possible. The boatneck profile is kind of huge though. I'm batting around the idea of tapering the profile down a bit so it's closer to .9 by the nut. It's just flat out 1" all the way right now.

BoatNeckFront.jpg


BoatNeckBack.jpg


-Aaron
 
Did I mention I ordered a VP4?

Here's how it went down...

I asked a question about a reverb pedal and Cliff was like, "Don't be silly. Get a VP4." And then @iaresee was like, "yeah, don't be dumb, get a VP4." And then JT was like, "get a VP4, dumbass."

And I was like, "okay." 🤷🏾‍♂️

This story is only almost true.
Do I have to get a VP4 now? I bought a Strymon Ultraviolet yesterday and now I feel really stupid.

It looks like I need to rethink everything, sell all of my damn pedals and get honest with Jesus.

AxeFXIII, FM3 and now this? Dang it. I will say this and to me it was eye opening. I bought a “lowly” Hotone Ampero II Stage and it so stoopid easy to use without a laptop that I have seen the future for me. Now I just need Fractal to offer up a flagship with a touch screen or Boss to release a GX-1000 and I would be cooking. I’d prefer the Fractal but I think Boss has the head start with the GX-100 which I tried. The latter looks perfect in a lot ways… on paper and in-person. I’d just like Boss to get their amps a whole lot closer to Cliff’s.
 
Just got this one in a few days ago. It's a vintage-spec boatneck profile. 6150 nickel frets, 71/4" radius. I usually troll the showcase and look for ones with the straightest grain possible. The boatneck profile is kind of huge though. I'm batting around the idea of tapering the profile down a bit so it's closer to .9 by the nut. It's just flat out 1" all the way right now.

View attachment 36103

View attachment 36104

-Aaron

If ya haven't played a guitar with a 1"-1" neck yet, I'd suggest giving it a shot before tapering it. I got my AllParts neck (same size) with the intent to shave it down, but after playing it for an hour I was in love with it and it's definitely changed my perspective on the whole neck thing. Every neck I go for in the future will be of similar size.
 
That's hot!

Specs and price, please.
I can't find the price now 😞

But here are the specs

Tele neck
Telecaster® Replacement Guitar Neck

Construction - Modern

Shaft Wood - Roasted Flame Maple

Fretboard Wood - Roasted Flame Maple

Nut Width1-11/16" (43mm) - Modern Medium

Neck Back Profile - Wizard (I didn't remember this!)

Fretboard Radius - Straight 16"

Number of Frets - 22

Binding - None

Fret Size & Material - SS6100 - Jumbo (Stainless)

Tuner Hole Size - Schaller/Modern Fender/Sperzel (25/64")

Inlay Shape - Standard Dots

Inlay Material - Black

Side Dots - Moon Glow Side Dots (3mm)

String Nut - Standard Nut - GraphTech Black TUSQ XL

Mounting Holes - Standard 4-Bolt

Neck Heel Shape - Tele® Shape

Finish - None
 
If ya haven't played a guitar with a 1"-1" neck yet, I'd suggest giving it a shot before tapering it. I got my AllParts neck (same size) with the intent to shave it down, but after playing it for an hour I was in love with it and it's definitely changed my perspective on the whole neck thing. Every neck I go for in the future will be of similar size.
Is this size considered “fat” or thin or what? What classic neck would be in the same ballpark?

I like a little beef on my neck personally. I have one gtr nicknamed “Fat Boy”. It’s an ESP LTD Alex Skolnic Sig Les Paul. It has the thickest neck in my harem. I got really lucky and bought one just after they came out. I suppose the QC was really tight then because it easily hangs with my other ESP E-II’s (MIJ) as well as my singular American Gibson (AJ model). The thickness is something that surprised me and it definitely felt and played different.

But once you embrace it and adapt, having a 2X4 under your fingers is pretty incredible. Kind of like what a 4X12 brings to the table for cabs. And sustain off of Fat Boy? Incredible. It is my heaviest guitar too though… by far. Below on the left.
IMG_0050.jpeg
 
Is this size considered “fat” or thin or what? What classic neck would be in the same ballpark?

I like a little beef on my neck personally. I have one gtr nicknamed “Fat Boy”. It’s an ESP LTD Alex Skolnic Sig Les Paul. It has the thickest neck in my harem. I got really lucky and bought one just after they came out. I suppose the QC was really tight then because it easily hangs with my other ESP E-II’s (MIJ) as well as my singular American Gibson (AJ model). The thickness is something that surprised me and it definitely felt and played different.

But once you embrace it and adapt, having a 2X4 under your fingers is pretty incredible. Kind of like what a 4X12 brings to the table for cabs. And sustain off of Fat Boy? Incredible. It is my heaviest guitar too though… by far. Below on the left.View attachment 36109

These would definitely be fat necks, profile is a C shape on my Strat. The closest to any guitar I've ever played to are Strats from the first couple years, '54-'55. I don't know if they were 1", (@Eagle what's the average size of a '54 neck?) but the first time I ever played one I chuckled and thought it was swollen from water damage, then I played a few more and realized they were all pretty damn big.

The EJ Strat had a decent sized neck on it and I believe the Kotzen Tele/Strats have 1" necks, but I could be wrong.

I can't wait to get my hands on a LP with a fatass neck!
 
These would definitely be fat necks, profile is a C shape on my Strat. The closest to any guitar I've ever played to are Strats from the first couple years, '54-'55. I don't know if they were 1", (@Eagle what's the average size of a '54 neck?) but the first time I ever played one I chuckled and thought it was swollen from water damage, then I played a few more and realized they were all pretty damn big.

The EJ Strat had a decent sized neck on it and I believe the Kotzen Tele/Strats have 1" necks, but I could be wrong.

I can't wait to get my hands on a LP with a fatass neck!
The EJ is ball park right for a 54.
 
If ya haven't played a guitar with a 1"-1" neck yet, I'd suggest giving it a shot before tapering it. I got my AllParts neck (same size) with the intent to shave it down, but after playing it for an hour I was in love with it and it's definitely changed my perspective on the whole neck thing. Every neck I go for in the future will be of similar size.
Yeah. I'm going to get a finish and tuners on it and dress the frets and play it for a bit first. I did have a similar neck a long, long time ago that I didn't quite bond with, but I'm not sure if the nut width was the same. This is 1 5/8" so it might be more comfortable to me. I'm also a bit more used to bigger necks now.

-Aaron
 
Just thinking about something with the Fractal gear, and please correct me if I'm wrong:

On a real amp with an effects loop, when you place an effect in that loop, it is effectively being placed between the preamp and poweramp portions of the circuit, right?

But with the Axe III/FM3/9, you essentially can't do that, right, because Cliff doesn't separate those 2 parts of the models.

Does this change the way things sound, being able to do it IRL slightly different than in the modelling environment?
 
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