The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Final report. Wow!

I thought a strat had a wide tonal range for it's class but the bridge switch opens up new possiblities. Two new tones with it. Bridge and neck together or all three together. If it grows on me I may mod a real strat this way. This one has a squirmy neck probably because of the cheap wood used. It is REALLY brittle! Chips came out when I removed the old ferrules even though I was using a soldering gun to heat them up in case they were glued and so they would release from the finish. The locking tuners aren't the best so If I mod a real strat I'm using Sperzels and nothing else. Not bad for $185 out of pocket.

The Wilkinson pickups sound GREAT! I'd wager they're close to Fender Texas Specials.



Really brittle cheap wood!

Good to know about the wiring but man, those wood chunks are scary!

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Trevor Wilkinson.
I have 4 Vintage brand instruments, all terrific players with great sounding pups, plus I replaced some wimpy UBC's in a Westone Spectrum with couple of his Alnico 5 humbuckers.

And I have installed his half-tele (GE Smith inspired) bridges on a Danelectro and a Squier Bullet Mustang. Great hardware.

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I'm a big fan of Wilkinson as well.
I have one of the recent Fender Vintera Series 60's modified strats that I have uh, modified further. . .
It came with the push button in the vol knob (S1?) that adds the neck pickup in positions 1 and 2. So, it adds the "bridge/neck" and "all 3" options.
Versatility.

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I didn't realize Fender did something like that. I just did it on a whim. I wanted that annoying volume knob moved and figured that would work well to fill the hole. I do like the two new tones possible. Lots of bell tones.

After multiple adjustments with saddle height, truss tension, and even spot levels I've pretty much thrown in the towel. The frets were already chewed up in places so I suspect the PO tried the same thing. The wood the neck is made of is nowhere near dense enough. It squirms all over the place.

More tension and there is a hump on the treble side, less tension and the bottom side action is up in the air. I have a choice, fret buzz on the high strings or fret buzz on the lower strings. The wood is very brittle and flexible. Had it been Korean instead of Indonesian I probably wouldn't have these problems unless it had the infamous 3rd fret scarf joint. At least it served a purpose and let me decide if I wanted a strat in the stable.

Hmm, I might have a line on a Mat Vantage strat neck.

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That would be great!

I plan to tear it down and get rough measurements probably early next week.

Oh yeah, forgot about that S-1 thingy of Fender's, came across a few when I worked at the guitar shop.

For the life of me, though, keeping track of all the options is hard on my 'ole grey matter. Great to mess about with or record, but live on stage it could get scary keeping track of where you are methinks.

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It is roughly 458mm from the nut to the center of the 21st fret. It is 467mm from the nut to the but end of the neck. There is no fingerboard overlap.

Looks to be pretty much Fender standard.

Got some pics.

First back of the heel.
Second side of the heel.
Third top down angle.

This neck weighs only 10.8 oz! I think the idiots used balsa wood for the neck.

I was looking at Squire Affinity necks and seems like folks want half of what a new Affinity would cost and then I have to wonder why they are selling the necks.

I found a site that has Fender licensed replacements for $90. Stewmac and Allparts want WAY too much for their necks and they aren't licensed.

https://www.bitterrootguitars.com/Produ ... TkQAvD_BwE

I have a Squier 21 fret neck but its gonna need some fret work. It appears someone may have laid it against something or laid something on it and pressed the strings into the frets in a few places. I put it on a Squier body to test and it seems to be ok other than that. It also has the stock tuners. It's yours if you want it.

That 60's modified Vintera Series I told you about originally comes with a 21 fret neck but I bought just the loaded body. I bought a 22 fret Fender replacement neck (roasted maple) and it fits like it was made for it.

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