The neck IS the guitar.
The quality and characteristics of the piece of hard rock maple and the piece of rosewood for the fingerboard are the most important factors that will determine the sustain, acoustic volume, stability of the neck, the tone and richness of the sound you get from the guitar.
There are no two necks anywhere that sound "identical" because there are no 2 pieces of wood that are identical - that is a fact of life - we have made 3 necks from the same block of maple - from the same tree - used fingerboards cut from the same block of rosewood and all three necks sounded (and weighed) different even though they were the same size and profile. The weight of these necks varied as much as 100 grams even though they were identical in size and profile - but wood density varies throughout a tree not just from tree to tree - this effects sound and response.
We select the wood for the neck fastidiously - if it is not very resonant and stable - it does not get used.
WOOD PREPARATION
The hard rock maple blocks I start with are 35mm thick
(1.40 inches) - I thickness them to 29mm (1.15 inches) then the blocks are left for at least 2 years before being thicknessed down again to 26.5mm (1.05 inches) - then left again for 2 months more so I can observe if they move or bend - then if all is still straight they get thicknessed down to 24.3mm (0.95 inches) - cut and routed to shape and the instal the truss rod and glue fingerboard.
We can identify how a neck will sound in terms of resonance and sustain before cutting the shape from the block of maple - the same principle applies to the rosewood - and to the body for that matter. Additionally, there are flaws in the original design of the necks that we can improve invisibly. We discuss these aspects with each customer individually. Just one of our secrets !
NECK PROFILE - one thing you cannot choose if you buy an original PRE CBS guitar is the shape and width of the neck. They did vary considerably but imagine trying to find a vintage strat of the year you want, in the colour you want with the exact neck shape you want and which weighs what you want !
HEADSTOCK SHAPE - We have seen at least 4 slightly different headstock shapes that appear at random from as early as 1956. The main difference is the angle of the headstock near the 6th string tuner. This was probably due to variances in the original factory templates that were in use at the same time.The rest of the headstock varies in size slightly from guitar to guitar - probably a result of final sanding by hand.
We like to think of it is as if you worked at the original factory back in the 1950´s and 60´s and were friendly enough with the neck shapers and could tell them to make the neck just as you wanted, contour the body
to your taste and to some extent choose the actual bits of wood and weight and characteristics
of the guitar.
The physical look of every detail of the woodwork inside and out on both bodies and necks are 100% consistent
with genuine original guitars - even if you choose a neck
profile specific to your hands you could still find a genuine neck that would be virtually identical - the original necks varied considerably.
We shape our necks individually for the customer in order to give them a perfectly vintage looking neck but personalised to the shape and size of each guitarist´s hand and to make the neck as comfortable and responsive as possible for their technique and style. You can choose any radius - although to be vintage accurate it would start out at 7.25 inches then be reradiused to what you want so the guitar looks like an original guitar that has been professionally reradiused during a refret.
You can therefore choose any fret size, nut and neck width within vintage specifications. We discuss all this with you.
There is a photo that shows how we make the clay dots out of the correct original material that was used from 1959 to 1964 - white vulcanised fibre board.
Only a guitar made to measure can offer this.
NECK POCKET FIT - Please see photos and text below.
Many original guitars had sloppy and imprecise neck to neck pocket fits - but not all - my necks fit very precisely
into the neck pocket of my bodies and the customer can choose how precise or "vintage sloppy" it looks - but you do not have to have an imprecise fit just to be vintage correct.
WEIGHT GUIDE
The finished weight of identical size and profiled necks
varies.
NECKS - 0.46 to 0.62 kilos including frets.
FINGERBOARD DOTS - 1/4 inch diameter.
12th Fret dot spacing varies depending on year.
SIDE DOTS - 3/32 diameter vulcanised fibre - same as the face dots.
12th fret dot spacing on side dots varies on original guitars from day to day !
Please see following photos - both necks are genuine original necks - both dated MAY 63. I have recorded 4 different spacings on original guitars.