Fender replacement necks - any alternatives?

[DF Shortscale]

I’m looking for a replacement jazz neck for a USA Fender, and wondering if the necks available directly from Fender are any better than the alternatives that are available online (from places like Northwest Guitars etc). 

 

The replacement necks Fender sells are all made in Mexico, and I’m not sure how those compare to the necks on their USA basses - I’m guessing they’re the same but I don’t know what makes the necks on USA basses more ‘special’. Their prices are between £250-350, and they’ll need some fretwork and nut filing etc. Elsewhere, seemingly similar necks without the F logo are maybe £100 less than that. 

 

So let’s say you had a really great USA Fender, and you wanted the best possible replacement neck for it - what would you go for?

[Doctor J]

Warmoth, in my experience, make better necks than Fender USA, never mind Mexico. They're expensive but for very good reason.

[Hellzero]

44 minutes ago, DF Shortscale said:

what would you go for?

A luthier.

[DF Shortscale]

Hmm maybe I should add that the cost should be vaguely realistic (let's say up to £350ish?) and the neck should be available somewhere within reasonable shipping distance to the UK..

[Delberthot]

Fender do sell replacement US made necks but the MIM ones are more common. There are some available here:

 

https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/collections/fender-guitar-and-bass-replacement-necks?sort_by=price-ascending

 

You'll struggle to get a genuine US Fender neck for under £350 brand new when most of the MIM ones are around the £250-300 mark from previous experience.

[DF Shortscale]

1 hour ago, Delberthot said:

Fender do sell replacement US made necks but the MIM ones are more common. There are some available here:

 

https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/collections/fender-guitar-and-bass-replacement-necks?sort_by=price-ascending

 

You'll struggle to get a genuine US Fender neck for under £350 brand new when most of the MIM ones are around the £250-300 mark from previous experience.

 

Fair enough, looks like I’ll need to up my price. Maybe this is a supply problem too, most of that inventory says ‘no stock’. I’m guessing the issue with Fender’s site is similar, it looks like all they sell is mim necks but they’re more likely just out of stock on usa ones.  

 

In any case with 600 quid for a neck (especially once you include shipping and fretwork etc) it might be that buying a used usa fender starts to make more sense. 

[MichaelDean]

Shuker will do new necks starting at £400. Might be worth dropping them a line. 

 

https://shukerguitars.co.uk/our-work/draft-page/

[lonestar]

Not sure if they’re still around but I have a Mighty Mite fender licenced neck on my bitsa P bass. Lovely

[DF Shortscale]

Having looked around, AllParts seems to be my best bet, they’re MIJ necks from what I can tell. I trust MIJ a bit more than MIM. I’d potentially be willing to fork out the extra for a USA neck with the F on it, but there doesn’t seem to be a maple one for sale anywhere and I have no idea what the difference in quality is actually likely to be between that and one of their MIM necks. Too much of a crapshoot.

[Beedster]

In descending order of quality Warmoth, Musickraft, Allparts, Mighty Mite. All are IME better quality than Fender MIM replacements, of which I’ve owned two, one went back due to appalling fret work, the other I should also have sent back as it was not worth the cash by comparison even with Mighty Mite

[Doctor J]

Pick up a cheaper Warmoth neck here, ones that are already built. You get to choose fret size, too, among other options. US$210 plus about $100 shipping plus 25% import duty and VAT won't overly violate your budget.

 

https://warmoth.com/bass-necks/j-bass#instock

[Beedster]

If the seller accepts an offer of £350  - which is as high as I’d go - this is probably a good bet

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276710200264?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=NqxTaIutRdG&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=155UlNbXQGW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[OliverBlackman]

8 hours ago, Hellzero said:

A luthier.

Yep I was going to say if you could get one from the bass gallery (Sei) it’d far exceed anything Fender could produce.

[police squad]

I have a northwest neck on a bitsa, its very good, I also have a cheap chinese fretless neck that's good and a fretted one that looks ok but I havent fitted it yet

[Rosie C]

23 hours ago, DF Shortscale said:

I’m looking for a replacement jazz neck for a USA Fender, and wondering if the necks available directly from Fender are any better than the alternatives that are available online (from places like Northwest Guitars etc). 

 

I've nothing to compare with as I've only bought a Fender neck. But I liked it - I got a Fender pau ferro fretless jazz neck to convert my fretted Squier jazz bass. It wasn't just bolt on - the fretboard wood was somewhat unfinished, and the fret markings were slightly proud, so I had to spend some time sanding it smooth. Also the holes for the tuning machines were a size larger than the original, so there was some work there too.

 

Overall though, once the work was done I'm very pleased with it. 

 

 

[Chienmortbb]

Maybe give Crimson Guitars a shout. They used to do kits of the very highest quality and might just be able to help. As they build very high quality custom guitars. 

[DF Shortscale]

17 hours ago, Beedster said:

In descending order of quality Warmoth, Musickraft, Allparts, Mighty Mite. All are IME better quality than Fender MIM replacements, of which I’ve owned two, one went back due to appalling fret work, the other I should also have sent back as it was not worth the cash by comparison even with Mighty Mite

 

If you have a moment, would you mind expanding on this a little bit please? Wondering what makes let's say a Warmoth neck better than an Allparts neck. I'm guessing fit / finish will be ok with most of those brands, so does it come down to fretwork, weight, overall feel? Or how close it feels to the real thing? Or is it reliability / stability? One thing I really like about USA Fender necks is that (in my experience anyway) they tend to be very stable, I very rarely have to adjust any of my USA necks unless I'm changing string brands - once they're set, they're set. 

[Beedster]

Just now, DF Shortscale said:

 

If you have a moment, would you mind expanding on this a little bit please? Wondering what makes let's say a Warmoth neck better than an Allparts neck. I'm guessing fit / finish will be ok with most of those brands, so does it come down to fretwork, weight, overall feel? Or how close it feels to the real thing? Or is it reliability / stability? One thing I really like about USA Fender necks is that (in my experience anyway) they tend to be very stable, I very rarely have to adjust any of my USA necks unless I'm changing string brands - once they're set, they're set. 

With Warmoth and Musickraft I’d say everything is perfect off the shelf, but you pay for what you get. Allparts can be a little rough requiring further work to make perfect - in their defence they do say this at point of sale - while this is even more tje case with Mighty Mite.
 

I have owned some terrible necks, some by Fender USA and Mexico (although not Japan who seem more on top of QC). However I’ve never owned or even played a poor quality Warmoth neck, so they are my go to on all my Fender-style basses (I have three). The only better Fender-style necks in terms of quality and stability are Status and Modulus, but good luck finding either at the moment 🤔

[mybass]

Unfortunately ‘eastern’ necks are not to be trusted for 100% quality. As a ‘test’ project I bought one off EBay around £80 and it was absolute rubbish, good firewood though…(a double bass bow many years ago was already bent on arrival).  The Fender ones seem absurdly expensive from a U.K. shop mentioned earlier, you may as well buy a full Fender bass for the same price (and take the neck off and sell the rest on 🥴). I would think your Allparts supplier would do the job.

[Beedster]

21 minutes ago, Beedster said:

With Warmoth and Musickraft I’d say everything is perfect off the shelf, but you pay for what you get. Allparts can be a little rough requiring further work to make perfect - in their defence they do say this at point of sale - while this is even more tje case with Mighty Mite.
 

I have owned some terrible necks, some by Fender USA and Mexico (although not Japan who seem more on top of QC). However I’ve never owned or even played a poor quality Warmoth neck, so they are my go to on all my Fender-style basses (I have three). The only better Fender-style necks in terms of quality and stability are Status and Modulus, but good luck finding either at the moment 🤔

 

This is probably a bit anal, but I should add that I bought a new Allparts Precision neck in 2023 from the UK supplier. It came without a nut, and Allparts had no nuts to fit in stock. I tried sourcing the correct length, width,, depth, and base curvature of nut from other suppliers with no luck, or at least I bought a few and none fitted properly, so it was going to need to go to a luthier to have a custom nut cut, which was a bit crap, but potentially also meant that had there been any issues once the nut was fitted and the neck installed, Allparts could technically have refused to accept it as a return due to the length of time involved and the fact that their T&Cs require it to be returned unmodified. As I say, a bit anal of me to mention it, but it didn't feel like Allparts were really a quality retailer. I get the idea of selling necks without tuners, but selling necks without nuts - and without the option of adding one at point of purchase - seemed quite poor. Their Allparts customer service people were very professional about the return which was all done very quickly, but it did seem bit poor overall. 

[Rosie C]

39 minutes ago, mybass said:

The Fender ones seem absurdly expensive from a U.K. shop mentioned earlier, you may as well buy a full Fender bass for the same price (and take the neck off and sell the rest on 🥴).

 

That's a fair point. I bought mine during lockdown from Amazon USA and yes it was almost as much as my Squier had cost from my local guitar shop.

 

[DF Shortscale]

2 hours ago, Beedster said:

 

This is probably a bit anal, but I should add that I bought a new Allparts Precision neck in 2023 from the UK supplier. It came without a nut, and Allparts had no nuts to fit in stock. I tried sourcing the correct length, width,, depth, and base curvature of nut from other suppliers with no luck, or at least I bought a few and none fitted properly, so it was going to need to go to a luthier to have a custom nut cut, which was a bit crap, but potentially also meant that had there been any issues once the nut was fitted and the neck installed, Allparts could technically have refused to accept it as a return due to the length of time involved and the fact that their T&Cs require it to be returned unmodified. As I say, a bit anal of me to mention it, but it didn't feel like Allparts were really a quality retailer. I get the idea of selling necks without tuners, but selling necks without nuts - and without the option of adding one at point of purchase - seemed quite poor. Their Allparts customer service people were very professional about the return which was all done very quickly, but it did seem bit poor overall. 

 

Hmm yeah that does seem a little sketchy. I chucked in a couple of offers on that neck on eBay, both rejected so I'm guessing the seller is expecting to get close to asking price. I suppose it does come with tuners but it is quite a high price. I looked at Warmoth too but by the time you include frets, nut and finish it ends up being more like $370, and that's before tax and shipping. Allparts is coming out on top at £260, but I'll need to factor in a proper set-up / fret dressing etc. All in all, it's gonna end up costing roughly between £400 - £500 whichever way I look at it!

[Beedster]

8 minutes ago, DF Shortscale said:

 

Hmm yeah that does seem a little sketchy. I chucked in a couple of offers on that neck on eBay, both rejected so I'm guessing the seller is expecting to get close to asking price. I suppose it does come with tuners but it is quite a high price. I looked at Warmoth too but by the time you include frets, nut and finish it ends up being more like $370, and that's before tax and shipping. Allparts is coming out on top at £260, but I'll need to factor in a proper set-up / fret dressing etc. All in all, it's gonna end up costing roughly between £400 - £500 whichever way I look at it!

My advice….?

 

Be patient and wait, they do come up used on eBay and Reverb quite often, and if Allparts the neck will have been set up 👍

[Beedster]

Having said that I have a pretty decent maple board Mighty Mite Jazz neck albeit with a Fender Precision logo that I might move on. I just don’t get on with Jazz necks and I bought it in error as seller assumed logo and not nut width determine Prevision v Jazz 🤔

[DF Shortscale]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

Having said that I have a pretty decent maple board Mighty Mite Jazz neck albeit with a Fender Precision logo that I might move on. I just don’t get on with Jazz necks and I bought it in error as seller assumed logo and not nut width determine Prevision v Jazz 🤔

Cool, let me know if you’re looking to move it on, it needs to go on a Precision so that might just work.