It’s All About The Guitar Neck

Written by Happy NGD on February 26th, 2010

I don’t know what you guys think about this, but I would have to say that the guitar neck is probably the most important part of a guitar. In order to keep it in tip top shape, you need to make sure to keep it in the proper conditions (along with the rest of the guitar of course) and treat it right.

So, in honor of the guitar neck, here is a number of different resources you should know about when you are looking to care for your guitar. Whether you have two guitar necks with a double neck guitar or just a regular electric guitar neck, it all applies. You bass guitar neck guys? This is for you too!

Where to find replacement guitar necks:

Had a little mishap with your guitar resulting in a broken neck? Maybe you got a little too “metal” and did the old guitar spin and lost control of it? Or maybe you just feel the need for a replacement guitar neck.

There are a number of excellent online guitar parts shops out there that have a wide range of necks made from different types of woods. You can usually choose from all kinds of fingerboard configurations, radius specs, thickness and headstock design. To get you started, here are a few places that you can buy a guitar neck:

StewMac – these guys have an excellent selection of different electric and acoustic necks. You can choose from different woods like maple and different finishes as well such as nitrocellulose lacquer. As expected, they have 22 and 24 fret versions as well as neck blanks where you would cut and add the frets in yourself.
Ebay – just like everything else that Ebay has, they have these too. Click this link and see what’s available now. You’ll probably find a deal!
Warmoth – these guys have tons of different neck configurations available. You could be browsing for awhile to choose the one that you want!

Setting your guitar neck up for the best possible playing:

There are a number of things that you need to do to get the neck of your guitar set up properly. However, if you don’t know what you are doing, consider taking it to a professional to get this done. You could potentially do a ton of damage if you do something wrong. Here are some excellent resources to help you learn how to do it if you are so inclined – Rae Guitars Set Up Tutorial

Tools for setting up a guitar neck:

If you are going to get into setting up a guitar, you are certainly going to need some specialty tools just for this purpose, my suggestion would be to check out StewMac’s Guitar Set Up Kit. It’s got everything you need including a string action guage to help you to adjust the height of the strings, neck radius gauges and a straight-edge to check the relief in the neck and for adjusting truss rods.

So these are a few aspects of the guitar neck that you may want to know. If you have anything else, let me know by adding a comment to this post and I will address it.

Check Out These Too:

• Cleaning Your Guitar’s Fretboard

Posted in: Education