I bought a roasted maple Strat neck with a rosewood fingerboard. It took me a year to address the issues it had after I mounted it to MIM Strat body. The fret ends were sharp. High action and intonation was off. Grrr. Not long ago I decided to tackle all the issues. I bought some files and new strings. I filed the fret ends, replaced the nut with an old one. After set- up I am happy and it's hard to leave it alone. It is an improvement, a vast improvement. I have a Gibson ES Les Paul Special with a maple neck and yes it is bright but in a good way also.
My experience - and maybe others not- humidity factor prevention did not seem to win out. On a fender strat that I own, I replaced a maple neck with fender roasted maple neck. Had it set up by a tech. Brought it home to my NYC apartment. Left it in the case. Buzz buzz buzz on the lower e string. Needed a neck adjustment for some relief - no buzz (for a while). Lower e string issues on strats are not new and are annoying to me, by the way. As much as people talk about tuning and intonation issues with the g string on Gibson guitars, the lower e string on F strats is such a pain in my experience with buzz. tuning and intonation. Buzz is usually a symptom of the neck needing relief however- I wonder. Sometimes I have had to give the neck so much relief, that it only then created problems on other strings on other frets and the neck was better for launching arrows. I hoped that the roasted maple neck would help with this. No dice (in my case). It may be a little better- but not that great a leap. Get one because you like it. But don't expect miracles. Anyone else out there have this problem - btw? Anyways it usually takes me another trip to the tech to get this fixed and it is really a kill joy.
I have been tempted to by a blank or two of torrified maple to make some necks with, however I am lucky enough at the moment to have an ample supply of 100 year old birch, in the form of a large table top I purchased at an estate sale last year. It is all perfectly straight grained and man is it hard. It has the same issue with brittleness as the maple, like you mentioned. I've gotten two fantastic necks out of it so far. It's an underrated wood, light, resonant, and it smells great when you cut it.
Just put one on an Olympic White Tele....have to say, I really like it. The necks do sound somewhat brighter, and you get the sense that there is some additional brittleness to the feel of the wood. I was careful not to over tighten anything, and used a small dab of soap on all screws. The no finish feels great, smooth as silk. So far, I have seen no concern with anything. I would pay attention the the advice here about potential chipping, otherwise its all good.
I like the roasted maple, one word of caution when pressing in bushings ream the hole larger to press in bushings, when drilling the neck, drill oversize I use 4mm that is a size over 1/8 lube the screws
I just like them because they look cool! I’ve toyed with the idea of putting one on my American Professional Strat, but then I’ve got myself a Partscaster. I keep going back and forth...
It’s just wood, get what you want and have it stained, mechanically no measurable improvement in performance. Stain will get you the look you are looking for.
@@bluwng Except there is an objective technical improvement with roasted maple though. The process removes a lot of impurities in the wood, resulting in more resistance to humidity and temperature changes, as well as moisture. And as far as an aesthetic stand point, the exact appearance of roasted maple isn’t as easily replicated just by staining, otherwise more guitar manufacturers would do it since it would be cheaper. Stained maple I’ve seen literally just made the wood more yellow, as opposed to the dark brown color.
What? The american prof strat has a incredibly great neck on it - my favorite of all. I had the RMN put on a vintage re issue american strat because I cant be bothered with the vintage access to the truss rod. Unfortunately this did solve the problem or help much with what I had hoped for. See my comments above. But I too have the Am prof strat and that neck is amazing. But perhaps that is how you feel about the roasted maple neck. See if Warmoth has a RMN that is shaped like you Am Prof Strat neck before you consider getting the Fender version. Or swap out the neck on the parts caster? That is, of course unless you love the feel of the Fender RMN as much as I like the stock neck on the Am prof. enjoy your journey!
7 min video but richer in key info about roasted maple necks than many others; saw a vid recently where same brand/model guitars with same pickups were compared, one with 100% roasted maple/fretboard and other with roasted maple combined w/ laurel fretboard; interestingly the laurel fretboard killed off brightness, which I didn't like at all
yes- but it does have some perks to it - but see my comments about the rigidity and alleged resistance to humidity. But that was so in my case living in NYC and here it is June. What you leave the shop with may not be so at home. So if you are good at fixing up your own guitar issues, I suspect you will be okay. I have not been able to work out mine entirely. The only strat I owned without the problem stated above in my comments was an FSR strat (mex) that I got from GC in 2017 or 18. Set once. Very slight neck relief needed- no problems since then. But since then - no matter the price point- I have had the issue described above. Otherwise they look and feel nice and have a slightly brighter tone to them if that is what you like. That is true of the Pao Ferro fret board or straight up maple fret board.
Can you recommend some cleaning products/oils for roasted maple necks and fretboard, please? A lot of people don't recommend classic lemon oil, for example. Thank you.
I generally try not to get it oily. lol As far as cleaning goes I will wipe mine down with a mild alcohol (73% or less) then a light coat of Danish oil about once a year. It just depends on your climate and how often you clean it with the alcohol. If it starts looking dried out then a quick wipe down with Danish oil is good. Boiled Linseed oil is another great preservative. A roasted neck is basically petrified wood so it is very forgiving.
Like a baseball bat, I reckon. I live in the southeast and I am constantly having to adjust my guitar necks. Interesting about the brightness of this neck ... never thought about that.
I recently bought a cheapish Cort GB64JJ jazz style bass. The neck has an excessive forward bow. The truss rod isn't strong enough to pull it into better action. Tried slightly lighter strings. I don't imagine there is any way I could improve the action by clamping it back and heating seeing as it's roasted Maple. Any tips? Maybe get a new neck 🙂
@@bradfordstringedinstrument8688 I hope so too! I seen on a forum we’re they wanted to charge the person $800 for a new neck if so I guess I’ll buy it but I feel that’s a little messed up thanks for the reply
