Parts Necks
 

How is the fit of a parts neck to a stock painted Fender body neck pocket? Any hand fitting to be done? Is there a difference between vendors (Warmoth/Allparts/Might Mite/BHefner, ?). Not sure it matters, the body is a 2011 CS Precision, want to try a Jazz neck.

From what I've seen, the aftermarket necks I've messed with are more accurately built to Fender spec than Fender builds their own.

It "should" be a perfect fit. But be prepared for anything.

Have a USA custom guitar neck on my 75 J, fit was a bit tight, nothing I couldn't deal with, Much better then stock Fender neck

The issue generally isn't how it fits today.

The problem is that if the wood is too fresh, such as on most Fenders, it shrinks quite a bit in the first years after the routing. That is where loose neck pockets come from. It affects both the neck and the body, but the neck is more important.

The "can tow a car with it with no screws" neck pocket fit that you get from many of the US aftermarket companies (Warmoth, USACG at least) mainly is a result of them controlling their wood supply closely. Fender can just do whatever without anybody noticing, and they separate out by instrument price. MIA Standard is the cheapest, and the neck pockets show.

P.S. love my MIA Fender. But if close neck pocket is your thing you need to look elsewhere.

I'm pretty sure a company as large as Fender has a big enough stock pile of wood, that they don't have to use wood that is to "fresh."

Wood with a high moisture content will do more than shrink, it will twist bow, and warp. There is no way Fender is using green wood.

They will minimize their cost within the expected RMA rate, and they have different price product lines. Trust me, they do the minimum and cheapest drying for the cheaper instruments.

If you don't believe me look at any Fender neck pocket in the wild.

They still sound great, because in the end side contact in the neck pocket doesn't matter, but if you know you want a tight neck pocket that's your problem right there.

I never said their neck pockets were exactly tight. But I guarantee its not because of the moisture content of the wood. Using wet wood will cause serious stability issues in necks more often than not, much beyond the point of shrinkage.

Its simple really, They fit a bit loose in the neck pocket because it makes it easier to assemble on the assembly line. How much more time would it take and how much extra money would they spend to pay a person to fit each individual neck to its respective neck pocket. The way they do it, it makes any neck to fit any body so there is no reason for a matched set. Its a logistics thing, not a moisture content thing.

+10. Hopkins

Fender mandates all neck woods to be under 10% mc before moving from the air racks to the shaping stock.

Machining, assembly line, and atmospheric conditions will contribute to the fit and finish of the product.