Fender replacement necks?

[Snarf]

Fender is selling branded necks direct now. Kinda interested. Anyone have experience with these? Are they quality, are they priced right? Did they need much work before they could be played?

 

[testing1two]

Having seen several of these (more guitar than bass), there are good things and bad things IMO: they say Fender so right away they hold their value better than other brands. They have MIM and USA versions and they are priced accordingly. Fretwork is good for the price and most come with pre slotted nuts so only a minimal amount of work is needed to get the slots correct.

What I don't like about them is the wide variation in the quality of the lumber. This is a larger problem in guitar manufacturing in general, but the moral of the story is that just because it's a Fender doesn't mean you're automatically getting a neck with tight straight grain, consistent color, and little to no runout. If I was going to buy one, I would want to see pictures of the actual neck.

 

[mysteryclock]

I have used two of the MIM roasted maple Jazz necks on builds. From what I've observed, here are the pros/cons.

Pros:

• They are roasted maple, and I've found them to be extremely stable across a couple of seasons worth of weather now. No fret sprout either.
• The profile of the neck is a really comfortable mid-size. To me, it seems like it's between a "fat Jazz" and a "Geddy", if that makes sense? I'm sure J-neck profile experts have a perfect descriptive label for that.
• The fretwork is pretty good out of the box - my setup guy found no need to make corrections.
• It comes with a pre-slotted nut, although YMMV if that's cut to correct specs or your liking. I replaced mine with ZeroGlide zero frets so it was kind of N/A for me. I can say the nuts came out clean w/o chipping the neck.
• They are pre-drilled for neck screws.
• The price is good - Amazon has them for $399 currently, however I got mine on sale for $329, so it seems like there are occasional deals.

Cons:

• The finish on the front of the neck is gloss, while the back of the neck is sanded-back gloss. I find that a little odd - why not go matte for everything, like Charvel did for their roasted bass necks? I do like the matte result on the back of the neck, however....
• The sanding back of the finish on the back can be a little rough in spots, especially around the neck. It's not awful but also not perfect, however at this price point it's fine. Nobody should expect Fodera perfection for < $400.
• There is no pre-drilling for tuners of any kind. Being roasted maple, you need to be careful to pre-drill your holes to avoid splitting.