- This topic has 10 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 4 weeks, 1 day ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
There isn’t much in the way of guitar stores around my area close by. I have to travel at least 1 hour to get to one that is pretty decent, but they cater more to PRS although they have Fender and Gibson and a few other brands like Yamaha, there still was too limited of a selection to choose from. So I tried another store about the same drive time away that has even less of a selection just to see what they had, and one guitar caught my eye right away. I pretty much knew I was going to take it home with me.
I briefly looked over the other guitars and kept eyeing that one of three used guitars. I didn’t even plug it in, I just did the acoustic jam on it and made sure there was nothing overtly wrong with it and promptly told the attendant to write me up, she’s coming home with me.
So what is this guitar that captured my attention so immediately? It’s cast me into the stratosphere so to speak. A 2022 Fender Pro II Stratocaster in Olympic White which is very light cream color. I would have preferred the rosewood finger board, but this was the only one in the shop that really called me. Plus the price of $1,200 was looking really good to me coming with a nice case with a lock on it.
The fretwork looks barely played, so whoever owned it either didn’t know how to play, or ended up trading it in for something else very quickly. I haven’t played a Strat in many years, and this one is setup pretty darn good with the tremolo adjusted very well, it would not go out of tune when I stepped on it. That was impressive. I don’t think I’ll use it that often, but there is no reason to lock it down if it stays in tune this well.
The only minor issue is it did have some fret sprout that needed to be dressed. Did that as soon as I got home, no more sprouting. This was very easy to fix with the right file, so that didn’t concern me at all. The frets do need to be polished better as some of them were scratchy, but again, very easy to fix. So I’ll go through it in a few days to address that and double check the setup and I’ll be all set.
Well there is one more issue I found with it that may or may not end up being a problem. There is a gap where the neck joins the body on the bottom side. I can insert a playing card about 1/4 inch in before it binds up, but it looks like there could be a shim of some kind under there. I won’t know until I take it apart. It plays well though, so I’m not too overly concerned about it. The input jack was really loose for some reason, I just tightened it up and it’s solid now.
The sound is incredible through the Orange Crush 35RT. I’ll have to fix my Fender Twin up now (it needs some work) to get the full effect.
The shaved heel block makes a big difference when playing up high on the neck.Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.
-
While polishing the frets today, I noticed something very unusual that any of you that buy a new Strat should definitely check for. The frets on this particular guitar was totally covered with the same polyurethane coating that was used on the top of the neck!!! I had to use a hard plastic implement to scrape most of it off of the top and upper back side of the frets. I’ve never heard anyone discuss this issue before, but it certainly looks like a step was missed during manufacturing of the neck. That stuff should have been thoroughly cleaned off of all the frets. I spent all morning cleaning most of it up, but I left it on the sides because the string will never contact that area anytime soon. See pictures. This was a little work to remove it, but in the end, the frets have been polished and they are as smooth as butter doing any bending.
This is after I cleaned up the tops of the frets, just imagine all that yellow urethane all over the top of the frets as well. That’s how it was originally!The final issue is that I have determined that it definitely needs a basic setup because the action is a little too low for my liking, and the pickup heights are off as well. Someone raised them up too high on the high end and the bridge pickup was too low on the bass end. So it appears that it never did get a proper setup or they simply wanted to boost the output of the pickups which can kill the dynamics. This will be the final step after fixing the string action and possibly truss rod adjustment for neck relief if needed.
Just a little more more work, and it should be ready to play. I highly recommend doing these adjustments yourself and learn how to do it if you don’t already know when buying new gear. It enables you to make any guitar play to its full potential according to your ears (not someone else’s). String height is simply a personal thing, so you choose what’s best for you.
Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.
-
Well you learn something new every day. I think I got to the bottom of why there was polyurethane all over the frets. They actually do this for the maple necks only and Fender expects that when you get your guitar setup for the first time that this issue is to be taken care of by the guitar tech or you can remove it yourself. But the whole purpose of leaving the coating on these particular necks is entirely to save on manufacturing costs that would effect the final price tag otherwise.
The only problem I have with this is that, they should clearly let the purchaser know in detail all about this as a warning before first use. It played OK on most frets but any of them that start to flake will hang up and cause some frustration to any musician that is unaware of this detail should they elect not to go for a typical setup from a technician.
So here is a video from another manufacture that explains it all very well and shows the proper way to take off the coating to minimize damage to the frets. I think what I did was perfectly fine except, I used a plastic scraper like tool to flake most of it off first, this guy in the video flakes off a little bit and finishes flaking it off using an old high E string. I sure wish I had known about this before, but I just ended up working a little harder than was actually needed to get basically the same results.
Hope this knowledge helps some of you new purchasers out and know that it is not just Fender that does this with maple necks.
Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.
-
I’ve played several Strats with maple fretboards and several with rosewood fretboards. I found that bending notes on the maple fretboards is much more satisfying than on rosewoods. It feels much smoother, whereas the unvarnished rosewood feels kind of gritty (like sliding over sandpaper) as i bend the notes. My favorite is very similar to yours, and it also came with varnish on the frets. So what did I do about it? Nothing, because I’m lazy. I just started playing it, and that was 10 years ago. It played fine, sounded fine, and still does. I never noticed the varnish flaking off, it seems like it just slowly vanished on its own. Sometimes if you leave stuff alone, it just heals itself. Strange, but true.
Sunjamr Steve
-
Yes, that’s one way to handle it if it doesn’t bother you. I’m a little more picky about my frets and I notice every little area that hangs up, feels scratchy or otherwise inhibits my playing. I’m a lot happier with the polished frets up front. I’m just glad I found that explanation in the video as to why they do that. I just knew what to do instinctively and got the job done so I can start enjoying it right away. So far so good. I can’t wait to get my tube amp repaired so I can get the full effect.
Now I can work on the Telly as well and get the frets re-crowned without playing down time. That’s the only thing wrong with it.
The fact that the coating was still on the frets, confirms my suspicion that the guitar was barely ever used.
Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.
-
Very cool guitar. looking fwd to hearing it in a video/audio post (if it already exist, do share the link – I’m “behind schedule” with the forum, and with guitar playing altogether these days…)
Re the frets, I didn’t have that issue with my full maple neck Tele. I guess the guy in the store did his job before I picked it up. Though, I can’t really remember if the frets were covered or not when I was playtesting a few fenders at the time of purchase.
Trust the process.
-
The next time I go into any of the guitar shops I’m going to make a point out of looking for this on the Fender maple neck guitars. In the end, it’s not a big deal for me. It was just a little extra work to get it playing the way I desired and I have been playing the heck out of it today. Just an incredible instrument.
Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.
-
-
-
O Yeah, I love the look of a maple fingerboard and now I know why they always felt a bit sticky in the store. I thought it was the poly on the neck itself. Does your neck play smoother now?
It made a huge difference chipping it all off and doing a touchup polish job with the fret erasers. I’m very picky about the feel and playability of the frets. As soon as I notice any scratchiness anywhere, I just slack the strings and tie them behind the neck with a twist tie or Velcro strap and start polishing the trouble spots and do a quick touch up over all the frets.
If the bottoms of the wound strings feel dented at the fret intervals, then I toss the strings and put a new set on. I go through a lot of strings.
Go slow and practice correct technique, and your abilities will dramatically improve.
-
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
