Neck-change on my B-bender Thin-Skin Tele.

[Roger Rettig]

I'm pushing the boundaries by asking this question here. It's not strictly about b-benders specifically.

Ever since I bought my LPB Tele from Wildwood Guitars in 2008, it went straight to my personal #1 spot and became my go-to guitar. A year or so later, Joe Glaser put a bender in it and my contentment was complete.

It has the early-'60s 'C' neck (r/w f'board) which I was convinced suited be perfectly.

Last week, however, I pushed the boat out and got 'spendy': I bought a Custom Shop Pink Paisley Tele, a guitar I've secretly longed for.

Then the shock came: straight out-of-the-case, this guitar fit me like a glove! Suddenly, my technique came back (it's been deteriorating ever since I quit playing for my living five years ago) and it became apparent that the 'oval C with the 7.25" radius - it's a 1968-9 replica - is my perfect neck. It fills my hand! The middle-strings 'come up to meet me' rather than me having to dig for them on the higher frets.

So: I have ordered a 7.25" Fender all-maple neck and I expect to be fitting it this weekend.

Oh yes - the question:
has anyone else experienced such a late-life change in their preference for a neck-profile? I doubt a lot of traffic passes through this arcane category, but just in case someone does, what are your thoughts?
My hope is that my LPB will be as playable as my gorgeous new Paisley, but I'll have the bender, too.

Play it, James!

[D Schubert]

Yes, sometimes a certain neck profile feels just perfect. In my case, I bought a parts tele with a Japanese 52 Reissue neck, 7.25" radius with a slight vee shape and it was like coming home to mama! Maybe 10 years ago. I have tracked down several other necks with the same profile and mounted them on other telecasters, replacing what was already there, None of these are what you'd call "collectible" guitars, so I have no cannibalizer's guilt, either.

[Dave Mudgett]

Roger - Nice paisley!

I've been pondering doing the same with my bender guitar, which is a very high quality 52-blackguard style partscaster with a huge neck. That huge neck is great for standard playing, but kind of rough as a bender guitar. I typically use benders with complex fingerings which I then bend a note to get various moving voices.

And I agree with you about the 68/69 necks tending to perfection for me. I have a '68 Esquire that I received routed for a humbucker in the neck position, but my main Tele is my '69, which was Tom Brumley's guitar - I got it from Rolene 13-14 years ago. I play it every day, it is perfect in every way. It is exactly as I got it from her, except a buddy refretted it with Dunlop 6105 frets two years ago. I string it with 12-54 strings (20 plain 3rd), it plays like buttah and sounds even better.

[Barry Yasika]

"Is it American-made or Japanese? There’s a growing trend of people buying Tele bodies and necks from different manufacturers, assembling them, and then trying to market them as superior to the classic Fender Telecaster. They often claim to have 'perfected' the imperfections of the original design. While I believe the Japanese models hold their own in terms of quality and playability, that’s about as far as I’d go when it comes to these so-called 'Fake Teles.' The price usually reflects the difference—it’s simply not American-made.

I understand that many of these builders mean well, but the Fender name carries a legacy that’s hard to replicate. On top of that, I’ve seen some of these folks trying to charge more for their guitars than a stock Fender is worth. Fender guitars are a solid investment—they have a history, a reputation, and enduring value. In comparison, these knockoffs might be worth, at best, about two-thirds of the value (if that).

Take Brad Paisley, for example. He uses guitars made by a guy in West Virginia and seems to enjoy them. But let’s be real—Brad probably doesn’t pay for those guitars. They’re undoubtedly well-made, but they’re not a Fender. Beyond that, they’re just knockoffs built on plagiarized engineering.

The bottom line is this: if you want a Fender Telecaster, buy a Fender Telecaster. Don’t get taken to the cleaners by these knucklehead wannabe luthiers whose guitars probably won’t stand the test of time."

So your research, try different guitars. It's a time comuming process but the right choice will be an inverstment for a long to time to come. Pehphaps a life time;