20 Best Wood For Fretboard (2022 Updated)

Female guitar player here that also likes working on my guitars and getting the best sound and playability I can. I have a Player Series Strat I bought a couple years ago because I loved the color of this Strat.

I never could find a color Strat I liked til I found this one. Love the guitar. But it came with a maple neck, all gloss. I do prefer a satin finish on the neck for obvious reasons. I saw this neck and definitely wanted a Pau Ferro.

Liked the blocks too. Thought it was worth the investment into this guitar. Had already replaced the 2 single pickups with Yosemite’s and the humbucker was replaced with a Shawbucker. Big improvement.

So the neck investment was worth it to me. I ended up doing a full upgrade with locking tuners also I absolutely love. This guitar hasn’t been in my arsenal for my music jobs but it will be now. This neck feels excellent in addition to looking good.

The fret edges were also “dressed” much better than the neck that came on the guitar. Top quality Fender neck I highly recommend. Installation was very easy, just set up may need a pro. Also get a pro to slot the nut, you’ll be better off.

Musicians Friend was excellent on helping with this purchase as always.

So I had worn frets on my old Squire Stratocaster neck. I could have had a refret job, but that was the logical choice! I decided to go for a Fender MEX neck, that’s an UPGRADE! So whilst in transit from America, I thought it might not fit exactly somehow.

It’s not like close enough is going to be good enough! I pondered and cogitated thinking that I had made a grave mistake, especially as the Stratocaster Forum members unanimously disapproved. Well, it fitted perfectly and after a nut file out (expected) the sound, feel and tone is massively improved.

I can’t overestimate the outcome. Heretical as it apparently appears, I am so happy with the tone and feel. So that just goes to prove, that you can buy a cheap guitar, wear it out, then replace the neck and transform the way it plays and feels with an expensive neck.

Boom!.

My Fender GC-1 Roland-Ready Strat needed a fret job, and I have never liked the “Powered by Roland” logo on the headstock. So rather than replace it with the more expensive MIA neck (22 fret), I decided to take a chance and ordered this MIM 21-fret replacement neck instead, with the maple fretboard.

I am very pleased with it. The frets were dressed nicely, the nut looks the same as my MIA neck, and it bolted right on very nicely–a very good fit. It didn’t need any intonation or truss rod adjustment.

As advertised, it did need to have the nut slots cut for my specific string diameters (10-13-15-26-32-38) which I did myself with my StewMac nut files, but it looked to me like the nut slots may have been OK as-is with my relatively light string set.

I also installed locking tuners, which required the two small guide holes per tuner that this neck has, and the fit for those was perfect. Also the back of the neck is satin finished, and not glossy, like my original GC-1 neck–I like the satin much better.

My tuners are staggered, and I have a Blade Runner Super-V bridge, so I don’t use any string trees–just realize that if you need to install string trees, you will have to drill the holes yourself. Bottom line–this neck will stay on my guitar until I need another fret job, and then I will most likely replace it with this same MIM neck–a very good product for the price.

I bought this neck to replace a neck with a Rosewood fretboard on a Standard Strat. This was my first Strat, bought new 17 years ago. I now own two additional Strats, one of which is an American Deluxe.

I discovered along the way that I strongly prefer a Maple fretboard and medium-jumbo frets, so bought this replacement neck to “upgrade” my trusty 17 year old Strat. I’m delighted with the results. Fit was perfect; Alignment was perfect with no need to sand the the heel of the neck or the pocket, and no shims were needed.

I’m fanatical about setup, and fully expected to spend time doing these things, but not necessary 🙂 Also, the fretwork is excellent – not quite equivalent to American Deluxe but mighty close! The nut is very high quality and only needs string-slot filing and finish-shaping, sanding, and polishing.

A set of nut-slot files and a nut shaping files are the best tools for this.

Very good maple neck but luthier skills and tools are needed to fit it as the nut slots are not cut to the full depth. However, it fitted the neck pocket of a strat body perfectly. I only gave it 4 stars as no Fender products are good value at full price.

After getting this neck professionally installed and set up by an experienced luthier I am very happy. I thought I could install it myself but it required more expertise than I possess to get the nut slots perfect and I also had to spend some time and money finding tuning keys that were made for the 60s style predrilled holes.

The tuning keys from the original 2020 Jazz neck would not work. Couldn’t have done it without the help of the luthier. That being said, this neck is awesome to play. It transformed an ordinary MIM Standard Jazz Bass into my favorite bass.

And I have three other Fenders that cost a lot more.

An excellent neck right out of the box. Usually when you buy a guitar or bass neck, the first thing you may need is a proper fret level and crown/polish to really FINISH the neck to be as playable as it can be.

New Epiphone and new Squire guitars and basses need this because these go through the factory at a pace that the instruments have just a basic, but useable fret job. I bought a brand new Squire Jazzmaster and though it could use a fret job to make it totally playable, I run my action higher, so right out of the box, that guitar can be set up to my liking with no extra work.

So what I’m saying is, depending on your requirements, right out of the box may be just fine. When I got this neck, I took it to my repairman to just put it on the body. nothing else yet. I got the bass back and noticed the action really high.

I figured I’ll do what I can and go from there. After doing the thumb on first fret and finger on fifteenth fret, the neck was very straight and needed no truss rod adjustment. So I started lowering the bridge, a Hipshot that I got on Amazon.

Down four then five full turns and the strings are dropping right into playing action. After a while, I had my bass playing better than ever, no fret work needed at all. Fret edges on the fingerboard edges are perfect.

Even, tight rosewood fingerboard. The neck shape is a “D” profile, not a “C”. Had to do a little nut slot lowering, as simple as matching the string diameter to an allen wrench, and then wrapping 600 grade sandpaper around the wrench and file the slot to lower the action at the first fret to that string.

I’m happy as can be with this mail order Jazz spec neck.

I build bass guitars for a hobby. I find these Mighty Mite bass necks to be extremely reliable and very well made. Always straight and with even frets. I look for a deep mellow sound with clear highs and these necks deliver.

The only complaint that I have is minor sharp edges on the fret ends. A little lite sanding with an emery board takes care of that. One other thing that comes to my mind is that I’m very sure that these modern necks are made exclusively by lathe or luthier machines.

With very little human contact, which reduces human error. Thousands of necks made nearly exactly the same leaves the employees to monitor quality control. While perhaps not on par with say, a USA made Fender neck, they suit my needs extremely well.

If I felt they were junk I wouldn’t use them.

Have several of these now and have installed more for other players. When it comes to Fender replacement necks these are the best in their class! Not to say they are “the best period” – As with many things, there is the “for the money” variable.

Many say ALLPARTS necks are better quality but then they are 30% more expensive. And nobody expects it to compete with Warmoth and USACUSTOM necks that cost three times as much and come in an amazing array of personal options.

These necks are consistent, straight, well shaped. The visuals vary as you may expect and you don’t always “get as good a one” regarding the looks (grain, knots in wood etc) but even then it is still a sound neck.

Buying necks below this price point is entirely a gamble! A lot of the Chinese stuff varies DRASTICALLY and even if you “get a good one” the dimensions are often off from Fender spec – These Mighty Mite necks are right on.

Throw a custom waterslide decal on it (all mine have one) and they look sweet.

The reason why so few reviews are written (to date), is because a review really isn’t needed. This is the example. A guitar to measure others by. Every single detail on this instrument is either dedicated to world class tone or aesthetics.

The balance between the two are superb. It isn’t quite as pretentious with looks as it seems, although it is an absolute beauty to behold. This guitar did not come set up. I will go as far to assume that this was done on purpose due to the time of year I ordered it, winter.

A stage ready guitar does not need to be shipped in cold weather with a taught truss rod. This is my opinion. After letting the guitar acclimate, I set it up to PRS tolerances to appreciate what they wanted for me to feel.

Then I set the guitar up for me. The “standard” action height is “medium” for a PRS. And with the natural intonation of this guitar it does sing very well, and isn’t a negative experience at all when fretting.

I do like a lower action though and true to a PRS it was dialed in and plays almost effortlessly. The TCI capabilities on the 85/15 pickups is what I was after when I purchased this model. You get a stallion CU-24 with Coil splitting.

And the sound that comes out of the single coils is bliss. True vintage (but PRS tonality) sound. I almost prefer the single coil options in most clean settings. They seem to win in expressiveness. I could go on and on about this instrument, and probably should.

But, if you’re looking at this guitar for purchase, you probably already know. I am very happy to own one, the guitar is perfect.

PRS gutars are the best. I have had s9s if tgen abd gave ficysed ib cyrin 22s because I thought the old HFS pickups sounded too dark. The current 85-15 pickups are awesome. The pattern regular neck fits my hand perfectly.

Now I understand why the custom 24 is the backbone of the PRS line. It not only provides the best access to the highest frests, but it pefectly balanced. There is no tendency for the neck to drop toward the floor when the left hand is off the neck, which is a major nuesance in some 24 fret gutars.

The violet burst tentop finish on the one I just bought is the most beautiful I have ever seen, and I have owned more than50 guitars and looked at far more. I think this will be my go-to guitar from now on.

Awesome, Oayk Reed Snuth just jeeos najubg them better,.

Nice neck, smooth finish, seems like great quality. I’m still in the build process, so it’s not on the bass yet, but I think it will work great. Like many others, the difficulty is finding the machine head tuners that go on the neck.

The peg-hole size is. 743 in, which is an odd drill. I tried 2 different types of tuners (Fender classic, Highway One), both didn’t fit the peg hole (too small). It turns out the Highway One tuner was the correct one, but you have to make sure you get the.

743 bushings, or order the bushing separate, which is what I did. The bushings that fit are: part # 001-9509-049, Fender vintage bass tuner bushings, The Tuners that fit the pre-drilled holes are: part # 003-6400-049, Genuine Fender MIM/Mexican Standard & Highway 1 Bass Tuning Machines.

This was confirmed by Fender (I asked), but make sure you also get the correct bushings as the ones that came with this order were the 18mm ones. Installed the bushings by using YouTube video techniques of a longer bolt, with a washer, through the bushing to a piece of hardwood, with a washer and nut, and gently tighted the bolt until the bushings were flushed.

I did lightly sand the peghole to remove some clear-coat. All good, but finding the correct tuners was a tremendous pain. I don’t know why that couldn’t have been clearly identified on the neck posting.

Finally. an actual soft V that is period correct unlike those that are on the Roadworn Series and Classic Player strats. I mean those necks are O. K. and somewhat period correct (albeit they are awfully small) but this neck is great.

If you like a smaller neck then this neck is not for you. On the other if you like the feel of a neck that fits just right in your large hands then this neck is for you. The other nice thing about this neck is that even though it’s period correct, it didn’t stop Fender from bumping the radius up (9.

5) for faster lead lines and zero fret out. Good job FENDER on this neck and the American Original 50’s and 60’s Stratocasters. Lastly, I would love to see all of these necks and Stratocasters made in Mexico at a more affordable price point.

I mean. seven hundred for just the neck (and it was six). IMHO, this is WAY to high for most people (at least it is for me, a working musician) to afford. so I only gave it four stars because of this.

Still, all in all I have to say. this is a great neck and the american original strat is a great series of guitars.

The neck is made very well and with quality wood and frets. Has fret markers on both sides so you can use this neck for right or left hand basses. Simply draw your head stock design on it, cut, sand, drill holes for your machine heads, finish and voila! Truss rod is good, and has stayed true since installation (which is more than I can say for some far more expensive options!).

If you need a neck for a bass you are building, or to replace an existing neck, you can’t go wrong. Even the frets are finished pretty decently.

WOW!! The quality and attention to detail is equal to any $150 / $200 aftermarket neck. Fret ends are smooth, finish is thick , inlays are precise. Jazz Bass specs are authentic. The wood is choice clear grain.

hard rock density that almost smoked my bandsaw blade in the headstock cutting process. All smiles.

great value. dimensions are accurate. fret ends are very rough. at this price that is to be expected. the angled headstock with the fender scale and the diy paddle allow for a unique build.

I have a Warmoth neck that costs 3 times what the Mighty Might costs. The Warmoth is prettier, maybe, but it’s also a bit chunkier, while the MM neck has a wonderfully thin shape that has what I would call perfect “playability.

” The first thing one does with a new neck is look carefully at the shape and construction quality. The MM is very well made. The frets were all seated properly and disappeared precisely one behind the other as you looked down the length.

No high ends. When installed, I have the lowest action of any of my guitars, due to the compound radius fretboard. In short, this is the finest neck I’ve had my hands on. I’ll take a MM neck over a Warmoth neck, any day.

It was a great price and a pretty good neck for my project. The edges of the frets were fairly sharp and I cut up my hand not know I should look out for it. The neck was not perfectly straight since there’s a slight bump in the wood near the mounting area.

this results in some buzzing when playing above the 14th fret. For me, that was acceptable since I have yet to play anything in that range, but who knows what the future will hold for me. Glow in the dark skulls on this neck were a nice surprise but not something I would look for specifically as a feature.

It adds a little extra to my project though.

Of course you will have to do some fret work. Other than the expected dressing, and leveling there is nothing else to say about these necks other than they are (mine is) straight, smoothly finished, and have a nice piece of Rosewood for the fretboard.

I have to add that the neck that I received is as good as or better than a stock neck on most 400. 00 guitars. Ps: One thing to add: Most of the “Canadian Maple” necks I have purchased are VERY light in weight.

The neck that I received is pretty hearty in weight. I like a heavy neck, and I usually add Grover’s to light necks to get a balanced feel. On this neck I used Open gear Hipshot’s, and I do like the feel/weight.

For the money, I don’t know how you could beat it. The only thing that needs improvement is some attention to the fret ends. Mine were bad enough they would have cut my hand. I invested in a fret end file and that took care of it.

That would not stop me from buying another. The two way truss rod works great. The frets themselves are level. Made from some top quality maple. Mine has some killer grain patterns. It does come with what I think is a plastic nut but I would expect that at this price and don’t count it against the manufacturer.

Just thought I should mention it. I am going to buy another one in a different style.

Everything is perfect on this item. I expected nothing superb, just overall but the quality of the piece is AAA, the wood grain is beautiful, the finish on the neck is AAA and the most important thing is the feel that is actually SUPERB.

It weighed about 1LB is extremely light weight, and the balance is perfect!.

This neck Fits like a glove, has a fantastic radius (9. 5) which in my opinion is a lot more comfortable than the original 7. 5. The craftsmanship is excellent. The best replacement for my old Telly HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

I purchased this Tele neck for a guitar build and I am loving the feel of the Fat U Shape of the neck. I’ve played an early Tele in the past , but that was many years ago. I love to build the guitar to my specs so it is just the way I want it.

I also think it the condition of the neck was great and was easy to install into the Tele body.

Fret work is just about perfect on mine. I put it on and set up was great out of the box. The maple is unusually white. No yellowness at all like most raw maple – not sure why. The size and specs seem right on, except, its listed as a 43mm nut width, it may be closer to 42.

The string spacing is fine on my fender body. I would buy it again.

Guitar neck is a great value for the price. If you are willing to out a little work in you will have a very good neck. I would but it somewhere between a good squier neck and a MIM fender neck. Nice satin neck for smooth gliding.

Mine did need some fret leveling but it wasn’t terrible. I also replace the nut with a graphtech nut but I do that on all guitars. Be comfortable with drilling neck holes of you decide to purchase, always a little nerve wracking.

I purchased the neck with tuners and spacer installed by Bitteroot Guitars. They did a perfect job and included an Allen wrench for the truss rod and even a drill bit for the spacer install. I’ve purchased several necks and this is the first that included (adjustment) tools.

Neck feels and looks great. Customer Service was great too. I would not hesitate buying from Bitteroot Guitars again. -JJ.

Im a player that has longer fingers and the fat neck cut down on player fatigue. Bought a rosewood a few weeks ago and came back to buy a maple neck with the nitro finish. They are beautiful necks and Im more than happy with my two Tele builds.

Keep in mind that you will have to remove the nitro finish from the frets for it is standard practice to apply the finish to the entire neck. There are a few YouTube videos out there on how to properly do this.

I personally taped up my fretboard and used a fine sandpaper to remove the finish from the frets. Also pay attention to the hole size in the headstock for your tuners. You may have to enlarge the holes provided and add those little pilot holes to stabilize your tuners.

Just TAKE YOUR TIME with your build or replacement neck and you should be as satisfied as I am.

I love that Allparts offers necks with many different specs. This model is perfect for me and before I discovered it I thought the only way I could get necks that I liked was to order custom made necks.

This is a significantly cheaper option and just as high quality.

Everything on this neck is what it’s supposed to be. The best materials, excellent workmanship. I will get some very good use out of this. Very satisfied with his purchase. I like Arkansas music and the way they show pictures of the actual neck you will buy.

Thanks for doing it right!.

This is my second Mighty Mite neck. The first was a birds eye maple that they no longer carry. I was so impressed with the first one that I got a second neck. This time a rosewood fretboard. As far as I am concerned these necks do not have a finish.

They are sanded super smooth but need to have a finish put on them. Both times I used a tung oil finish that was super easy to apply and dried in just a few minutes. This allows you to put several coats on in a couple of hours.

Tung oil gives a very light coating finish that feels really fast and smooth. The rosewood neck unfortunately required fret leveling and crowning. Guns and Guitars on You Tube had the cheapest easiest way to fret level and crown a guitar so it was pretty simple.

I believe a neck that is shipped from Korea with all the changes in humidity is going to need fret leveling and crowning. Just accept it. I have had Fender USA necks that needed fret leveling and crowning so learn how to do it if you want to build or maintain guitars.

Chinese necks have poor quality control and usually need more work.

First the positive. The guitar is absolutely beautiful, and plays well, feels good. Build quality is excellent. Now for the things that annoy me. I was a bit thrown back by the scale length on the guitar, it is a bit short or tiny looking compared to my other guitars.

It is at least 2 inches shorter than my Les Paul. Not a deal killer. So while I was able to get the sounds of a Les Paul and Strat out of this guitar to decent enough satisfaction, I do feel I am not liking the pickups that much if you are not running them with clean effects.

They are very noisy and pickup a lot of hum. I was able to compensate mostly for this with the noise gate on my multi-effects pedalboard. But I am having some regret. I used to have noisy Strat pickups but they were quiet if I had the bridge and middle pickup on as they acted like a humbucker.

On this guitar that is not the case, they are not wired in a cancelling mode or at least if they are it is not working too well as they hum. I went online to see if I could order other pickups to replace them and I can’t seem to even find an alternative.

So if you buy this guitar you are stuck with the pickups as far as I can tell. Seems what I really wanted was a HSH configuration with a noiseless middle pickup. For the most part if i have a clean sound it is fine, but any distortion/overdrive and you have hum if any single coil is in use.

I don’t see a pickup upgrade path here. Also wish it was offered with 24 frets.

Overall: So I only recently got turned on to Paul Reed Smith guitars when I purchased a used DGT model. I liked it so much I decided to look for a brand new one to be a number 2. I have been playing professionally for over 20 years.

All styles, studio, live and session work. I have habitually used Les Pauls and Telecasters exclusively for as long as I have played guitar. But after falling in love with the DGT i purchased, I really appreciate the stability, quality, precise intonation, and playability of PRS guitars.

So I came across this 509 model. Let me just say there is almost nothing this guitar cannot do. As far as the pickups go, the neck and bridge are identical. In humbucker position they are clear, articulate and full.

the bridge is airy and bright with medium output and just sounds perfect clean, driven, and dirty. The neck is warm and round articulate, but not in an extreme way. It is not muddy at all. Clean is excellent, driven is a little boomy, but dirty it has all those beautiful violin-esque tones.

With the coils tapped, the bridge is much like a strat and not like a tele, roll off the tone a bit and presto. Magic. The neck is like a nice 50’s strat when coil tapped and with a little roll off of the tone it sounds much like a tele.

The in-between positions on the 5-way yield nice fat phasey tones with humbuckers and Strat delight when the coils are tapped. Since the taps are available for the neck and bridge individually there are 9 tonal options at your disposal that are all 100% usable.

Things to note:The toggles make switching the taps on and off very convenient for on stage playing. Master volume and tone control keep adjustments simple and easy. Trem is rock solid and locking tuners are fantastic.

I play every style of music and can go from Sinatra to earth wind and fire, right up to metallica in the same gig. And amazingly I can do it all on this one guitar. If I could only bring one guitar in the vault to a fly gig it would absolutely be this one.

It blows me away night after night how nice of an instrument this is. I have been gigging it for the last three months and in that time I rarely pull either of the other 2 out of the vault. For a gear head, tone junkie, grass could always be greener kind of guy thats saying something.

Let me also say, I have been playing almost 30 years (i am 42) and I have never purchased and been satisfied with a “brand new” guitar. I always returned them. I love this instrument. And I love zZounds for making it possible to own it while I pay for it.

Thanks.

I tried two of the PRS 509s. I was disappointed because in my opinion the pickups were not as defined as my PRS 513s. First the 509 does not have heavy humbucker as does the 513. BEcause I perform such a variety of music I need Single, Clean, and Heavy.

Second the neck clean humbucker was not as clear as my 513’s. It seemed a little darker. The 509 bridge clean humbucker seemed not to have the drive the 513 has. Third. And here is the kicker with the 509.

In Pseudo Single Coil Tap Mode it is NOT truly single coil mode. You see there is some coil sharing from the other bobbin to keep the volume from dropping to noticeably. Therefore, the sound is not a single coil sound.

Fourth. Also, another sticky point. With the switch position in bridge and middle pickup you do get that Strat quacking sound however with the neck and middle switch position you don’t really get that quack like the 513 does.

I has to do with which bobbin is being used as the main bobbin. With the 513 there is truly single coil mode because only one bobbin is activated. I did buy one of the 509s. I thought I could get used to it or set it up different.

I am still sorry I did. I would rather buy another 513. I also have a PRS Custom 24-08. (with the 498 pickups). Now that sounds great because in single coil mode they really only activate the one coil.

All that being said it might be just right for some guitarists.