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Thread: Question for all you peeps...

  1. #1
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    Question for all you peeps...

    Some time ago I got a helluva deal on this Cruz Master Design 63 Strat. Love the sound.

    Not wild aboot the relic job, but it is what it is.

    Love the neck SIZE but the bozo's sanded off all the finish and it FEELS like crap. I check for splinters every time I use it.

    I'm thinking reneck. I am also thinking reverse head as I played one the other day and I actually prefer the tuners down there because it fells better on my wrist.

    Now I am certainly not shy in the finishing department (I even built a collapsable spray booth in my garage) but I am thinking about just buying a neck instead. Reasons: Keep the old one for when my kids sell it as original.

    Suggestions? Who has the good ones and is reputable these days?





  2. #2
    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
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    Re: Question for all you peeps...

    Get some Buthcher's Bowling Wax or any other good paste wax for wooden floors and put a few coats on the neck before you do anything else. I prefer the unpainted necks myself. They don't get sticky when you sweat. It just needs to get played in a bit. The wax will likely help.

    Chuck
    "No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim

  3. #3
    Forum Member S. Cane's Avatar
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    Re: Question for all you peeps...

    I second Chuck here.

    I wouldn't butcher (reneck) a Cruz strat. Try to minimize the unpleasant feel by waxing it up.

    Like you said, it is what it is, and if you really can't bond with it, sell it and get something else.

    That's what I did to a Gibson '61 Reissue which had that stupid "faded" finish that Gibson makes to cut costs. The guitar was actually a VERY good Gibson SG, sounded and played very well but I simply couldn't stand the lack of gloss.

    That guitar gave me two great joys: one when I first unboxed it, and one when I let it go and received the Rickenbacker I traded it for. I decided to get rid of it when I found myself with a flask of Tru-Oil and the stuff I'd need to apply it and try to give it some gloss. I then asked myself "what the hell am I doing? It's a modern faded Gibson, not a played in old one. Some people will like it, I just never will. F*** it!".

    No matter how people try, "faded", "relic'd" or "worn" instruments feel like CRAP compared to a real instrument that was once glossy and has been played enough to actually have lost its original gloss to a "played in" feel. You just can't artificially produce that.

  4. #4
    Forum Member OldStrummer's Avatar
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    Re: Question for all you peeps...

    Quote Originally Posted by Sérgio View Post
    No matter how people try, "faded", "relic'd" or "worn" instruments feel like CRAP compared to a real instrument that was once glossy and has been played enough to actually have lost its original gloss to a "played in" feel. You just can't artificially produce that.

    I wish this was a sign hanging in every guitar shop.

  5. #5
    Forum Member S. Cane's Avatar
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    Re: Question for all you peeps...

    Quote Originally Posted by OldStrummer View Post

    I wish this was a sign hanging in every guitar shop.
    Yes, in my own personal experience, these things are either cutting of cost or selling an illusion. Neither works as advertised...

  6. #6
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Re: Question for all you peeps...

    Quote Originally Posted by Offshore Angler View Post
    Get some Buthcher's Bowling Wax or any other good paste wax for wooden floors and put a few coats on the neck before you do anything else. I prefer the unpainted necks myself. They don't get sticky when you sweat. It just needs to get played in a bit. The wax will likely help.

    Chuck
    Do this.

  7. #7
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    Re: Question for all you peeps...

    Warmoth. I replaced the neck on my American Standard Tele with Warmoth and used a Warmoth on my Strat build as well. Very happy with both.

    mahogany/ebony


    maple/ebony

  8. #8
    Forum Member DanTheBluesMan's Avatar
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    Re: Question for all you peeps...

    I've long heard of people using ebony to make super strats but that may be the first tele I've seen with an ebony fingerboard. would love to play one and see how it feels and sounds

  9. #9
    Forum Member S. Cane's Avatar
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    Re: Question for all you peeps...

    I bet Warmoth necks are very good, and I'd certainly try one in any "player's" guitar.

    But being a purist, I'd say that doing a reneck on a John Cruz just doesn't make sense, due to the unique nature of the guitar and to its value. I'd just get along with it or sell it to buy something I'd like more.

    Ok, I know, you can keep the original neck and all, but come on, if you bought a masterbuilt strat, what's the point in making a partscaster out of it? Makes no sense.

    I say sell it and buy a non-relic one.

  10. #10
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    Re: Question for all you peeps...

    Quote Originally Posted by Sérgio View Post
    I bet Warmoth necks are very good, and I'd certainly try one in any "player's" guitar.

    But being a purist, I'd say that doing a reneck on a John Cruz just doesn't make sense, due to the unique nature of the guitar and to its value. I'd just get along with it or sell it to buy something I'd like more.

    Ok, I know, you can keep the original neck and all, but come on, if you bought a masterbuilt strat, what's the point in making a partscaster out of it? Makes no sense.

    I say sell it and buy a non-relic one.
    It ain't a Masterbuilt.

    It's a Master Design.

    Cruz designed it and a team built it.

    I have no problem changing a bolt on neck for something else.

    But I'll try the wax first.

    As I said, I like EVERYTHING about it except the raw neck (and crap relic).

    Why would I sell it? It sounds awesome!

  11. #11
    Forum Member S. Cane's Avatar
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    Re: Question for all you peeps...

    Quote Originally Posted by renderit View Post
    It ain't a Masterbuilt.

    It's a Master Design.

    Cruz designed it and a team built it.

    I have no problem changing a bolt on neck for something else.

    But I'll try the wax first.

    As I said, I like EVERYTHING about it except the raw neck (and crap relic).

    Why would I sell it? It sounds awesome!


    To each his own. the guitar is yours and you can do whatever you want with it.

    My point, though, is: Masterbuilt or master designed, whatever. It's a handmade (or at least hand finished) stratocaster, not a mass produced cheap bolt on. The neck was set up for that body.

    Seriously, I get a bit pissed whenever people use that line (it's a bolt on, no big deal)... You see, my own main strat is an American Standard, and I wouldn't make a partscaster out of it, the fact the neck ain't glued into the body does NOT mean that any neck with four screwholes will fit and work just as well. People swap necks on good guitars when the neck breaks or when they have a very good reason to prefer the new neck. Actually they do it to set necks too, check Marc Bolan's Les Paul.

    Just my 2 cents.

    Edit. P. S. why would you sell it? Because you obviously don't like it as much as you would like to. The same happened to me. My Gibson SG was an outstanding '61 Reissue, excellent sound, played like butter, looked great, but I just couldn't love it exactly because of the " it FEELS like crap. I check for splinters every time I use it" feel of the "worn" finish they gave it.

    Last edited by S. Cane; 02-16-2019 at 10:21 AM.

  12. #12
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: Question for all you peeps...

    In the end, you have to do what pleases you. I wouldn’t parts it. But that’s just me. I don’t like relics but I understand people who do.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  13. #13
    Forum Member Volumeknob's Avatar
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    Re: Question for all you peeps...

    You can send it to me and write it off as a charitable donation :)
    The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits.
    T. Roosevelt

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