'Kay, here's the situation. I've found out that my el-cheapo Pyramid brand Strat copy has developed a twist in the neck. This has given me additional problems with adjusting the string heights and fixing the intonation. Taken to the guitar shop I bought it from and was told that adjusting the truss rod would only give a temporary solution; the bend would come back in anyway between a few days and a month.

A few questions:

1) How hard is it to change the neck on a bolt-on electric guitar? Would I be able to do it by myself or would I need to bring it in to a shop or something? What sort of things would I be expected to do?

2) Where can I find and buy electric Strat copy necks in the Klang Valley area? How much can I expect to pay?

You might as well buy a new guitar. No way you will find a decent strat neck, even a China one for less RM300.

Well, I'm keeping all my options open.

A new SX strat is RM500. Used probably RM300. No one will sell the neck and body separately since the resale value is too low.

Invest in a new or used guitar, no offense but your guitar is not worth spending anymore money to fix.

Even if you could find a neck, whether they'll mate is another story. There are slight neck pocket variations amongst manufacturers, and necks also vary in size. Considering the tolerences are so fine, you may have to engage in some woodwork to mate them effectively, and to ensure the angles are correct.

Other than that, the necks are a breeze to change. 4 screws, and that's it. If everything mates properly, then it's no problem doing it yourself. If not, you might have to remove wood from the cavity (never the neck itself), or use shims to ensure the string height's manageable.

I'm not sure where you can find necks, or how much they'd be. If you're lucky, one may pop up somewhere, but I doubt they'd be under 300, too. The cheapo ones I saw in Ochanamizu's Ishi were already pushing 400.

My bassist's Pyramid JB clone's also suffering, I think the truss rod's broken. Nut spins in the access hole, no change in relief. There's a major bow in the neck, and it's getting worse.

What noisetrigger said may make sense. Might be an idea to start saving for something better (like that 750 Jap strat, that's sweet). Of the options you have available, this may seem more expensive, but in the long run it's more worthwhile.

Check this site, they got lots of parts

what j05h and noisetrigger posted is right,

I don't think a neck from Fender (or any other brand) will fit on your Pyramid guitar. There are slight neck variations amongst manufacturers, and the necks also vary in sizes.

So far, i haven't come across any music shops in the Klang Valley area that sells necks and i doubt they will even order one for you coz they have to order them directly from overseas thus, won't be making any profit at all.

Try your luck online, where PSY84 posted. But again, do keep in mind about the size, the length, the thinkness and what not of the neck.

Best bet is still save some money and get a SX strat or a Fender

for the price of the neck and shipping, it would be cheaper to even get a new guitar. and since these are not local, who knows how badly worn out their used parts are ?
if ur gonna take the risk be my guess but, as noisetrigger said, your guitar is not worth the investment. no offence

No offence taken. I mean, for RM 300, of course it's not going to be of the highest quality. I just thought that since the body is still pretty solid (minus some dings here and there), it might be worth it to just change the neck. I kind of already figured that it'd be cheaper/easier to just buy a new guitar from the beginning. Like I said, I'm just keeping my options open.

Thanks for the warning about proper mating. I figured there'd be something to do along those lines. Worth remembering for future reference.

PSY84's site doesn't seem to have anything resembling a neck around. It's mostly accessories and smaller parts.

Out of interest, what about custom guitar shops? Might they have separate parts on sale?

And thanks for the advice, gentlemen.

strato neck? (I think mostly from fender)

BTw, that's not my site, just that a site i bump into

custom shops ? u might as well be looking at a new SX strat or a squier strat.
heres a bit of advice, get a new sx strat. u won't regret it.

aiyo.. pyramid guitars... its not worth even repairing that..
i know very well cuz my very first electric guitar wuz also a pyramid. mine fractured quite badly after one month.. due to humid n heat
for rm300... i suggest that u take a look at any cash converters... u may find some no brand but still ok guitars around rm200
on the other hand if u were to take it to a luither.. i bet he will charge u rm50 at least juz for the service...

Okay, slightly related question:

How hard would it be to take some suitable blocks of wood and shape it into an electric guitar?

A lil off topic ... i got som guitar plans

LES PAUL
http://rapidshare.de/files/17585085/LesPaul-style.pdf.html

SG
http://rapidshare.de/files/17585273/SG-style.pdf

STRAT
http://rapidshare.de/files/17585355/Strat-style.pdf

TELE
http://rapidshare.de/files/17585447/Tele-style.pdf

hahahaha... i think that topic has been discussed before.
first of all, u would need that one big block of wood which wouldn't come cheap. then u need to buy a neck that u want
and u would also need good wood carving skills and also the tools to do it.. then we have to talk about cavity for the pups and for wiring, for the neck mounts, drilling perfectly in the correct places for the neck, allignning the neck and bridge
the work involve and money is not worth it unless u wanna start a hobby making handmade guitars. it takes months

They're all a hundred pounds or more. Factor in shipping and all that, it's going to be close to a grand.

Gear in UK is generally overpriced. From the States, it'll be less, but not much less. Ultimately, the neck will cost pretty much more than the original guitar. Makes more sense to buy a new one.



Haha not that easy, y'know. People don't pay thousands in the States to go to luthier schools for nothing. That said, Brian May did manage to make his own guitar with a bit of help from his dad, I think.

Suitable wood: your classic Strat timber isn't easily found here in a big enough block. You'll get ash or alder flooring strips and all, but you'll have to hunt like mad to get something that'll be bg enough. Same goes for the maple neck blank. You can order from overseas, but it's a fair bet that the first few blanks you cut will be nothing more than practise scraps. Pre-cut bodies and necks aren't cheap, and neither is the shipping.

Tools: yeah, a lot, and they're not cheap, too. Unless you have access to a shop with jigsaws, routers, drill presses, sanders and all the required jigs and templates and whatnot.

Hardware: truss rods, machine heads, neck plates, bridge assemblies, pups, switches, pots, everything down to the little ferrules and strap buttons. Aiks.

Finishing: You can try an auto finish shop. Or go to Ace and pick up some Minwax wipe-on poly. Very labour intensive and it's easy to get wrong.

What might be an idea: GIM

Yeah, people give GIM a lot of stick, but hey, where else can you learn to make a guitar here? You could maybe get them to make you a neck? That might be a possibility. You can google to get their details.

woh fatt sells blank necks for strat style guitars.
whether it fits is a different story.

and that shop that said adjusting truss rod helps? bs.
only a neck with a dual truss rod system can help a twisted neck.

your other option now would be to bring it to a luthier somewhere and have him re-level the neck by sanding it down etc etc, but that would mean removing the frets and refretting them again, so again no point for a cheap guitar.

so morale of the story is, just go get a new guitar

This post has been edited by Everdying: May 14 2006, 06:15 AM

Thanks for the pointer to Woh Fatt. I'll check it out next time I have a chance to go down that way.

About the adjustment thing: well, twisting wasn't the only problem. There's an actual bend in the neck around the 5th to 8th frets too. So it's a combined problem. I should've mentioned that instead of giving the wrong impression of what I was told the truss rod adjustment was supposed to fix.

I considered refretting a long time ago because I couldn't get my action down as low as I wanted without buzzing back then, but that's just too damn expensive to be worth it.

well since its a bolt on...action can also be adjusted by inserting shims like cardboard etc into where the neck meets the body to level it out abit.

cardboard ? not advisable man..
rather send it for a pro set up
and pyramid guitars, this shows their quality la.