Strat Neck, Warmoth or Fender or ?
 

I've ordered a hardtail swamp ash chambered no F-hole Strat body from Warmoth with a clear gloss finish drilled for a Fender American Strat fixed bridge (which I also included in the order). It will be routed HSH for a standard Strat pickguard. It seems light ash will be getting more difficult to buy in the future and the chambering won't hurt the weight either. It would be great to get the guitar under 7 lbs.

Now for the neck... I like the idea of Fender's roasted maple necks which might never get fret sprout, but the look I am targeting is a maple board, not roasted, to match the ash body. I won't order a neck until I get a look at the body a few months from now, in case the ash is darker than I anticipate.

Another possibility is a Warmoth neck which could be custom ordered clear gloss, vintage style truss rod, quarter sawn maple (hopefully that is more spout resistant than flat sawn), and for $25 upgrade to stainless frets. Compound radius is the no upcharge option. There seems to be plenty of decal sellers on Etsy if I really need the logo... Any reason to pay extra for a fixed fretboard radius like my PRS (10")?

A Mexican Fender neck is cheaper than a similarly configured Warmoth and a USA one is much more expensive.

Any other options that make sense?

Stratosphere tear down to get a fully notched nut???

I would like to avoid the many Indonesian replacement necks imported under several different labels.

Compound radius and stainless steel frets would make total sense to me (unless you MUST have a radius that perfectly matches the PRS neck that has a shorter scale length). Otherwise, a neck profile and nut width that you like.

I would "like" a roasted neck, but then it would have to be dark enough to contrast with a natural body, or the body would have to be a darker color than my natural ash Stratocaster and telestrat.

I have a Warmoth neck I bought about 14 years ago. They're great necks, especially if you want to customize it, which it sounds like you do.

Recently I upgraded a cheap Classic Vibe series Fender Jaguar. I bought a new Fender Mexican Classic Players replacement Jaguar neck for it. It's a maple neck with a Pao Ferro Fingerboard, and a lacquer finish. I am really impressed with the quality. And right after I finished putting that Jaguar together, I bought an Wildwood American Vintage Thin Skin Jaguar (also lacquer finished). And in comparing the the necks on both guitars, I see or feel no quality difference between the two. I am very picky, and I would have never thought the made in Mexico neck would have been as good as it, but it is fantastic.

As for the Warmoth necks, I have a close friend who builds partscasters for fun and he has had extremely good luck with the Warmoth necks he uses in his builds. He recently built a Jazzmaster repro using all Warmoth parts, and it was one of the best guitars I've every played period! But he told we the wait period on custom built Warmoth necks is like 12 to 15 weeks.

The Warmoth queue is quite long right now and they're basically cleaned out on in-stock. I won't be getting that body until sometime in August.

Any thoughts about the three truss rod options, Modern, Vintage, or Vintage-Modern?

I vote vintage modern myself. Once had one of the modern, and hated it. I could adjust it, but no one else I knew had any clue about them.

I'd suggest Gold EVO frets instead of SS.

My best friend just built a Strat from scratch. Warmoth neck. The neck had fret sprout and needed leveling & crowning. They are not cheap and personally, I would not have been happy having to do this on a new (supposedly) superior neck. Just a heads up, I have never bought or dealt w/Warmoth, but my friend is honest & reliable & been working on guitars for a couple of decades. My .02

I don't know any one who bought a Warmouth neck and later said

"Darn, should not have done that"

I have a few friends that have built up a # of strat and tele style guitars using Warmouth parts.

I've seen them and played them. and they are NICE!

I have a Warmouth Tele that is some years old and the neck is very good. My understanding is that you are expected to finish off the frets on these, they are not truly finished. This neck is a vintage 50's neck with the truss rod adjustment on the side of the body end of the neck, which works pretty well.

You could check with the Stratosphere and buy a Strat neck that you're familiar with.

What's the difference between modern and vintage-modern? Is modern considered a dual action truss rod?

Vintage-modern has the truss rod adjustment at the headstock similar to a modern Fender. The truss rod also terminates at the 17th fret (or so). I had a 73 Strat whose 3-bolt neck truss rod also terminated in the same spot (more or less). It developed the Fender Ski Jump problem around the 16th fret. Some say that is caused by short shims at the end of the neck (or the micro tilt) and with the wide bolt holes of the day I certainly torqued the screws down pretty hard, but I wondered if the shortened truss rod was to blame. If I go Warmoth I'll get quarter sawn maple and that should take care of that problem.

The Modern neck is a metal rod on metal rod one-way truss rod which adjusts at the body end, but also includes a Gotoh mechanism where you can make minor adjustments from the side of the neck. No seasonal adjustments are likely, but the neck requires enough wood behind the dual rod mechanism (most problematic at the first fret). Also that Gotoh thing seems like a bad alternative to a headstock end adjustment...

https://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks...tructions.aspx

I'm in no big hurry to complete this build and I'm not going to buy a neck until I've inspected the body (likely in August). Bang for the buck it's hard to beat Warmoth. Here is a neck I priced out:

Specifications
Style: Stratocaster®
Construction: Vintage/Modern Construction Scale: 25-1/2 in.
Neck Wood:
Shaft Wood: Quartersawn Maple
Fretboard Wood: Quartersawn Maple (One Piece)
Right/Left: Right Handed Nut Width: 1-11/16"
Neck Profile: Standard thin Radius: 10-16" compound # of Frets: 22
Fret Size: SS6105 (Stainless)
Tuner Ream: Gotoh/Grover (13/32" 11/32") Inlays:
Inlays: Black Face Dots Side Dots: Black Side Dots
Pre-Cut Installed String Nut: GraphTech White TUSQ XL - Standard Nut Mounting Holes: Standard 4 Bolt
Finish: Clear Gloss
$217.00 USD
+ $0.00 + $0.00 + $0.00 + $0.00 + $0.00
+ $25.00 + $0.00 + $0.00
+ $32.00 + $0.00 + $95.00 Price: $369.00

I have had a couple of vintage modern necks. The current one I own is about 4 years old now. Roasted maple, boat neck. One thing I keep finding with my Warmoth necks is I have to adjust them pretty tight to keep them straight or small relief. I find the boat neck very comfortable (but I get why some people would not like it). It also seems to be staying very stable, although the truss rod is about as tight as it gets. Big fan of roasted maple. I have found this tight truss rod to be necessary on a couple of Warmoth necks. Not sure if it is my climate, the way they build them or just me liking a pretty straight neck.
I set my teles up with a straight neck without strings and let the string pressure but the relief in. It generally works really well. I am a bit scared of Warmoth necks because of it. On my current build, I have a Fender roasted neck - BUT I am not sure about it because I have gotten used to a bigger neck and the Fender neck seems thin. Sigh. I will have to see what I do once it is finished.

Did you check out the neck with no string or truss rod tension? Taylor, for example, builds relief into the relaxed neck in order to guarantee a two way truss rod is not required.

A thick roasted maple is probably pretty stiff and maybe Warmoth does the same thing making for a tight truss rod.

Oh yes. I did all of that. I always set them straight with no strings using my fret board ruler. Then using the strings at pitch normally works to give very close to perfect relief. But with the last couple of my Warmoth necks, I had to tighten it a lot to get it to fender specs.