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Stratocasterising My 69s


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picked up a electronic dead 600. Put the neck on my JTV69.  Works great-Very happy-no mods needed.

 

I love the 600 neck, at least the feel. Mine needs a fret job to get rid of fret buzz but other than that it's great.

 

I'd also suggest trying to swap the nuts on the guitar if possible.

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God, a proper headstock makes the 69 look 1000000000 more better.

 

Not to mention what it does for the playability!  I tried real hard to like the OEM neck, but it's just too narrow at the top for my fat fingers and jumbo frets don't cut it for my playing style. 

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Buy a Mighty-Mite neck from Stew-Mac.  I have the rosewood fretboard, compound radius version on my 69 and would never go back.  Maple fretboard is a few bucks more.

 

Will this neck fit, without needing to make modifications? Otherwise, what's involved?

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At a minimum, you will need to locate and drill four holes for the mounting screws.  It's not rocket science, but things do need to be carefully aligned and the holes drilled to the proper depth using the proper drill size.  I chickened out and had a local guitar tech do it.  In my case, the set angle wasn't quite right and the neck needed to be shimmed.  I cannot remember if the nut was pre-slotted or not.   Initial results were quite good and the playability was greatly improved.  This round cost me about $75 on top of the neck purchase.

 

A few months later, I sent the guitar to Steve Weber for a Plek setup.  He fixed the neck set properly by shaving the back of the heel.  Results this time were spectacular!  I know there's controversy about the Plek machine, but I have never seen such a perfect job of fret leveling in my life.  No buzz, no choking out on high string bends.  Expect a Plek setup to run $2-300.

 

Basically, when you start this type of rework expect the results to be proportional to how much effort gets put into it.  Unless you have a fair amount of experience working on guitars it's probably not something to tackle at home.

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  • 1 year later...

This is an old topic, but I just picked up a JTV69, the headstock looks like dog poo. I want to put a strat neck on it... so you're saying the angle isn't quite right for just a straight change? I will have Jim Foote do the work and set it up for me, but I'd like to know how much work is involved.

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I'll probably swap my neck once the warranty is gone. I've gotten used to it, but it's still annoying how close the E strings are to the edge. I don't have that problem as much anymore, but honestly, what were they thinking? I suppose they just wanted the neck to be smaller to the hands without compromising the string spacing.

 

I don't have the headstock as much as I used to. It looks better in person.

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Headstock doesn't bother me.  I would actually prefer a hardtail - don't use the whammy bar.  I don't like the scale length of the Les Paul guitars as much as a Strat or I would probably have gone with the 59 too.  I really like the looks of the 59.  The funky model switching sucks though.  Standard 5 way makes way more sense.

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I would have bought the 59 if it had a whammy bar, just because the headstock is so hideous on the 69.

 

Headstock doesn't bother me.  I would actually prefer a hardtail - don't use the whammy bar.  I don't like the scale length of the Les Paul guitars as much as a Strat or I would probably have gone with the 59 too.  I really like the looks of the 59.  The funky model switching sucks though.  Standard 5 way makes way more sense.

 

 

One of the biggest reasons I got the 69 was the tremolo. Maybe I would of gotten the 89, but I hate floyd rose systems. If the 59 had a bigsby, I'd love it and would of considered getting it over a 69, but I don't know.

I'm not the biggest whammy user, but I want the option to have it there if I need it. 

 

I did want a Strat/fender style guitar though. I might get the 59 next if I ever do get another Variax, but it'll be a while.

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...so you're saying the angle isn't quite right for just a straight change? I will have Jim Foote do the work and set it up for me, but I'd like to know how much work is involved.

I've played guitars fresh from the factory that needed a neck shim, so any replacement you get could conceivably need it, but it's far from a guarantee. I put a Warmoth neck on mine. No shims required, and no regrets. Infinite improvement.

 

Never heard of a Jim Foote, but any decent luthier who's half awake should have little difficulty with the job. Aside from the offset bolt holes, it's basically a drop in replacement.

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I don't get the neck or the headstock hate

 

Imnsho it's all 'stray disease'

 

If the 'strat look' is how you define how a guitar is SUPPOSED TO LOOK (at least one with similar dimensions), then I grok it, but I personally don't WANT a strat copy. I'd way rather have something different

 

Sure, the 69 is inspired by the strat but its its own beast and IMO that's a darn good thing

 

Granted, I could own a dozen guitars and I could easily think of that many or more I'd rather have than a strat

 

They just leave me cold

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I don't get the neck or the headstock hate

 

Imnsho it's all 'stray disease'

 

If the 'strat look' is how you define how a guitar is SUPPOSED TO LOOK (at least one with similar dimensions), then I grok it, but I personally don't WANT a strat copy. I'd way rather have something different

 

Sure, the 69 is inspired by the strat but its its own beast and IMO that's a darn good thing

 

Granted, I could own a dozen guitars and I could easily think of that many or more I'd rather have than a strat

 

They just leave me cold

 

That would be cool, but it's obvious that the JTV bodies are specifically designed to be based off of a Strat, Les Paul, and Super Strat.

 

Regardless, the specs should of been tweaked to be as superior as they can be, considering how praised of a luthier he is, but yet I find it difficult to play on the edges of the fretboard because of the narrow string space from the edges. It makes certain playing styles needlessly more difficult.

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I actually quite like the original neck but would prefer a one piece maple neck and stainless steel frets. I've put on 11 strings for better acoustic sounds and the frets wear out quite easy with bigger strings.

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I actually quite like the original neck but would prefer a one piece maple neck and stainless steel frets. I've put on 11 strings for better acoustic sounds and the frets wear out quite easy with bigger strings.

Warmoth will do stainless frets for a $90 up-charge. Well worth it for frets that will last essentially forever.

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Warmoth will do stainless frets for a $90 up-charge. Well worth it for frets that will last essentially forever.

Yeah, I know. Also Musikraft does it for $40. I've bought one for my MJT Strat.

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Warmoth will do stainless frets for a $90 up-charge. Well worth it for frets that will last essentially forever.

Hi Crusin on, I am curious, do you believe stainless steel frets affect the tone either in a good or bad way?

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Missing only a maple fretboard! 

 

How you find it?

Hello arislaf, the guitar looks amazing. One question. How do you know which model you are using with the strat style tone knob installed? Also, does anything light up when modelling is engaged?

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Hi Crusin on, I am curious, do you believe stainless steel frets affect the tone either in a good or bad way?

Tone, no. Playability, yes. Bending is effortless. Whenever I switch back to a guitar with regular frets, the difference is night and day...you can actually hear and feel the string grinding against a normal fret. Not something I had ever noticed before.

 

I'm gonna convert them all, as needed. Even if they didn't feel any different, I'd make the switch anyway, just for the longevity factor. I should have done it years ago.

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Hello arislaf, the guitar looks amazing. One question. How do you know which model you are using with the strat style tone knob installed? Also, does anything light up when modelling is engaged?

Thanks for the kind words. I memorize the positions so I know for example 1 is the 89 1-2 tele, 2 strat, and goes on... Well, as about light up, it is but is not helpful anymore.. 

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Buy a Mighty-Mite neck from Stew-Mac.  I have the rosewood fretboard, compound radius version on my 69 and would never go back.  Maple fretboard is a few bucks more.

 

How is the nut on that neck?  works well with the trem or should I think about the Tusq nut?

 

Arislaf - I like what you did with the knobs...

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Tone, no. Playability, yes. Bending is effortless. Whenever I switch back to a guitar with regular frets, the difference is night and day...you can actually hear and feel the string grinding against a normal fret. Not something I had ever noticed before.

I'm gonna convert them all, as needed. Even if they didn't feel any different, I'd make the switch anyway, just for the longevity factor. I should have done it years ago.

Thanks for the feedback. I have never experienced stainless but they sound great.

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Thanks for the kind words. I memorize the positions so I know for example 1 is the 89 1-2 tele, 2 strat, and goes on... Well, as about light up, it is but is not helpful anymore..

 

Thanks for the kind words. I memorize the positions so I know for example 1 is the 89 1-2 tele, 2 strat, and goes on... Well, as about light up, it is but is not helpful anymore..

 

Ok thanks a lot.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I picked up a gold 69s on sale shortly after they first came out but really wanted one with a maple neck. Liked it so much I picked up another 69s - this time black with maple neck - and kept the gold for a backup but really never played it much. Saw all the talk of neck swapping on the forums so I figured I'd give it a try and picked up the compound radius maple neck from StewMac and now I end up playing the gold/maple just as much. I actually like the JTV neck but the Strat neck is, well, a Strat neck and feels great! Now I have two JTV-69s' that I have a hard time choosing between when I head out the door. I'll post pics if I can figure out how to from my iPad.

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