Is this a real vintage Fender neck?

[X-Ray Spex]

This popped up on Ebay but I'm skeptical at best, the date stamp on the bottom looks wrong to me but I have zero first hand experience with vintage Jazzmasters so I was wondering what do the experts on here think? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Refretted-Vint ... SwTEpcpNqi

[rbrcbr]

I'm not an expert on this but if I remember correctly, pencil date on the neck heel is normal for 1959 & 1960. The clay dots are correct for a 1960 along with what looks like a real Brazilian rosewood fretboard, only thing that sort of seems fishy to me is how clean the back of the neck looks. Hardly any playwear (if any). Maybe it was refinished? They say it's original and it feels nicely broken in but doesn't show much wear. The back of the headstock and front both have that weird damage at the end, not sure what that's about. Otherwise it seems fine?

Sorry I don't have a whole lot of experience with vintage guitars in general, someone else with more knowledge will chime in shortly. Seems alright to me though.

[øøøøøøø]

The neck date looks fine to me. Slightly weird that it's off-center a bit, but this sort of thing is almost like provenance in my book... Fender was nothing if not inconsistent, and sometimes one of the things that makes a fake seem fishy is that everything is just a little too right, with nothing unexpected... know what I mean? If I were going to fake a neck, I'd put the pencil date in a "more normal" location.

The headstock finish looks weird, but it might just be the photo.

You'd need to verify that the decal is ON TOP OF the lacquer, and not buried under it, otherwise it's evidence of an overspray or refin at a minimum

[mgeek]

It doesn't ring true to me...refin at best I'd say. Where's the wear on the back of the neck? Just that weird flaking on the headstock, and then a weird, too dark and clean looking neck date

Also this other listing by the same seller may give an idea how totally high he is

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1962-Fender-Du ... 0752.m1982

If you rotate the bridge 180 degrees to make it 25.5 how are you gonna attach the strings bro...!!! Makes my head hurt

[Paul-T]

I'm on the fence. It doesn't look like the early 60s necks I've seen in colour, ie varnish... but some do yellow less than others depending on how much light they're exposed to. But it's very unconvincing. Even the clay dots look cleaner than most Ive seen. There's no yellowing at all of the varnish compared to areas unexposed to light, ie the neck base. Nut looks plastic not bone. And I'd want to see the position markers as they're distinctly different on repros.

The neck date could be OK. I think I'd pass without knowing the seller or having a right of return. You're better off paying more for one you know is right.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Yeah, it's the lack of more discolouration that makes me wonder too. It all looks a bit too clean & I'd expect to see a more uneven blend of worn clearcoat on the back of the neck & almost tobacco-like discolouration in other spots. I'd love to see the side of the neck heel as there's often a tide mark there.

Still, this could just be a well looked after (and not very often used) neck. It always makes you wonder why folk end up parting out guitars like this but, one thing I've come to realise over the years is that virtually anything's possible.

[fuzzjunkie]

It’s real.

There are two tell tale signs on a neck of that era, and this has them.

It’s also had a refret, been refinished, and that isn’t a vintage nut, but the rest is real. Without all the above it would probably be $1000.

The refinishing explains the headstock damage, which looks like water damage from here, and the heel not being as clean as the back of the neck and the dots being so white, it was probably sanded during the refret.

The truss rod being cranked so deep is concerning though.

[VMM]

So it's been refinished? But the decals on the headstock look ok? They clay dots look like a vintage guitar but the nut is definitely not vintage. I know we have a repository of mel markings on the website. Any handwriting experts out there? Does the neck date look ok? From my perspective is the price right when accounting for the fact that it's refinished and refretted?

[Paul-T]

Well it's an auction so it's impossible to say if the price is right. There are six days to go, if it stayed at $500 it might be OK value for money but it's going to go higher, no?

The date almost certainly ok, they tend to survive even a nitro-poly-nitro transition. The decal is surely a repro. I believe the truss rod is worrying, too.

[øøøøøøø]

I agree that the truss rod is the most-worrying thing.

It's possible that the lighting in the photo is weird; the finish DOES look strange in the pics, but I'll withhold judgment not having inspected it in person.

If it were all original I'd expect it to go for over $1k

Tooling marks on the neck heel look right, the shape of the rosewood is convex on the headstock face, the slab extends the right depth down into the truss rod cutout...

I think it's highly unlikely that this is a fake neck. A neck with some issues? Probably. But anyone making a fake and getting the above details right would also do a more believable finish and nut...

[i love sharin foo]

Sometimes the wood that the trussrod nut sits upon becomes compressed over time, allowing the nut to seat more deeply in the hold. If that is the case here, you can shim it with washers of the appropriate thickness. Stew Mac sells nice ones. I agree that the neck looks authentic.

[Embenny]

Agreed, the washer trick isn't a big deal if that's all it is. I've seen that happen before. The question is whether it ended up that way because someone's been trying to compensate for excessive relief. That fretboard looks like it was sanded during the refret (too clean, dots too bright). Sometimes, people try to sand out issues that aren't solved by sanding. E.g. if the neck was left under tension without strings for years and developed a back bow, sanding it "straight" again takes out thickness from the fretboard in the middle of the neck. Then, when it's placed under tension, the backbow naturally disappears and you're left with artificially-exaggerate relief sanded into the fingerboard itself. So you'd then crank the truss rod to backbow the neck to the point that it plays straight again.

That's just one possible scenario, but these are the types of things that can happen over the course of a neck's 60 year-long life. Alternatively, it could just be the common wood compression issue which is functionally solved more or less definitively with the right washers.

[Cpe4spd]

I think everything mentioned about the neck is correct. It Looks right but finish appearance looks abit odd, refinished or not the neck is worth the price. I would think a vintage one could get up to $1500. The neck is worth that price on ebay even if it was a reissue. Jump on it!

[Paul-T]

I think everything mentioned about the neck is correct. It Looks right but finish appearance looks abit odd, refinished or not the neck is worth the price. I would think a vintage one could get up to $1500. The neck is worth that price on ebay even if it was a reissue. Jump on it!

The trouble is not so much the new finish - which nonetheless is a credibility issue when the seller claims it's original - but that it seems to be a not particularly good refinish. Overall they've damaged the headstock back and front, heavily sanded the fretboard and markers, and we simply don't know what's happening with the overall neck bow, and how that relates to the truss rod. It's likely to go for over $1,000 and will always be compromised.

Sometimes cheap stuff isn't a bargain.

[Cpe4spd]

Anything can be fixed and if there is trouble with the rod or a bow in the neck, I know the guys to send it to. The issue for me is, it is a real '60 Neck thats hard to find and Brazilian. So for the price is it worth it if the Neck needs some work and attention? In my opinion yes it is worth it.
The situation and unknowns may not be for everybody. But it would work for me if I needed one, which I don't.