Replicas - Necks

The neck on any Quo replica is always a dead giveaway when spotting the poorer attempts at Quo copies.

Most poor Rossi copies will be made using a one piece maple neck. There will be a walnut stripe down the back of the neck and a 'plug' on the headstock. The dots will be spaced incorrectly at the 12th fret.

Most poor Parfitt copies will have a rosewood slab finger board, and typically white dots again incorrectly spaced at the 12th fret.

Let's examine the actual neck specifications and outline exactly what you need on your guitar to make it anything like an accurate copy...

Once the truss rod had been fitted, the channel was filled, and this explains why this type of neck has what is known as a 'skunk' stripe on the back. A plug can also been seen on the headstock above the nut, which was needed to fill the anchoring point of the truss rod.

Maple 'kit' necks today are typically single piece maple necks, and so it is very likely that your Rossi 'special' will display the 'skunk' stripe down the back and the 'plug' on the headstock. If this is the case then I'm afraid your guitar is not an accurate replica. It has the totally wrong type of neck!

Right up to 1959, Telecasters were manufactured using necks made from a single piece of maple as described above.

However, by mid-1959 this type of neck was replaced by a rosewood-capped neck, which brought about a change in the truss-rod installation. The channel could be drilled and the rod fitted from the front of the neck, before the fingerboard was attached. Thus Telecaster necks no longer had a stripe down the back or a plug on the headstock above the nut.

Both Rick's guitar and Francis's guitar have necks which date from 1965, and so neither has the above markings.

Both are two-piece necks, i.e. the neck has a separate fret (finger) board.

In Ricks case the fingerboard is rosewood, but in Francis's case its a maple finger board. Thus Francis has a two piece maple neck.

The first rosewood-capped necks had a finger board which had been milled flat on the neck base, which resulted in the board being quite thick (left). As a result these type of necks became known as 'slab' boards.

After mid-1962, a thin curved veneer rosewood fret board (i.e. a convex base) superseded the slab board. Rick's guitar neck has this type of curved finger board (left). The picture on the left shows the curved finger board on a mid-1960s Telecaster neck (the neck shown is dated OCT66).

                           Tony faithfully recreates this curved veneer on his replica Quo guitars.

Again, most cheep 'kit' based rosewood necks will come with a slab finger board. If your guitar has this type it is not an accurate replica. Note that it is the back of the finger board that is flat, not the front! (see white line in the picture on the left)

Finally, note the large 'Phillips' screw showing at the base of the necks in the pictures above. This is used to adjust the tension in the truss rod. Many modern necks (including most US and Mexican Fenders, the picture left shows a Nashville Deluxe Tele) provide access to the truss rod through the headstock.

This was not the case on the necks from the 1960s, and so your replica should have no such access on the headstock.

Once again we must briefly consider the background to explain why things were the way they were in the mid-1960s.

The maple necks on the original early 50s 'black-guard' Telecasters were inlaid with 1/4" black dots, which had a 5/8" spacing at the 12th fret. By 1953 the 12th fret spacing was widened, and the double dots became lined up with the 'A' and 'B' strings.

However, sometime during 1963 Fender reverted to the original (narrower) 12th fret spacing.

Also, although maple capped finger boards continued to carry black dots, the first rosewood boards were fitted with white dots. The white dots were replaced with bigger mother of pearl dots in early 1965.

Thus on any copy of Francis's guitar, the dots should be black, and have the narrow 5/8" spacing at the 12th fret.

An accurate copy of Rick's guitar should have the bigger mother of pearl dots, and also the 5/8" spacing at the 12th fret.

Almost all of the poorer attempts at replicas that we have seen have had the wider 12th fret spacing, and white dots on the rosewood finger board.

Checkout the three finger boards below. One is Rick's, one is an original 65 Tele, and the other is one of Tony's replica Parfitt guitars. Can you spot which is which?!

The pictures below show a close up of Francis's guitar neck in the middle, with one of Tony's hand made 2-piece maple necks on the left. The third is a typical one piece maple neck. These are readily available, but in addition to being the completely wrong type of neck for a Quo replica, there is no extra fret and the position marker spacing is too wide.

Checkout Tony's hand made 2-piece maple neck. Note the perfect finish, the extra fret, and the correctly spaced 12th fret dots.

These rods can be adjusted by means of a nut, which will be situated either at the heel or headstock end of the neck.

Both Quo guitars have necks where the truss rod adjusting nut is located at the heel of the neck, so any neck where access is via the headstock is of no use for a Quo replica.

Note the truss rod cavity on the headstock.

As per the American model, the truss rod is accessed via the headstock. Also note the 'over sized' (and uglier) headstock on this model, which incidentally is the one used for the 'Riffs' guitar. A lesson here then - not all Telecaster headstocks follow the same profile.

On this neck, truss rod adjustment is done via the heel of the neck (which is as it should be), thus there is no need for a cavity on the headstock.

Some models of Telecaster do come with 22 frets, however this is normally achieved by having the finger board extend back beyond the end of the neck.

This of course was not the case with Rossi's guitar, as the extra fret was quite literally squeezed on to the end of the existing finger board.

I watched Tony add this extra fret on to my Rossi replica, and he explained that this procedure was fairly straight forward to anyone who makes guitars (i.e. knows what they're doing). So if you're buying a Rossi replica don't be fobbed off by anyone telling you that this cannot be done, or that this detail will cost a mint as an optional extra!

This extra fret is not necessary if you are going for the 'Live Aid' configuration of Francis's guitar.

Rick's guitar simply carries the regular 21 frets.

You can clearly see how the all important 22nd fret has been included on an otherwise standard 21 fret neck.

Don't let anyone tell you that this detail is not important, after all, without the frets you can't play the notes!

This type of neck plate was introduced by Fender during 1965.

Given the 1958 date on the original bridge pickup removed from Rossi's guitar, and the fact that two of Quo's guitar technicians have told us that Francis's guitar is dated 1959 (*), suggests that this neck plate is not the original...

So your 'checklist' for the guitar neck when buying or building a Quo replica should read as follows:-

2. Narrow 5/8" 12th fret dot spacing

2. Narrow 5/8" 12th fret dot spacing

3. Larger mother of pearl dots