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Just checked out some current Fender guitars the other day and was completely blown away

...by how crappy the necks were
Went looking for the MP Thinline (semi hollow with p90's) which they didn't have, so I grabbed a Cabronita, as I've have been curious about those as well. The frets were so bad that I immediately put it back down. Then I see a $1500 strat...& terrible fretwork again! Go to the next one, same thing. What the hell!? How did these leave the factory? I couldn't even be bothered to check the rest of the guitar over it was so bad. The, you would cut yours fingers kind of bad.

The last one I checked was a $300 CP Squier I think, and it was way better than the $700+ fenders next to it. Could have benefited from a little work, but still much better than the others.

Anyways, guess I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience? The store that had them is a little small town place, and doesn't ever have many people there, so maybe those have been sitting for a while (aka old bad batch or something?).

Two thoughts. Yes. I hate to say it, but their super cheap Chinese plant appears to be making some really decent necks. I don't know what they figured out, but that plant has some really nice fit and finish on their guitars…The Japanese Fenders have always had a nice fit and finish when I've played them. I can't say that about all the US Fenders I've played.

This is not Fender alone. I have a smart wood Les Paul that overall I love, but dammit if the factory frets weren't total shit. Same as you describe, finger snagging ends/fear of cuts. I know that both are trying to keep American made guitars at reasonable prices, but I can't help wonder if they shouldn't raise the price by $25 on a new made guitar and make sure someone does a nice fret dress before they go out.

I had this same experience the other day, also what's up with the insane amount of coating they lather on the back of their necks? I always find myself sanding every Fender neck I get.

Fender and Gibson are both following the same trend, increased prices with decreased quality control.

Fender hasn't resorted to countertop material for fingerboards yet, though.

The Modern Player Jazzmaster I have has excellent fretwork. It is made in china. I also played a thinline tele a few weeks ago, it was a model with humbuckers, tho. It was well made, but the finish around the f-hole was utter shit.

Jeff-7 wrote:Fender hasn't resorted to countertop material for fingerboards yet, though.

This is true. They haven't had the Federal govt seizing their wood supplies though. I read awhile back that Fender is gonna get theirs after the govt sets precedent with Gibson. Haven't followed that saga lately, not sure current status of that ongoing lawsuit.

But yeah, the new Gibson rosewood and baked maple are both horrendous. And no more ebony, for shame.

Guess I should feel lucky that my Fernandes has an ebony fingerboard.

Yeah, my SG was one of the last runs to have an ebony board. Lucked out there, a white SG just doesn't look right without a dark/black board. I still feel bad about passing on the Tweedy sig that had the curacao de negro board but I was hoping they'd come out with some that had ebony boards after that whole fiasco. Oh well.

As far as fret ends are concerned, chances are that they left the factory just fine but the necks may have shrunk just a hair from shipping and sitting in a dry shop - causing the ends to be exposed.

How current is current? I have no complaints with my pawn shop Jag (only a year or two old?) or former Tele Deluxe reissue (which is pretty recent too IIRC).

There is some truth to that. However, lack of humidity control in a guitar shop can certainly ruin a great neck.

My squire strat I got has a good neck, no lacquer which was nice, but it came with really spotty fret edges. Nothing a little filing didn't fix tho. The rest wore down from use quickly.

leaves turn wrote:How current is current? I have no complaints with my pawn shop Jag (only a year or two old?) or former Tele Deluxe reissue (which is pretty recent too IIRC).

I'm pretty sure the pawnshop series is coming out of the chinese factory that has proven [to me at least] to have surprising quality.

Hyphen Nation wrote:

leaves turn wrote:How current is current? I have no complaints with my pawn shop Jag (only a year or two old?) or former Tele Deluxe reissue (which is pretty recent too IIRC).

I'm pretty sure the pawnshop series is coming out of the chinese factory that has proven [to me at least] to have surprising quality.

I think the Pawnshop is MIM. I don't know of any 'Fender' stuff coming from China or Indonesia. They save that for the Squier line.

Jeff-7 wrote:Yeah, my SG was one of the last runs to have an ebony board. Lucked out there, a white SG just doesn't look right without a dark/black board. I still feel bad about passing on the Tweedy sig that had the curacao de negro board but I was hoping they'd come out with some that had ebony boards after that whole fiasco. Oh well.

Yeah, my '57RI LP Custom was one of the last with ebony as well, glad I snagged it when I did. Recently got a used Tweedy SG too but mine has a rosewood board, a really nice one actually. It's got great color and defined grain/striping throughout, one of the best I've seen on any Gibson in a long while. I'd noticed that they switched those boards up to something darker but never knew it was curacao de negro.[/quote]

Jeff-7 wrote:As far as fret ends are concerned, chances are that they left the factory just fine but the necks may have shrunk just a hair from shipping and sitting in a dry shop - causing the ends to be exposed.

This absolutely.

It's rare to find a shop that humidifies anything beyond an acoustic room and it takes very little time for boards/necks to dry out and shrink leaving those annoying fret sprouts.

I understand them shrinking a little and having "sprouts" which is what I'd consider was on the Squier, and wasn't too bad. But a $1500 guitar shouldn't have 1/16th"+ of fret hanging over both sides (IMO, at least).