USA Custom Guitars Tele-Style Neck

Beautifully flamed maple Tele style neck, 10 inch fingerboard radius, 6105 frets, 1.650? nut, ?C? contour. Neck taper : .830? to .900?. Heel truss rod adjustment. The peghead was drilled for vintage styled Kluson tuners. Clear poly finish with a slight amber tint.

USACG offers any possible option you could want on a neck. You can select the neck contour, the fingerboard radius, the frets, type of position markers and side dots, the neck thickness and taper, the nut width, and drilling for different tuners just to name a few.

This was my first attempt at assembling an instrument from parts. I have done separate reviews on the neck and body as stand alone entities. They are clinical (read as:dull) in nature and more or less cover what was involved in putting the pieces together. For those of you that have done this before you might not want to read any further. For those of you who are thinking about going this route, you will get more than a general idea of what is involved. Even though there was some finish work involved it was not difficult or unexpected. It was a rewarding experience.

See my review of the completed guitar for a description of its sonic attributes. No dead spots or fretting out on this neck. Poly finish is great. This is one of the nicest, slickest necks I have ever laid my hands on.

Finishing done by USACG?s in house shop (Roxy). Absolutely flawless finish. They don?t do lacquer though. The fretwork was excellent. The frets were sealed in clear coat. I did expect the frets to be cleaned for that kind of money. A point off for that.

Take your time and work carefully. Measure two or three times ? drill once.

Get yourself a small hammer that has two striking heads. One head is hard plastic, the other head is hard rubber. Most decent tool places have them. I bought it to tap in and firmly seat the string ferrules and the tuner bushings without casuing damage to the body or neck. Glad I did. Use a scratch awl or some other sharp pointed object to mark the locations of the screw holes you will need to drill.

Ream excess clear coat out of tuner peg holes by hand turning a drill sized for the hole (in my case 11/32?). That was so the bushings would seat without forcing them.

Had to drill the body mounting holes in the neck. That was scary. Screw that up and you?re in deep trouble. Had to drill holes to attach the tuners.

Ended up sanding finish off of neck so it would fit into the neck cavity. That?s a tight fit ! A bummer, but not noticeable since the body covers it. A point off for that.


Took the assembled guitar to my guitar tech for the final touches. He cut and installed the nut and mounted the string holdown button on the peghead. After cleaning the frets of clear coat he crowned and leveled them (not sure they needed it though). He also did the initial setup and intonation adjustments.

This guitar will last longer that I will. It is rock solid.

The biggest issue I had was trying to figure out how thick I wanted the neck to be. USACG has a few standard thicknesses to choose from but none of them were quite what I wanted. I wanted a neck similar to the MIM 50?s Classic Tele. As far as I could tell, Fender does not publish their neck thicknesses anywhere so I was at a loss as far as what its dimensions were.

I talked to Tommy at USACG to see if he knew how thick the MIM neck was. He was not able to help me in that regard but he did tell me how to measure a neck for thickness. I won't hold that against him. I did suggest to him that he try and publish some neck thicknesses most folks are familiar with to have a point of reference.

Armed with that knowledge I tried to measure a few necks with a pair of calipers but the caliper?s jaws were not deep enough to allow an accurate measurement from the backside of the neck to the highest point (middle) of the fretboard. I ended up measuring a few necks I liked with a machinists ruler and hoped for the best. Luckily it worked out well and I got exactly what I wanted.

As a point of reference, the taper I ordered will be very similar to the neck thickness on the MIM Classic 50?s Tele or a Les Paul with a 50?s neck. It?s beefy, like a Tele neck should be, but it?s not quite as thick as the Fender AV ?52 neck.

Would I do it again ? Yes.

Although I like the vintage 7.25? neck radius, I thought I would try a 10? radiused neck. I like it. If I ever order another Fender style neck I may try a 9 or 9 ?? radius. The 6105 frets are little taller and a little wider than the standard vintage style frets.

I have also done a review of the guitar assembled. That review has more information on the sonic properties and emotional stuff we all like to read about.

T style maple neck, brazilian board, 21 frets, large C profile, callaham clay dots. How could it not be a ten, they make them to your exact specs?

The guitar has been together for two days and I'm impressed so far. Not sure how much of the tone is coming from the neck, but it certainly isn't hurting anything.

Perfect construction. No burrs, no sloppiness, frets perfectly seated. This is the same level of quality I've come to expect from high-end manufacturers like PRS.

Don't know, but I'm confident. It is a pretty hefty neck, so it should be really stable.

Top notch. Tommy is friendly, remembers his customers and does his best to make you confident in your purchase. Must be something in the water in Washington because these guys and THD have the best customer service around.

I've been through lots of necks, usually trying to save money and I'm glad I bit the bullet and ponied up the dough for this neck. It exceeded my expectations and I should be playing this guitar for many years to come.

Just yer basic maple Tele neck w/ Rosewood board, rolled fingerboard edges, super soft V profile, 12" radius, 6105 frets, top adjust truss rod and I had Tommy make it a bit wider than most to help with my huge hands.

I installed an old set of Dimarzio Kluson style tuners I bought in 1982 along with a NOS Dimarzio string tree purchased at the same time. Hand carved bone nut. 12 to 15 very light coats of gun stock oil.

Perhaps the most comfortable, best feeling neck I've ever wrapped my paw around. It does not have a ton of features, just the ones I wanted. It's not the most beautiful neck in the world, but you don't play beauty. I give it a 10 cause whoever Tommy had make this neck did a wonderful job. It has far and away exceed my expectations.

Of course, this neck is bolted to a USACG body. Perhaps the tightest fit out of the many homebrew guitars I've made over they years. Before USACG, I used Warmoth products and years ago, put a boogie bodies together. I had been very happy with the quality and service from Ken at Warmoth. I live close to both Warmoth and USACG, so I was able to visit and pick what I wanted. I guess you can't do that any longer at Warmoth. Ken helped me out a few times in the past and I'm greatful.....but Tommy and the staff at USACG have taken quality and customer service to a whole new level.

Getting back to sound....well, this neck actually has a life of it's own. Due to the build quality and the super tight neck/body coupling, the neck resonates, vibrates and contributes to the incredible sound and tone of this guitar. I'm sure there are better ones out there....DeTemple, Lentz, Callaham, to name a few.....but in the everyman catagory, you would be harp pressed to find a better quality neck than what USACG puts out. As long as you can figure out the specs you want in a neck, they can make it..and make it well..

Been playing since shortly after the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan Feb 9th, 1964....( I believe! ) what a time! Actually, it was next December when my parents gave me a Harmony acoustic for Christmas. My guitar teacher was more interested in teaching me Home on the Range in single notes and calling his girlfriend during my lesson, instead of the chords to I want to hold you hand, so I dolfed him and did not play again till 1969 when a friends cousin showed me the chords to Gloria and Steppin Stone. Since that moment till now, guitars have remained my passion. I've owned many Les Pauls, SG's, 335's, Firebirds, Strats, Teles, Guild Starfires, Tokais, Fernandes, Kents, Supros, Nationals, Martins, Lyles, Apsens, Larrivees, Washburns, Ibanez, Takamines, Airlines, Silvertones, Kay's, Harmony's, Dempsy, Kramer....you get the picture. I've been through a lot of nice and not so nice guitars. I love high end guitars and I love pawn shop cheapies. I just love guitars. I'm down to 20 in my "collection" now and this homebrew USACG is the king. I'm blessed to have a very nice late 60's 335, a mint 71 tele, 2 other homebrew teles..one with DiMarzio VV's and the other with a custom wound set by Tony at Electrokraft, a 79 Tokia copy of a 50's strat with Lollar pups. These are my main giging guitars. The others are various vintage resinator, semi-hollow, slide, lap ,etc. The USACG keeps the others in great condition casue I don't play em! The body and pickup combo sounds like heaven, but the neck contributes a huge portion of tone. Playing a guitar that feels like it was custom made for you is a pure joy. This gutiar ( and neck ) have made me a better player. I sound better and as a result, I play better and more often. I find myself at work day dreaming about getting home and pluggin it in! I had pretty much retired from playing till I got a wild hair up my arse to build "one last one". If this truly is my "last one", I would not complain. It may be a simple guitar and not much to look at, but man o man, what a tone.

2004 USA Custom Guitars US-1 Tele style neck with flamed rosewood fingerboard on birdseye maple, 22 6105 "medium jumbo" frets, '63 custom shape, and MOP face dots with regular clay side dots.
A real beautiful piece of work from Tommy and crew!!!

The frets on this puppy were perfect -- no leveling needed at all. I've had necks from Warmoth, and other companys where the fret job had been pretty good, but some leveling still needed to be done. But Tommy and crew really blew my mind with this one -- I've never seen a better neck!!! The birdseye was better than expected considering that it was regular birdseye and not AAA birdseye. Tommy even put in a flame rosewood board as an extra -- nice. Although I have yet to bolt it on the neck shape is as close to my old '64 Tele as I've ever seen:)

Taking into consideration that I will not be putting a hard finish on this neck so the stability may not be all that great, the overall construction is well made and sturdy enough. I think I'll buy another exact duplucate from Tommy and have that one hard finished as a backup though -- just in case...

These guys are great!!!! Tommy Rosamond is a class act. Patience and understanding despite my many many emails. He really seems to CARE about his customers needs...

I've been "spanking the plank" for almost twenty years now. Although I'm not a professional player per say I had my share of live performances in seedy night clubs where a good working axe is a neccesity. Own six other Teles with necks from Warmoth and other companies, but so far this baby tops them all. Can't wait to put it together on a body I also ordered from Tommy and crew. I'm already planning on buying a backup replacement as said above. From now on I'm not going anywhere else for necks or bodies but USA Custom Guitars.

It should be noted that I'm a real sticker for guitar gear, and usually don't bother to give reviews unless I feel it's worth it...

2003 USACG US-1 Tele-style neck: quartersawn maple in a tapered "hard V" shape with 10" radius pau ferro board. 1 5/8" nut width, rolled board edges, Kluson tuner reams, 21 6150 frets, headstock truss access, creme fret dots. Finished in an "aged" gloss by Roxy.

Nice balace thanks to the pau ferro board (some V-shaped necks can be thin on the E strings) and no dead spots. Sustains well with a .009-.046 hybrid set.

Workmanship is outstanding: neck heel is level, frets were properly dressed out of the box, tuner holes were neat with no splitting, trussrod installed properly and adjusts easily.

This neck is attached to a Warmoth Thinline body with 1/4" maple cap, and the neck pocket fit is very tight- no gaps, no shifting.

I've had this installed for three weeks, no issues thus far.

Here's where USA Custom stands out. This was the second neck I received from Tommy: the first piece I'd ordered with a larger "soft v" shape was uncomfortable, and he was most gracious about my return and working up a second piece. I'd also found that a couple of the "Fender Licensed" neck manufacturers were typically turning out pieces with wider board edges than the traditional Fender 7.25" radius necks. Tommy's crew managed to produce a neck which feels like a traditional mid '50s Fender V-neck which has had its board leveled and frets replaced... all without asking for an upcharge.
That's great service, and I won't hesitate to go back to this shop for other pieces in the future.

I've been playing 23 years, though I've only been gigging Teles for the last 6 years. The guitar in question is my second parts Tele and has already seen two other (non-USACG) necks in the last 4 years. I think I've found the keeper, and wanted to pass the word along that this shop turns out excellent work and is willing to take the time to get the specs right for the individual player's needs. Probably not what Leo F. had in mind when he set out to make an assembly line guitar, but I really appreciate it and I suspect I'm not alone.

2003 Maple neck with Rosewood fingerboard. 21 Frets, medium jumbo. Made by Tommy Rosamond in Tacoma,Wa.Compund radius neck. Satin finish. Truss rod is adjustable at the headstock. Scale is 25.5

Neck is attatched to a flamed Mahogany Tele style body, also from USA Custom Guitars.(By the way, the body is stunner with the flame).
The Rosewood has a slight taming effect on the maple, although the pickups and amp determine tone to a much larger degree.
The compound radius feels right. My '99 Fender Tele neck is a bit too thin; my hands get fatigued when I'm "chicken pickin'".Giving a number for this category seems strange, I'll try though.

OK, here's where I'm compelled to give Tommy and the guys some constructive criticism. The neck wasn't a good fit for the pocket according to the tech who assembled my guitar. According to him, this neck fit into the pocket of the Warmoth body for which this neck was originally intended by me. (By the way, the Warmoth Korina thinline body sounded lousy; rapid note decay. This is why I ordered the flamed Mahogany body from Tommy to go with the USACG neck I already had.)
The neck was too big and some heavy sanding was necessary to carve out some more space for the neck.Of course, it's a tight fit now.
There's more..(sorry Tommy,Brett. I really like the guitar overall)my tech found it necessary to crown and level the frets above the 12th fret.FWIW: he liked the body more than the neck. (Admittedly the flamed Mahogany body IS too much!)
The Rosewood is attreactive and I like the compound radius.Also, the truss rod rattle inside the neck. This can easily be tightened. Also, whatever size wrench is necessary is difficult to find. At a local guitar shop the salesman offered to tighten it for me( he was impressed with the lovely Tung oiled flamed Mahogany body. It's about the color of Pumpkin pie filling. Strange comparison, but there it is..) but after trying several different wrenches, he was unable to find one which would fit! I'll have to e-mail Tommy on what size wrench to use for his truss rods.

It's a Maple Tele style neck. I'm sure it'll outlive me!

I'm fuzzy on USACG's warranty, but I trust Tommy and I'd order from USACG again. For anyone wanting a Fender style guitar, (especially something a bit more ornate and or upscale with respect to wood, they're a good choice. I'll never order from Warmoth again after thier bad Korina thinline body.)USA Custom Guitars remains a good choice; Tommy is attentive and wants to give you exactly what you want. They make you feel like a valued customer.

I've been playing for 25 years and have owned several Fender guitars. This Mahogany Tele with the Maple neck beats them all! Of course alot of credit goes to DiMarzio, whose Twang Kings give my "home brew" Tele all the twang and definition one could want.The Mahogany body adds such a gutsy tone to the Tele p/u's. Oh and the neck? It's more playable than my late model Tele neck; a bit thicker which helps reduce fatigue.

Ultra flamed maple neck w/ maple flamed maple fingerboard. 6105 frets dressed and crowned perfectly. Headstock truss rod adjustment, not heel. Ultimate grade paua shell dot inlays and side markers. High gloss finish by Roxy. Fatback profile that fits like a glove. This is the most beautiful neck I have ever had the pleasure to play on. This is the REAL DEAL.

THIS NECK COMPLIMENTS MY ASH BODY TELECASTER. RICH TONE AND JUST GREAT TO PLAY. THE NECK FITS MY HAND PERFECTLY SO I CAN STRETCH OUT AND DO WHAT I NEED TO DO.

THIS NECK IS A BEAUTY. NO FLAWS, NO MISTAKES, NO COVERUPS, NOTHING INCOMPLETE. JUST AS I ORDERED. PERFECT.

BRAND NEW, BUT BUILT TO LAST. I EXPECT NO PROBLEMS, BUT I AM SURE THE CREW AT USA CUSTOM WILL TAKE CARE OF ME IF I HAVE A PROBLEM.

TRY GETTING THIS TYPE OF SERVICE FROM THE TURTLEHEADS. YOU WON'T. TOMMY AT USA CUSTOM IS THE BEST "PLAYER" "BUILDER" THAT I HAVE EVER WORKED WITH. CUSTOMER SERVICE IS PRIORITY NUMBER ONE. THIS COMPANY IS WHAT WARMOTH USE TO BE. IT IS REFRESHING TO CALL SOMEONE AND HAVE THEM GENUINELY INTERESTED IN WHAT YOU WANT, NOT WHAT WILL WORK BEST FOR THEM. TOMMY TOOK THE TIME TO MAKE SURE I GOT WHAT WORKED FOR ME. I GOT EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED AND MORE. TOMMY TOOK THE TIME TO EMAIL ME WITH TIMES, DETAILS AND SHIP DATES. I COULD NOT OR NOR WOULD I EXPECT ANY MORE FROM ANY COMPANY WORKING FOR ME. GRADE A+

YOU COULD NOT ASK FOR MORE IN SERVICE, TIME, QUALITY OR END PRODUCT.

Made in Tacoma by USA Custom Guitars on CNC (computer numerically controlled) milling machines; ultra precise. This a vintage tele 'C' profile neck, 22 frets, 7.25-9.5 compound radius, brown walnut fretboard dots, maple fretboard full of little 'birdseyes' and a lovely maple neck with heel-adjust trussrod. Fat frets, Kluson tuner reaming, rolled fretboard edges. The headstock face looks like a topographic map! The grain is eyecatching and the over-all finish is ready to be shot with laquer. I showed this neck to Fralin's luthier and he agreed it is top notch.
Rating: 10. It is perfectly made, flawless frets, gorgeous, and top quality woods.

Cannot quantify this one since the guitar is not built. However, if the neck is maple on maple, dead true, perfectly drilled and perfect frets, what would you expect? I bet it will play like a dream and sound bright and clear.

This neck is basically perfect in every way. I cannot believe a factory or luthier can deliver a better fashioned neck than this. Maybe mor exotic woods, but we are talking about workmanship here.

Rock solid about sums it up!

The USACG guys are unbelievable. This IS what made America great: fast response, teriffic products, priced reasonably, shipped promptly, personal attention...and all of them guitar geeks to boot!

These guys can deliver what you ask for and steer you along about the possibilities you never thought of! That is professionalism. For necks and bodies, these are amazing. And I have examined the Custom Strats on the Fralin website and a similar Tele from the same luthier. USACG is the only sensible place to buy a neck or body: it's perfect, beautiful, priced well, and fun to buy. Could you ask for more?

Brand new, ordered over the phone after checking out their website and talking with them. I also worked with Tommy Roseamond and he is a great guy. This neck is a quarter-sawn, one piece Maple with a Compound Radius Rosewood Fretboard, MOP front dots, 6105 frets; hand rounded and polished BEAUTIFULLY. This neck is extremly comfortable to wrap around (.840 boat contour) and fits very tight into the neck pocket. For about $150.00, you are not going to do much better. Great thing as well is that these guys put the trussrod adjustment subtley on the top of the neck. The Turtle Company and others like them, don't put a truss adjust on the top of the neck without it being a custom order and about a $30.00 upcharge.

The neck sounds the way that it should. They are using top quality woods for the pieces and fit them nice and tight. This neck is on a Custom Shop Washburn Swamp Ash Tele Type that I've built up. I gave them the dimensions of my neck pocket (no finish yet) and they built it up. The pocket and neck fit nicely, just enough gap for the finish. Now it's tight and sounds phenominal. Using a Wilkinson Bridge, Schaller Tunners, Bill Lawrence T-1 neck and T-2 bridge and a Lindy Fralin Steel Pole .45 for the middle position.

These guys at USA Custom did a great job in the build up. It's up to you to attach the neck properly and do your own set-up. The neck set up beautifully, cranked the action down pretty tight. The Compound Radius (10"-16") of the neck is excellent as well. Very comfortable cording and bending everywhere. It really helps when a company polishes their frets properly. Another nicety is that they rolled the edges of the neck and the frets for me as well. Kinda feels "broken in" without any dinked frets. Great fret job on this axe. I didn't do my own nut though! I know better.

Like I said, they use great wood and the quality of the workmanship is top notch. On the neck, I laid down an oil fill, sanding sealer (3 coats) and that's it. I like the feel of a raw, smooth neck, but it does need protection. Sanding sealer is fine if you're not playing too heavy in the Jungles of Thailand or your average August day in Atlanta. Then lay down a coat or two of clear, just don't polish it.

As if I haven't kissed their ass enough. Tommy, the man whom I dealt with, is: nice, funny, patient and really knows how to extract from you what you want in a neck. Then he gives you an excellent price. They do follow-up calls on your satisfaction, and they want pics for the website. I haven't got a clue as to what the warranty is, I'd assume industry standard: "put a hard finish on it, and we'll take care of any problems in the future." These guys are out to build a buisness and they are doing an excellent job. Also, check on their specials, you could possibly put together an axe for about $200.00 (neck and body). They tell you why it's there and how to overcome the problem.

I've been playing for about 12 years and own way too much equipment. This guitar is an unusual project, most of what's on it I got off of eBay (bridge, pickups and the body itself). It's what I've always wanted: a Blonde (see through) Swamp Ash Tele that has three pickups and some more contours than a standard Tele (it's Strat like) and no stinkin' pickguard. The Ash is bookmatched and beautiful. This guitar rocks pretty hard and I'm totally satisfied. Final cost of this axe as it's set up: about $550.00 after all costs and costs of the finishing supplies. And no, you can't get anything like this from Fender. I'm not going to lie to you...the finishing alone was about 4 weekends of slow, patient work. The rest was about 3 weekends total. And waiting around for stuff to be shipped. Was it worth it? Oh Yeah...It's Worth It.

2001 -Made in Washington State, USA
22 Frets/ Flat sawn Maple neck with 1/4 sawn AAA flame maple fingerboard/ Boatneck (huge!) profile, with the most delicate, subtle, soft "v" you ever saw! Black mother-of-pearl board and side-dots/ reamed for vintage kluson-type tuners. 6105 frets.

Put into '67 blonde Telecaster body with Vintique 'Gatton' bridge, Barden pickups. (LOVE them!) I can't stress enough how much of a difference a well-made, beefy neck can make to the sound of a guitar. The neck mass,and also the fit into the neck-pocket, as well as the rigidity of the bolting is crucial. That said, this neck has made a WONDERFUL difference in the sound of the instrument. I am loathe to give most anything a "10," but this is a custom-made piece that has had a LOT of care put into it - and it shows.

The neck is as close to perfect as I can imagine. The frets were seated and finished with great care - and I have had MANY mediocre fret jobs done by "experts." (It seems this craft is getting rarer and rarer in the world of Lutherie) The woods are firdt-class, and the neck contour was perfect - just as I described to them over the phone. The reaming was flawless. Just plain *quality* workmanship all around.

There is no reason that a well made, well cared-for neck shouldn't last decades, and I suspect this one will do so, as well. New frets? Eventually. New nut? (EXTREMELY important!) I suspect so...But the wood and construction should always be there.

You can speak to anyone there personally, and Tom and his crew are willing to take however much time is needed to ensure that you get exactly what you want. They are not just knowledgeable, they are enthusiastic and pleasant people as well. Again, as a rule, I do not give "10"s, but this is the kind of service you get with a small-ish, custom builder.

I have been playing for 32 of my 40 years on this earth, and this is as good, or better, than any neck I've ever owned. This is the way Warmoth USED to be (years ago), before they got big, and started "letting the accountants do the designing," as they say. Believe me, this is as good as it gets, and I am pleased to give them an overall "10" - they've earned it.