Will a Stagg neck fit a Fender type body? Yes and no!

paulnb57 · August 2023

Will a Stagg neck fit a Fender type body?

Just wondering if anyone has tried it

ICBM · August 2023

Maybe. Depending on the model type of the Stagg...

If it's a standard Fender-scale neck - 21-fret without overhang, or 22-fret with overhang - then it will fit in terms of scale length. After that you may need to widen (less likely) or shim (more likely) the neck pocket to get the neck to actually go in and not move around.

Funkfingers · August 2023

A second issue is the anchoring screws. Fender tends to arrange four screws in a rectangle, spaced at standard distances apart. Some modern Fender variants, with a reduced heel, shift one of the screws further inwards from the body edge. The Stagg screw holes could be in non-standard positions.

paulnb57 · August 2023

Thanks chaps
There is a cheap left handed Stagg Strat for sale locally, I would buy it for the neck for an upside down headstock on a RH body…perhaps not….

BillDL · August 2023

Do you know how old the Stagg is?

It looks like all the Fender shaped guitars now being made for Stagg have the asymetric neck plate with curved top that allows the body wood at the lower part of the neck pocket to be rounded off for better access. When I tinkered with an older Stagg Strat a while back it had a standard rectangular neck screw plate and the usual squared off body behind the neck pocket. With these curved plates one of the screw holes is obviously set lower down on the plate and sometimes the other side of the plate is slightly longer than those on a Fender:

Image: https://tfb-user-images.eu-central-1.linodeobjects.com/29cba5763ddd11c2837f71156978caa931594c531f975e296c

That Stagg one shown above actually has a bit more of the body wood carved away to follow the contour of the plate's curve rather than just rounded over. Quite often on cheaper Fender styled guitars you will also find that the screws into the neck are closer to one side of the neck heel than the other.

The current Stagg guitars are made for them in Korea. Of the various Fender copies and parts (often Guyker brand) intended for such copy guitars that are made in Korea, I've found that most of them use the same fairly standardised neck pocket sizes as Fender, and most of the rectangular neck plates have screw holes that line up exactly with Squier and other "import" Fender guitars. Where you can find a difference is with those curved neck plates. I have 3 of them bought from different retailers and described as "Korean made" that are slightly different dimensions and hole spacings, but of the 6 rectangular ones they all conform to Fender spacings and dimensions.

Obviously screw holes in a maple neck can be filled with something and new pilot holes drilled to match those in the body being used, but if the new screw holes are close to the old ones the screws will break through or steer towards the old screw holes. It depends what you use to fill the old holes. Properly done you widen the holes substantially and glue in matching plugs with the same grain orientation as the body wood, but most people don't have plug cutters and just use softwood dowels or 6 toothpicks glued in. A better option would be fine sawdust mixed into a thick putty with white wood glue and forced into the hole.

You would really have to measure the heel of the Stagg guitar before you will know for sure if it will be an exact fit, or else be prepared to buy it knowing that you may have to modify the neck or pocket as mentioned by ICBM.

paulnb57 · August 2023

BillDL said:

Do you know how old the Stagg is?

It looks like all the Fender shaped guitars now being made for Stagg have the asymetric neck plate with curved top that allows the body wood at the lower part of the neck pocket to be rounded off for better access. When I tinkered with an older Stagg Strat a while back it had a standard rectangular neck screw plate and the usual squared off body behind the neck pocket. With these curved plates one of the screw holes is obviously set lower down on the plate and sometimes the other side of the plate is slightly longer than those on a Fender:

That Stagg one shown above actually has a bit more of the body wood carved away to follow the contour of the plate's curve rather than just rounded over. Quite often on cheaper Fender styled guitars you will also find that the screws into the neck are closer to one side of the neck heel than the other.

The current Stagg guitars are made for them in Korea. Of the various Fender copies and parts (often Guyker brand) intended for such copy guitars that are made in Korea, I've found that most of them use the same fairly standardised neck pocket sizes as Fender, and most of the rectangular neck plates have screw holes that line up exactly with Squier and other "import" Fender guitars. Where you can find a difference is with those curved neck plates. I have 3 of them bought from different retailers and described as "Korean made" that are slightly different dimensions and hole spacings, but of the 6 rectangular ones they all conform to Fender spacings and dimensions.

Obviously screw holes in a maple neck can be filled with something and new pilot holes drilled to match those in the body being used, but if the new screw holes are close to the old ones the screws will break through or steer towards the old screw holes. It depends what you use to fill the old holes. Properly done you widen the holes substantially and glue in matching plugs with the same grain orientation as the body wood, but most people don't have plug cutters and just use softwood dowels or 6 toothpicks glued in. A better option would be fine sawdust mixed into a thick putty with white wood glue and forced into the hole.

You would really have to measure the heel of the Stagg guitar before you will know for sure if it will be an exact fit, or else be prepared to buy it knowing that you may have to modify the neck or pocket as mentioned by ICBM.

Oooh!

Might be in business

paulnb57 · August 2023

A bit of an update
Turns out I vaguely know the fella with the lefty Stagg for sale, so I went over and we had a jam and compared necks. The necks are pretty much identical, the Squier neck fitted straight onto the Stagg body (square heel)
The Stagg neck is about .75 of a mil wider at the heel than the Squier neck and pocket, so doesn't quite fit, bit it would need about half a mil removing from either, I guess it might fit other Fenderish bodies as the neck pockets do vary a bit.
Anyroadup, we swapped necks and now I have a lefty Ill probably never use!…..(I will)

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Will a Stagg neck fit a Fender type body? Yes and no!

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