Tops and Flops: Bent Necks and Broken Dreams
Cool upgrades!
4,0 / 5,0 | 
This week’s Tops and Flops sees the revival of a Telecaster with a bent neck, and other highlights in the week of a musician.
This Week’s Tops and Flops:
Tops and Flops!
Welcome back to our weekly highlights series, where your gearnews editorial team delve into their week as musicians. 2025 is well underway, and there are lots of things happening, some of which come at a time when you least expect…
Podcast Going Strong
If you tuned into my last edition of Tops and Flops, you may remember me sharing the launch of a new podcast. The Kirklees Guitar School Podcast is nearing 10 episodes already!
Myself and fellow presenter, James, are very fortunate to have a loyal, dedicated and supportive community from a 2,000+ member strong private Facebook Group. Fellow guitarists ask questions about various techniques and gear, and we try to help them in the show.
My favourite episode thus far has to be episode 6. We look at three different types of amps and discuss the pros and cons of each. I proudly demonstrate my Fender 700 Roc Pro, along with a *Boss Katana Artist. Whereas James waves the flag for his *Fender Princeton Reverb.
So, if you’re looking for an hour where you can switch off and watch a show that’s all things guitar related, why not give it a watch? And, if you’d like to know more about how we record the show, you can check out an older edition of Tops and Flops.
Bent Neck Woes
It was actually whilst filming episode 8 of the podcast when I noticed that one of my guitars didn’t sound, or feel, as good as it usually does. The neck plate on my homemade Fender Telecaster was bent, big time.
I actually built this Tele from a *Harley Benton DIY kit during one of the Covid lockdowns. Complete with Fender Custom Shop decals because I can’t afford the real thing! I’m not saying that the components on these kits are poor quality, but the original neck plate certainly wasn’t up to the job.
Sadly, as a result of this neck plate bowing more and more, the tension in my neck just kept changing. Resulting in buzzing notes, choked bends and broken dreams. Therefore, I ordered myself a genuine *Fender neck plate. Which, once installed, remedied the dodgy neck and string action.
Now back on the fleet, I’ve been enjoying the improved fast neck and twin humbucker pickups. I initially built this guitar for surf and ’60s stuff, hence spraying it Sea Foam Green. However, the bridge humbucker is just so dirty. Pinch harmonics for days!
For just the standard set of pickups that came with the guitar, they’re really quite hot! Sure, you can play some nice, clean stuff if you like. However, crank the gains and it doesn’t disappoint. Out of the box, these kits are pretty good. Although if you spend some time adjusting the truss rod, pickup and saddle heights, you’ll have an admirable instrument for a fraction of the cost of the real deal.
I’ve also got a bone nut on this one, as the original plastic one wasn’t glued on very well…
Further Information:
*This post contains affiliate links and/or widgets. When you buy a product via our affiliate partner, we receive a small commission that helps support what we do. Don’t worry, you pay the same price. Thanks for your support!
This might also interest you
