Hoxey necks

[lordofp90s]

Does anyone on here have any experience with Hoxey aluminum necks? i ordered one for my custom build and i want to know what to expect. Thanks!

[gckelloch]

No experience here, but I have questions.

-A truss rod isn't necessary, so I'd hope there is a tad of relief.

-I'd think the guitar would be neck heavy if the neck isn't chambered. Otherwise, you might want a counterweight on the back of the body. I made such a decorative weight for a baritone build.

-I wonder if it can eventually be refretted if you went with Ni?

-Did you choose all satin, or...?

[lordofp90s]

May 4, 2024 1:35:03 GMT -5 gckelloch said:

No experience here, but I have questions.

-A truss rod isn't necessary, so I'd hope there is a tad of relief.

-I'd think the guitar would be neck heavy if the neck isn't chambered. Otherwise, you might want a counterweight on the back of the body. I made such a decorative weight for a baritone build.

-I wonder if it can eventually be refretted if you went with Ni?

-Did you choose all satin, or...?

I have (some) answers! 

- I believe there is relief built into the neck,

- I didn't spring for the chambered neck, so I'm planning on doing some sort of counterweight, i would love to see the decorative weight on your baritone!!

- I didn't upgrade to stainless as it was 200 dollars!! I'm assuming it can be refretted although that is something i should look into.

- Yes i went with full satin, although i plan on using polish or clear coat or something, as i hear it is necessary (insights on what to use there would be great!)

[gckelloch]

I would think refretting is an option, but that's not Hoxey's problem. Maybe applying back pressure to the neck b4 removing old frets is all that's needed? The Al (Aluminum) in the fret slots will not spring back at all like wood fibers. Maybe you can get a discount if they don't install frets and you can install your own stainless or EVO frets?

A solid Al neck is apparently ~2x the weight of a wood neck with a truss rod. It would be helpful if it's not too late to chamber it. You may end up with a 9+ lb guitar if you want it to balance well depending on how far forward the front strap button is on the body.

Yeah, salt corrodes Aluminum. You might need a spray can of 2K. It's dangerous stuff, but works great on cars, and doesn't feel sticky. Might be hard to get it off the fret tops afterward without damaging them. Maybe you can carefully wipe off just the fret tops with a mineral spirit-damped cloth after each coat? 2~3 coats should be enough, and it takes some skill to avoid drips. I guess Fender uses regular old polyurethane on Maple FB's, but I don't know if that sticks well to Al. I'm no finish expert.

here's the link to the baritone I used a decorative weight for:

drive.google.com/file/d/1flCJQhAWtEgQkTD3gcu1gzaCDMuU_qEL/view?usp=sharing

Unfortunately, it all slipped down a bit in the hot humid weather last summer, but I used double-sided scotch tape to attach an Acrylic piece I made to the guitar, and to secure 8 Copper discs together and to the Acrylic piece, and then. I then colored some epoxy and poured it onto the discs, then taped a piece of a Keychain I got in Cancun on top. Again, the entire disc mass and the keychain slipped down a bit sitting upright in my guitar rack. Epoxy might be better. It's only ~1/3lb. you might need a lot more than that to balance your guitar. you could try embedding a Brass trem block in the back. I did that on another guitar with just a drill and chisel. I then slipped thin pieces of plastic up in either side to secure it.

May be hard to believe, but where I placed the decorative weight in the baritone body slightly affected the bass response. It has a fairly lightweight Limba body. Probably would make much difference with a heavier body. I first tested it by resting the back of the neck pocket on my knee and recording clips with both pickups on at the 5 spots where I placed the weight. I found that the bass sounded the fullest with the weight right between the bridge and the back end of the body. Moving it back gave a tighter/midbass-dipped sound that I was tempted to try. Moving it forward reduced the low bass compared to in the middle. There is just a slight difference in the recordings.

[lordofp90s]

I really dig that weight, reminds me of Jerry Garcias guitars. interesting stuff with the bass response as well. I like the idea of a brass trem block however, as i am using wood with a gorgeous grain. 

Thanks for the tip on the 2K, i hadn't thought of using anything that beefy but why not right? i think with a quick and light sand most any finish will stick, i could be wrong though, as i too am no finishing expert. it would be cool to find something satin instead of gloss. 

on the note of weight, i actually really like playing heavy rigs, that tele in my profile pic is a solid maple body, and man does that thing feel good in the hands. I'm a big dude so maybe it just doesn't affect me as much. i haven't had a guitar with neck dive problems in the past however, so this will definitely turn over a new leaf for me, especially because the body doesn't have huge horns, so the strap button wont be super far forward. 8 week lead time on the neck so only time will tell.