Review: Baguley Guitars Aluminium Neck
Note: although I am an equipment reviewer as part of my job, I paid for this neck with my own money. It was not loaned or donated by the company.
TL;DR — There are some issues with this neck, but they are mostly cosmetic, and hopefully will be addressed on future models. Fundamentally, after several days heavily testing, it plays well, feels good and will be kept.
Rating — 8/10
RRP — €749
Pros:
- Feels and sounds good — the most important thing
- Weight of the neck leads to a feeling of solidity and stability
- Unique headstock
- EU-based, with all the cost and shipping benefits that entails
Cons:
- Packaging and presentation lacking for an accessory at this price point
- No instructions in packaging
- Sperzel tuners are flawed
- Under-neck dot inlays
- Website is not clear about model compatibility
- No back plate
For a more detailed breakdown of the scores, a playtest and summary, skip to the bottom of the article, past the installation information.
Enter Baguley Guitars
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been idly wondering about aluminium necks and aluminium guitars ever since you first saw an EGC or Travis Bean. More recently, Ken Andrews from Failure debuted a gorgeous signature offset, and Robot Graves (RGI) in the US started production of excellent-looking replacement necks, and the hype has only been growing.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been idly wondering about aluminium necks and aluminium guitars ever since you first saw an EGC or Travis Bean.
If you live in the UK or Europe however, the RGI option remains expensive. By the time you’ve braved a waitlist and handed over shipping plus import taxes, you’re talking about twice the price I paid for my CIJ Jazzmaster, which, let’s be honest, is a lot of money.
Enter Dirk Baguley — based in Germany, and armed with a headstock design that’s much more at home in the Fender camp than the normal somewhat more Gibson-styled headstocks of the competition. The necks are comparable in price (almost exactly the same, at the time of writing in May 2020), though of course postage to the UK for a Baguley neck is only £20.
I thought this was worth supporting — sign me up.
First Impressions
When you open the packaging, there’s not much inside. A business card and the neck itself is your lot. Now, I’m on record as being very against the amount of rubbish that comes with a lot of modern pedals — it’s wasteful. If you must, give me a sticker to put on my laptop and that’ll do nicely. A cloth bag? What am I going to do with that?
The neck is well-packed, and both the packaging and shipping excellent.
I digress. The neck is well-packed, granted, and both the packaging and shipping excellent (even during COVID-19, a couple of days door-to-door). However, there are two issues right off the bat:
- The bolts are taped to the neck with regular tacky sticky tape. This means that I had to use isopropyl alcohol to remove the tack that was left, and then wipe down the neck. The bolts are wrapped in masking tape, so why not either use that, or tape them fully and leave them loose in the rear of the heel?
- There is no neck-plate. It’s a relatively minor thing, I guess, and I’m happy to re-use the one that’s stock on my guitar, but I figured I might expect something with a little flair. The serial number? The ‘Baguley’ logo? I don’t know, it’s by no means a deal-breaker, but it felt a little like missing a trick.
(keen readers will have spotted that the environmental impact of a neck plate is likely to not be small, if you assume your purchaser will definitely already have one to re-use. If this is indeed the reason, then I’m perfectly happy to concede what is — after all — a minor point)
When you turn the neck over, you notice there’s inlay dots on the underside. Without a good explanation this makes the neck feel unfinished, and it’s the only major issue I have with the neck.
Installation Try 1: Import Strat
My first thought was to install this on an import Squier I have knocking around. It plays well — to the point that I lent it to Joe from Giraffes? Giraffes! when I teched for them at ArcTanGent a couple of years back.
These necks have a Jazzmaster heel shape, and it’s worth being clear about that.
I found, however, that when I tried it the neck was not compatible, with a huge gap on either side. This makes sense — every real-life product photo has the neck on a Jazzmaster, and while there’s some difference in neck pockets between JM models, there’s a bigger difference between say, Strat and Jazzmaster pocket shape.
These necks have a Jazzmaster heel shape, and it’s worth being clear about that, as this compatibility issue — while hardly the end of the world — did briefly kill my buzz. The Baguley would have to go on my Jazzmaster.
Caveat emptor, they say, though competitors like RGI are very clear about the pocket shape and compatibility. They list measurements as well as a rough stab at model compatibility, which seems like a good start. Baguley list model compatibility — including Strats and Teles, though I suspect that will only cover some models and almost certainly not import models.
The heel shape — Jazzmaster, not Strat — is a conscious design choice, and I’m not marking them down for it. I am a little puzzled by the tolerance on the sides, however, as that was an issue on this Strat, and later, more mildly on the Jazzmaster, too.
As a minor point — different Fenders also have different neck screw sizes. The supplied bolts are pretty substantial, and I found that for this guitar I would also have had to widen the holes at the back — meaning the neck change would be permanent.
Installation Try 2: Jazzmaster
After taking off the neck on my Jazzmaster, I was able to seat and install the Baguley neck without too much fuss — though it’s worth saying there’s probably 1–2mm of dead space on either side of the neck.
I will admit I’m not an expert on Jazzmaster neck pockets, but I was under the impression that the main variation was depth: 14.3 vs 15.9mm — and that being a CIJ, my import Jazzmaster was likely to be 14. It is however possible that the width was different as well. I’m mainly a pedal/amp/modeller reviewer, so perhaps somebody more knowledgeable on the guitar front could comment on this.
After that, everything came together pretty smoothly. I found that I needed to file the nut in order to fit the set of heavy strings that I usually string the Jazzmaster with. Competitors like RGI will do this in advance — you can specify the string gauge you intend to use when ordering — but it’s not something that I was surprised at having to do.
What does worry me is the tuners. The bottom E — well, D in my case — would not go through the tuner, and I had to file the inside of the hole out until it fitted. I’ve never had this happen before on any guitar, and I regularly run this set for anything I’m tuning low. I’m not marking Baguley down for that, as it’s a fault of the Sperzels, but I will say that I’m getting some Gotohs for this as soon as I can be bothered to deal with the hassle of switching it over.
Playtest
Sounds
I can remember when devices like the Fat Finger were being marketed with a great deal of hype, promising to increase sustain via the simple fact of adding weight to the headstock. Of course, it turned out that it wasn’t that effective — some classical instruments put weight forward for this reason, but they’re often a single piece, meaning there’s more complex resonances at play.
That is, perhaps, where you would hope a neck like this would beat those simpler hacks — and it definitely does feel like there’s more resonance to the instrument, whether that’s just the placebo effect of it doubling in weight or not. It also feels like there’s more sustain, but unfortunately I can’t be more scientifically rigorous than that.
My initial impression of the difference in sound was that it’s darker, but more substantial-sounding. It’s not a night-and-day difference, just an sense that some top-end attack is a little bit rolled back.
It definitely does feel like there’s more resonance to the instrument.
Closer inspection — or at least, playing with several different guitars and pickup combinations suggested that the sound had changed. The combination of maple neck and wide-range humbucker in the bridge had always had me relatively interchangeably using this Jazzmaster’s wide-range bridge humbucker and a Telecaster bridge pickup, but now, it’s the 1989 Les Paul stock 498T bridge pickup that’s the closest in sound to the Jazzmaster.
My initial suspicion that it was darker proved to be false — at least compared to several other guitars it was still a bit brighter than the average, certainly than anything with Rosewood boards.
Below, I’ve recorded all the combinations and run them through a spectrum analyser, now that my curiosity is aroused — I’m just kicking myself that I didn’t do the same with the old neck before I switched it out.
There is, it seems, some evidence that density of the body and neck have an effect on sound, even on an instrument like the electric guitar where the majority of the tone comes from the pickups. I had wondered if this was the root cause, as aluminium will be more dense than even dense guitar neck woods — the internet ‘experts’ say the more density, the more ‘snap’.
The solidity of the neck had me playing riffs that rooted back to heavy strikes of the bottom strings, while its general rigidity encourages you to move up the neck and play things well past the twelfth fret. On the Jazzmaster, intonation issues are commonplace, and it certainly feels like the weight and material of this neck tend to give you a more consistent playing feel.
On higher strings, once the bridge was adjusted there wasn’t any more fret noise than normal, and due to its Strat-style radius of 9.5, it’s more than fast enough for some tighter lead licks, where the legato notes really shine through.
When you’re playing it acoustically — that is, not yet plugged in — it’s a loud guitar, without us going too Nigel Tufnel about it. However, while there’s not really any fret buzz, there is a bit more string noise.
It’s not so loud as to be a deal-breaker, but it is noticeable that the price you pay for the ‘tighter’ more resonant sound that this neck seems to deliver is some additional problem resonances that will probably need EQ’ing out later. I use a mute behind the bridge anyway, as the Jazzmaster is prone to overtones, and I found that once I had this in place it was no more major an issue than on previous necks I’ve used with Jazzmasters.
A very unscientific test
Obviously these are different guitars, with different pickups, but I thought it was worth trying to quantify some kind of difference between the guitars.
I played an open drop-D chord — (000230, if you’re curious) with multiple guitars, through a Hamstead Odyssey pedal set to my standard rhythm settings, as I really know what that should sound like with each guitar. I filmed my screen, and grabbed these screenshots of the transient attack.
It’s hardly scientific, but joking aside, you can see some differences — especially on a large monitor. The initial attack of the Strat is brighter, with a much more pronounced presence at 5kHz (the right-hand dot).
It’s interesting that these guitars are night-and-day different in the room, but that it’s less discernible when visually looking at these isolated slices in time.
My gut feeling was that the guitar sounded more like a Les Paul, and the lower of the two Jazzmaster clips seems to confirm that — there’s plenty of low-mids content, and the peaks are smoother above 2kHz.
That said, it’s also interesting that these guitars are night-and-day different in the room, but that it’s less discernible when visually looking at these isolated slices in time. I suppose this is why studio engineers and producers always say to ‘trust your ears’ rather than your eyes when looking at EQ analysers.
Finally, it’s worth saying that the Jazzmaster has a behind-the-bridge mute to calm problem frequencies, which I had initially thought was the cause of the heavier roll-off of frequencies above 5kHz. However, looking at the live playback with it removed, it’s clear that the effect is marginal on the visible graphs, even if it is audible (to me).
I am aware that this might be a psycho-acoustic artifact more than a real one, however — so I include that caveat here, as my ears may simply be mistaken.
Feel
As mentioned, the weight of the neck, at over a kilo, does radically change the feel of the guitar. Sitting down, it no longer feels like a relaxed, ergonomic Jazzmaster, but more like a Les Paul. It’s not quite to the point of being actively uncomfortable, but it’s not far off.
A few days of playing with it got me used to the new weight, so while it’s still a bit of a beast, I’m not actively put out by it any longer.
This change in weight does have its advantages though — the feel of a Les Paul is more solid, and more resonant. For certain types of playing, like legato leads or A Perfect Circle-style chords with distortion and delay, you can feel much more connected to the instrument. This is true also of the Jazzmaster with the Baguley neck.
The weight of the neck, at over a kilo, does radically change the feel of the guitar.
When standing up, the instrument wants to dive neck-first down, and you feel like you’re probably not going to be jumping around on stage as much. The flip side of that is that it feels incredibly solid. People talk about ‘baseball bat’ necks, but this is an actual offensive weapon. The feel of its weight combined with whatever interaction it has with the body really does make you feel like you’re dishing out heavier riffs than normal.
Some friends of mine were curious as to whether the recessed block inlays are problematic, and I can report that they’re not — they don’t feel odd under your fingers and are really more of a cosmetic concern. They’re subtle enough that the neck almost looks uniform from a couple of feet away, though you do wonder whether black fret dots would look aesthetically nicer — as well as removing any concern about the slight recesses.
A lot of the things that influence a complex system like a guitar make marginal effect, if any at all — and from a scientific perspective have proven time and time again hard, if impossible, to quantify. Personally, I’ve found the biggest difference in sound between electric guitars is pickups, bridge style and most importantly, how the guitar encourages you to play.
That’s why feel is key, and why it’s important that although I can’t discern a massive difference in sound, there’s a very big difference in feel. I’m playing this guitar differently, and in a way that is aesthetically interesting to me, which makes the neck a success.
Conclusion
At the top of this article, I gave this neck an averaged score of 8/10 — here’s how I arrived at that with a breakdown of the things I was scoring:
Sound: 7.5/10
Feel: 9/10
Construction: 7.5/10
Value for money: 7/10
When push comes to shove, it sounds good. There’s a bit more noticeable string noise, and definitely some additional resonances on the recording. The flip side of that is that the neck makes the guitar as a whole feel more resonant — strange frequencies from behind the bridge on a Jazzmaster are hardly unheard of. Some muting or a buzzstop will rectify this.
In terms of feel, once you get used to the strange feeling of metal under your fingers, it certainly has a vibe to it. I’m not sure I would want to play an aluminium neck 24/7, but I’ve definitely been playing the guitar more in the last few days. I think that in my heart, I still prefer a maple neck, and in terms of ergonomics, the Strandberg neck is the future. However, for something that straddles both past and future, the Baguley is a unique and rewarding playing experience.
The construction of the neck has been let down by a couple of things outside Baguley’s control for me — the myriad minor differences in neck pockets and screw sizes, as well as those disastrous — to me — Sperzel tuners. However, outside of that, the only thing I can really fault is the markers on the underside of the neck. That makes it feel unfinished, in my opinion. Although I didn’t end up having an issue with the slightly recessed block fret markers, I would also probably like to see the option for dot markers, as I think that would potentially look better. I note that on Instagram Baguley were teasing a neck with these, so maybe that option is coming.
In the value for money stakes, it has to be said that for an aluminium neck, this is a reasonable price based on the market. However, it’s also — alone — more costly than the guitar I put it on, the Creamery pickup in the bridge, and the Staytrem parts that I rebuilt the tremolo assembly with, combined. At this price point — regardless of the market, there should be no cosmetic issues, no having to clean tape marks off the neck and possibly even a real killer feature — something like luminlay markers on the top side of the neck would be awesome.
