My first build ST1 necks

[Notthatold]

So I received my ST1. The neck supplied was rosewood fret board. The fret board finished at the end of the heel. The scratch plate butted up to the heel nice finish. I contacted service as the kit was ordered with a maple fret board. I have taken delivery of the new neck. Fast and courteous service! I’m now confused. The replacement neck fret board protrudes past the heel by the last fret. When the neck is in place the last fret is elevated above the body and the scratch plate partially slots under the fret. Is the correct or do I have the wrong neck again?

[Notthatold]

Further one is 22 fret the new one is 23 fret. Can it be used?

[McCreed]

Further one is 22 fret the new one is 23 fret. Can it be used?

Actually you would have 21 and 22 fret necks there, and it is completely normal for 22 fret strat-style neck to overhang as you have described.
As long as you're able to fit the bottom of the heel all the way to the bottom of the neck pocket and get the pickguard under the over hang, you're good to go.

The stock ST-1 kit description lists it with a 21 fret neck (rosewood/maple) so IMO, Pitbull should have sent you a 21 fret maple/maple neck, which they also stock (unless you specified 22).
If you prefer 21 for vintage appearance or your playing style, you can do one of two things: contact PBG and ask if you can return the 22 and get 21 fret replacement; or, you can pull the 22nd fret and cut off the overhang. The latter is easy enough to do and won't effect the structural integrity of the neck so long as you don't go at it with mallet and chisel!

[Simon Barden]

The overhang on a 22 fret neck helps to hide the neck-to-scratchplate join line if it isn't perfect, plus you get that extra fret which you may use. On the downside, if you ever need to take the scratchplate off to change the pickups or work on the pots or switch, then you have to take the neck off to do so (or at least loosen the four neck screws to a significant extent).

[Notthatold]

Thanks Simon for your feedback. It’s good to be reassured that it’s okay to use the extra fret length. Cheers Chris

[Notthatold]

My bad on the fret numbers. Everything looks good as far as fit. The extra fret is no drama now that I know more info. The comments are greatly appreciated. As it’s my first build I’m sure there will be a lot more questions. Cheers

[Simon Barden]

You’d get exactly the same thing if you bought a Fender Tele or Strat with a 22-fret neck. It means they can use the same body for 21-fret (the original number of frets) and 22-fret necks. If the 22-fret necks had no overhang but were finished the same way as the 21-fret necks, then the overall neck length would be about 1cm longer. They’d then need a neck pocket that was set 1cm further back into the body, squashing up the neck (and middle for a Strat) pickup locations, or the bridge would need to be set 1cm further forwards, squashing up the bridge (and middle) pickup locations. Either way, the pickups end up closer together and you lose some of the classic Strat and Tele sounds, with less bass from the neck pickup. Plus as a manufacturer, you have to make two types of body as well as the two types of neck. Much easier to add the overhang in order to have a 22nd fret.