haven't seen much talk about it but they are changing the way the fretboard meets the neck.
The fretboard will be inlaid into the neck.
 
Just something new and different-at least I've never heard of it being done.
 
Advantage? None that I can think of.
Just visually is all I can come up with it. I guess that could be a disadvantage too.
Won't have to deal with seeing the sides of the fretboard or the fret tangs if that's a bad thing.
It'll look like the fretboard is bound.
It'll take the worry out of getting or seeing a glue line between bottom of fretboard and neck.
 
Disadvantage? It's sure going to make it hard for builders to copy that don't use a CNC.
It'll make it a little harder for the folks that do a refret job. ( a little more work trimming tangs)
 
I guess the ones that know how much wood types and wood grains will effect the tone will have something new to talk/argue about.
 
Well if it helps them stay in business selling guitars that's a good thing.
 
 
 

i would think that it could deaden some of the vibrations, because of the dead-end of the fingerboard all the way around....
but what do i know?
 
it's cool to see ANY kind of revisions....
 
http://www.fender.com/series/fender-select/
 
 
 
 

"What do I know" --I'm with you on that.
 
I guess if shimmed roller nuts and neck tilt adjustment don't kill the tone(s) then this won't matter either.
 

yea, i don't use shimmed roller nuts OR neck tilt, or shims for that matter.
i'm a bit of a purist that way.
 
even my locking trem systems have lockdown BEHIND the nut, for whatever that is worth.
 
 
still, 
i'll hold opinion until after i've actually played one.
 
i like a bound neck best of all, so maybe that actually works out.
 
it's gotta add twice the cost of building the neck, tho, unless it's just all CNC magic....

Bound necks and binding around everything is appealing to folks so it's going to have that going for it.
 
CNC is the only way they are going to get the fit that they'll be after...and quickly. The added work will be nipping/fitting the frets and that's not a biggy.
 
I can't say what's easier, faster, better when it comes to what happens in a factory but in a shop without a CNC...forget it. Inlaying a fingerboard was tuff enough for me! LOL.
 
And all that just so the fretboard isn't seen from the side and appears to be bounded. ? Ok. Raise the price.

with two different woods aligned like that, given the massive swings in both temperature and humidity that i see in the NE, this inlaid fretboard just seems to be a dumb idea... 

I remember seeing those some time ago. I don't really have much of an opinion one way or the other.
 
But I do love me some LSR roller nuts, shims and all. 

THey probably figured it would make it easier to use laminated finger boards or some other cost savings. The finger board can be 2mm thinner and save $$ over thousands guitars. Who knows.
 
By the way, it's fugly.

Mystic38
with two different woods aligned like that, given the massive swings in both temperature and humidity that i see in the NE, this inlaid fretboard just seems to be a dumb idea... 

I've wondered about that too since it's a new idea/design.
 

drewfx1
I remember seeing those some time ago. I don't really have much of an opinion one way or the other.
 
But I do love me some LSR roller nuts, shims and all. 

I've never owned a Strat with a roller nut. I wouldn't have a problem building one that had it. I do have a deluxe Strat with a metal nut that is something like a zero fret (metal rod) and it's a nice guitar.
I've also had to tilt a neck on a Strat so the fretboard would clear the (custom) pickguard and I didn't notice a change in the tone. Seems a lot of things like that are no more than what's comfortable or agreeable to the person playing it.
 
The main thought I had with the inlaid fretboard is that it's just something that would be hard (for me) to do right without a CNC machine. Not so much any advantages or disadvantages. Just doing it and how it looks.
 
 

I've got a roller nut on one of my guitars and don't like it. It causes a nasty string resonance between the nut and the tuners that comes through in my recordings. I ended up putting some foam under the strings to stop it. I want to put a regular nut on it, but the foam has taken care of it for now.