Today on the bench I’ve got a Fender Stratocaster Highway One in a really nice three-color sunburst, and the owner wanted to swap the stock neck for a more vintage-shaped, chunkier “baseball bat” C-profile neck. He brought in a used Allparts licensed Fender neck (smaller headstock, vintage split-shaft tuners, one less fret), and the big question was the same one everyone has when they buy a neck online: will it actually fit the pocket and will the holes line up? I pulled the strings, popped the original neck, checked the heel fit and screw alignment, and it dropped in nice and snug—no drama for once. From there I did the rest of what makes the job complete: hard-tailed the trem by evening out the springs and tightening the claw, addressed sharp fret ends with my Hosco concave file and a small detail file, and cleaned up the frets and board (I’m a Dunlop 65 lemon oil guy). After restringing with 10–46s and stretching them properly, I let it settle, set relief to about 7–8 thou at the 7th fret, verified action around 4/64" at the 17th, set pickup height, and checked the nut (it’s a decent bone nut, so I left it alone). I dialed in intonation, tested the electronics, and even tightened up a loose output jack the right way—without letting it spin and twist wires. End result: a sweet Highway One with a classic-looking, chunky vintage neck that feels totally different in the hands.