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It's worked out fairly well for me. My thumb is on the back of the neck most of the time. I'll hang it over the top when I do bends for leverage. I find it fairly comfortable, and I don't really have trouble reaching any spots.
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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12-14-2017 04:38 PM
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Bending? Heathen. Originally Posted by Boston Joe
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I grew up playing _SUPER_ thin Hagstrom guitar necks. (If you haven't played a vintage Hagstrom neck, you just cannot imagine how thin I am talking about--THIN and quite flat radiused, especially for the era.) At the same time, I had a 30s Gibson L50 with a pronounced V-neck.
Guitar necks don't get much more eccentric than those variations on the theme. Yet, when I pick up either of my Hagstroms, or my old Gibson, it feels like a homecoming. Everything feels completely natural, to me.
So, what do I play these days? The biggest, fattest necks I can find. The necks on my Nash S57 and Tele Partscaster are 1" thick at the first fret, 1" thick at the 12", with big shoulders. The neck on my Unity is deep and wide--a real handful.
Although I prefer the big necks on the Fender copies and the Unity, I don't have _any_ difficulty moving back to the thinnest of necks, or to a deep-V necked, vintage Gibson.
Moral: you can play _any_ guitar comfortably, if you've a mind to do it. After all, the necks on my mandolins and banjos are quite odd, compared to my guitars. The neck on my vintage Kamaka Uke is barely a half-inch thick. It's all good.
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If you're bending then your string gauge is too light.
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I've moved to the thinnest I can find.
When I go back to a thicker neck, I feel like I'm fighting the guitar. Everything seems more difficult.
But, the biggest advantage is the thin profile above the 12th fret. I can now chord comfortably at the 15th fret.
I haven't noticed any problem with fatigue, even on long gigs.
With the thin neck, the 25.5 scale doesn't bother me, although I used to be a 24.75 player. I am sensitive to radius -- I can't play 9.5 comfortably. I believe that my current instrument is somewhere around 13. Yamaha Pacifica 012. Oddly enough, given that it's a low end model, it plays in tune, stays in tune, has only one minor dead spot and sounds acceptable.
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It seems from reading this thread that most people seem to prefer what they're used to. No big surprise there.
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Ya 1 11/16th nut, medium C, my sadowsky neck is pretty perfect for me..I used to think i needed a thinner neck cause my hands are smaller. I cant stand baseball bats though...Though, im starting to like a little thinker neck..I bought a Victor Baker and it has a thicker neck than my other guitars and ive been playing it a ton. now wondering to myself if i should be playing thicker neck guitars!?
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Modern baseball bat handles are far thinner than any guitar neck. That's probably why you see so many bat pieces go flying through the air after being hit by the baseball. When you say baseball bat neck, you're really talking about a mandolin-sized neck at the largest.
Every now and then I just have to pick a passing nit.
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For those of you saying that you can adapt given the time, do you mean within a day/session or weeks of bonding with a guitar? I could see transitioning to a different neck but not sure I could play very different necks within the same day for example. When I've done it I've felt it in my hands/arms. I play with the thumb in the back, guitar high.
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baseball bat refers to the business end, not the handle.
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Yep, fat and round.
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Originally Posted by blille
I don't have issue changing neck size within a day unless trying to play one of those shredder guitars. For me it take more time to adjust to is different size or shape frets. I'm a medium jumbo fan and don't like skinny-tall frets at all. Wide-low I can deal with okay and Tall-wide. Other thing is narrow fretboard are hard for me to adjust to, I have short-wide fingers so narrow fretboard are an issue for me.
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For bolt-ons I prefer thicker necks. For set necks I am good with necks that are not quite as thick. I think that it has more to do with the sound than the shape for me. Oh, and I know that no matter what, I can't do the thumb over trick. Medium sized hands, but I have never been able to do it. Just not comfortable with the wrist angle to do it. Mucho cred to those that can do it.
Nuts at 1-11/16" or 1-5/8". About a 15/16" neck depth at the 12th fret. Medium jumbo frets. 9.5" radius, but flatter is OK, too. I even like the 7.25"-9.5" compound that I had USACG build for me. Roasted maple is also nice. Glad that it is in the offerings now.
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I suppose I like the '51-'53 Fender Esquire/Telecaster necks the best. The depth, width, and radius of those old necks really accommodates my left hand and style of playing quite well. Trouble is, you only get that neck carve on a Fender or Fender copy.
As I mentioned earlier, though, I am happy enough with many other neck shapes and sizes. Even the early Heritage necks--sort of on the thin side--work well, for me.
Ultimately, if the guitar sounds great it will inspire me to play well, regardless of how the neck is carved. If the neck happens to be a bit closer to the old Fender carve...well that's just all to the good.
Heck, if an archtop sounded great, but had a classical neck on it, i.e., 26" scale, dead-flat radius, 2" nut, I'd not say peep. The fact that the guitar sounded great would drive all considerations. (I love classical guitars, anyway.)
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I guess if I had to choose my favorite it was an old Les Paul Jr I had back in the 70’s. Not my favorite guitar, but my favorite neck. Real chunky! I’ve got small hands, but do love those big necks. Conversely, I’m really digging the rather hard V on my Loar 700 these days. Go figure...
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I don't have a problem moving from one type of neck to another as far as technique and playability are concerned -- i can move from a short scale to a long scale without really thinking about it, and from a fat neck to a skinny neck with no problems ... my hand and brain just recalibrate and everything is fine ... until the pain sets in. for me it's not about being able to adapt. for me, it's about skinny necks causing me so much pain that i can't continue to play on them, even though i can play on them. my hat is off to you guys who can adapt to any neck -- you're adaptable just like me, except that you don't have pain stopping you when you play the skinny ones. you should consider yourselves fortunate.
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I like those necks, too. Reminds me of my '38 Gibson L50. That V tends to cause you to move your thumb into the Robert Johnson-approved "use it to fret the low A and E strings" position. This comes in handy for four-to-the-bar chordal work. Originally Posted by jimraygilliam
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Yeah, I can play pretty much any neck profile - thick, thin, skinny, fat, wide, narrow, any combination. But some are much more pleasant to play than others. It's not a matter of whether I can play on a particular neck, it's whether I want to. I play mostly with my thumb behind the neck, though not always, and a thicker neck is more comfortable to me than a thin one for that. But they make all sorts of neck profiles because there is a demand for them, and everyone can buy what they prefer.
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Exactly! That’s what I like about it. Also, old swing stuff.
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Are we talking here about those Hagstrom "Kent" models that had vinyl backs and acrylic fronts? I had one in the 1960's that was bright cherry red. How I wish I had that 3 pickup bad-boy again. Originally Posted by Greentone
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I currently have guitars with all kinds of necks. From a pretty chunky neck on the Aria Pro II PE180 down to the very slim neck on the Epiphone ES175 Premium. I enjoy going back and forth among them. Pretty sure the slim Epiphone necks allow me to play a little faster, but I don't think it's that significant compared to the others. I don't play gigs for long hours, so I don't know about the fatigue issue. I find the neck on my current ES175, 1990's ES165, and L5ces to be quite comfortable.
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I have a current model Hagstrom HJ800 archtop. Pretty slim neck but very playable for me. I picked up a vintage Hag in a store a couple of years back. Solid body set neck model. It was super slim, super straight, super flat, and also very playable. Almost like every pair of shoes feels different it seems like so does every neck. Some people change shoes more often than others I suppose. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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Lawson,
Yep. Here's what I started on (and still have):
VERY slim neck!
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Be still oh my heart... other than mine being the 3 pickup version, that’s exactly like my old Hagstrom. That was one FUN guitar. Originally Posted by Greentone
Lawson,
Yep. Here's what I started on (and still have):
VERY slim neck!
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I used to stress about what I liked the "best", but now I've accepted that I'll play anything (neck profiles in this case) if it feels and sounds good. But I know that if I spend a lot of time with a slim (ie. Ibanez Wizard II/III) neck with a large radius my hands will start to cramp up and my fingers go numb.. doesn't happen with a Gibson 50's neck or a classical guitar neck.
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