Jazz Guitar With the Best Neck?

[omphalopsychos]

Eastman. There I said it.

[whiskey02]

What's the difference between C and D shapes ?

D shape has a little more shoulder left on it, just a bit less “rounded”. A V shape has all the shoulder shaved off. A neck with more shoulder will feel thicker than a neck with the exact same front to back thickness. I play with more of a classical type technique with my thumb touching the middle and just above the middle of the neck. With a V neck, there’s nothing to put my thumb on.

[Greentone]

I have a 30s Gibson L50. These are the guitars that Gibson used for making the ES-150 that Charlie Christian used. The pronounced V-neck encourages you to wrap your left thumb around the neck and bring it into play on the fretboard when comping chords.

This is VERY 30s.

Although I really like D-shaped necks in general, I am quite at home on the L50 and invariably end up playing Swing/Proto-bop on it.

[pingu]

D shape has a little more shoulder left on it, just a bit less “rounded”. A V shape has all the shoulder shaved off. A neck with more shoulder will feel thicker than a neck with the exact same front to back thickness. I play with more of a classical type technique with my thumb touching the middle and just above the middle of the neck. With a V neck, there’s nothing to put my thumb on.

So a D is flatter front to back than a C shape ?

So D is opposite of V
(With C in the middle somewhere)

Have I got that right ?

[Skip Ellis]

My stock '68 Tele neck that I wore out after 35 years and the AllParts that I got to replace it (darn close), but, I think, the best neck I ever played was an Ibanez GB-10 (year unknown) that I missed because I couldn't raise the $1500 that the guy wanted. Didn't like the bridge pickup but the rest was absolutely wonderful.

[whiskey02]

So a D is flatter front to back than a C shape ?

So D is opposite of V
(With C in the middle somewhere)

Have I got that right ?

That's pretty much it, though do remember that "flatter" in most instances do not mean "flat". Older Guild necks are perfect examples of D shape. No knowledge of current Guild carves.

[whiskey02]

I have a 30s Gibson L50. These are the guitars that Gibson used for making the ES-150 that Charlie Christian used. The pronounced V-neck encourages you to wrap your left thumb around the neck and bring it into play on the fretboard when comping chords.

This is VERY 30s.

Although I really like D-shaped necks in general, I am quite at home on the L50 and invariably end up playing Swing/Proto-bop on it.

Great example, the neck was shaped to the technique in use. I can see where rock and blues players would get along nicely with V shapes; if you're trying to bend strings with your thumb behind the neck, you might as well have your thumb somewhere else in an upwards position .