The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary

View Poll Results: What REALLY matters to me (more religious)

Voters
50. You may not vote on this poll
  • Board radius

    20 40.00%
  • Fret size

    16 32.00%
  • Nut width

    34 68.00%
Multiple Choice Poll.
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Posts 1 to 25 of 25
  1. #1

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    This again is multiple choice. Myself, I'll pick radius and nut width.

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  3. #2

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    I can’t tell one radius from another, but my death squeeze on the neck buggers the intonation with big frets.

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by StuartF
    I can’t tell one radius from another, but my death squeeze on the neck buggers the intonation with big frets.
    I am sort of obsessed with radius, but actually I'm not sure if I'm imagining things (at least as far as the more subtle increments that exist out there).

  5. #4

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    They all matter to me. Am I losing my religion or gaining it?

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
    They all matter to me. Am I losing my religion or gaining it?
    This is (supposed to be) a free world!

  7. #6

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    How about neck material? Maple vs mahogany? Rosewood vs Maple? etc.

  8. #7

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    I don't care much about radius, as long as there is some. I like bigger frets, but I'm not religious about them. Width sort of matters, but not all that much, as long as it's not too wide or too narrow. Mostly what matters to me is whether the neck is straight and not twisted, and the frets are level. Given that, almost any neck is playable, as long as the action can be adjusted properly, and that's not done with the neck. Maybe I'm not picky enough.

  9. #8

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    I can adapt to anything

  10. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Tal_175
    How about neck material? Maple vs mahogany? Rosewood vs Maple? etc.
    Reply 1: Neck wood is halfway in between "more practical" and "more religious", so I couldn't make up my mind.

    Reply 2: You're right, I clean forgot.

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by palindrome
    This is (supposed to be) a free world!
    Why are folks always forcing freedom of choice on me? It's not fair, I tells yah

  12. #11

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    I didn't vote because I just don't care one way or another about any of them. As long as they're built to be played by human hands, I'm OK. I've never found a guitar that I can't adapt to in about two minutes.

  13. #12

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    So there's really only 2 kinds of necks for me. I like it, and I don't like it.

    It's a mix of these things, and others. I don't think one is more important, it's how they add up...I've played guitars with narrow nuts that felt great, guitars with narrow nuts that felt cramped...

    I guess I don't love huge frets...but not a deal breaker...I've played one of those shreddy Ibanez guitars and it was an absolute blast.

    A lot of these things, I didn't even know they were measured and specified until I started joining internet forums.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
    A lot of these things, I didn't even know they were measured and specified until I started joining internet forums.
    ^^^^+1000

    Fretboard radius in actual inches and guitar weights in actual pounds.

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
    They all matter to me. Am I losing my religion or gaining it?
    Hmmm, maybe you're a polytheist.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cunamara
    Hmmm, maybe you're a polytheist.
    40 million gods and counting!

  17. #16

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    I can't really answer the poll question because one feature doesn't doesn't matter more the other. For each feature, there are metrics that are no-buy's for me. None of this is a religion for me. It's all from a posteriori/empirical experience. I've owned enough guitars over the years to know what doesn't work for me. The deal-deal-breakers are:

    - 24 frets
    - Nut width less than 1-11/16"
    - 7.25" fingerboard radius or less.
    - Flat frets, By this I mean REALLY flat frets, like on a fretless wonder Les Paul Custom, not the Gibsons with uncrowned but otherwise reasonable sized frets. Those can be crowned, but the fretless wonder ones are hopeless.

    Neck profiles don't seem to matter that much to me, nor does fret size, though fret condition makes a big difference to me.

  18. #17

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    I like bigger necks better. Had to sell some wonderful guitars because once I started playing classical guitar on the side, I couldn't play on the 60's Gibson necks. Forget Rickenbackers.
    But since asked, I hate tall frets. On 2 guitars, one a Gibson RI 57 LP Custom, I hated them so much (railroad ties) I filed them all down. Then that LP and I played real nice!

  19. #18

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    I'm going to say shape. If a neck is shaped well, I can get along with most sizes, though some styles are better on some guitars than others. For instance, I have a vintage telecaster with a big neck, almost 1 inch, but since it's shaped well (by hand), it plays like a dream. I have two arch tops that are 1 3/4" at the nut and pretty full, again, well shaped, so they play great.

    I have an R8 Les Paul, big neck, not very well shaped, I struggle with it a bit. I've come to the conclusion that I like hand carved necks by a good builder, and haven't liked many CNC necks that I've played. That probably comes from playing a lot of older guitars.

    I like medium jumbo frets, not too high. I don't like skinny or super jumbo frets. I will never buy a thin neck. I don't like the feel or, generally, the sound. Not too crazy about deep V-necks, I sold an otherwise wonderful '57 strat once because of that.

    There you go, all my likes and dislikes though it's such a personal thing, I don't know why anyone would be interested!

  20. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tal_175
    How about neck material? Maple vs mahogany? Rosewood vs Maple? etc.
    I did that poll some time ago.
    laminated maple won.

    I can usually play anything but I hate, vintage thin frets.

  21. #20

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    I do not see it "more religious"... (whatever you meant)

    In case you listed "the color of the hat what the luthier's wife wear at the time the neck wood was picked" that would be exciting :-) to discuss

  22. #21

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    Anglican.

  23. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by RyanM
    I can adapt to anything
    I can adapt to most things, but not to tiny vintage vintage frets.

  24. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by palindrome
    This is (supposed to be) a free world!
    Yes, it is. Your free to choose.

  25. #24

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    Radius affects my ability to form chords.

  26. #25

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    Polls don't work the best for this. A better method may be to take a bunch of parameters:

    * nut width
    * profile (C, D, U, V etc...) maybe include depth here
    * scale length
    * fretboard radius
    * neck wood
    * fretboard wood
    * fret size
    * fret material
    * number of frets
    * etc...

    and then reply with them in order high to low, omitting the ones you don't care about. No need for religion!