Following on from the question about variation in neck size on the R8 thread, yesterday I found myself wondering how different neck sizes might affect longer term playing.
I have what I consider to be small hands and shorter fingers, so, playing a few R9 and R0's yesterday, I was expecting that the slimmer R0 neck would suit me more. I was pleasantly surprised by the fatter R9 neck which I found was actually more comfortable in some areas e.g. bar chords from 3rd to 12th fret and I think it has to do with less pressure on the thumb side of the hand as the fingers / thumb are positioned more open on a fatter neck (badly explained) and I wondered if this may actually make it a better long term guitar?
The slimmer R0 was easier for thumb over and high fret access with less finger stretch but the R9 was far from impossible. The extra 'pinch' between thumb and fingers on bar chords on the R0 was noticeable.
In the end I found an R9 that seemed to be somewhere in between the two necks and hopefully is a good compromise.
Has anyone considered the reasons some necks may be better or worse to play, other than just feeling better, and is there any correlation with guitars that end up being keepers?
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I seem to have gotten a rather blinkered approach to viewing and trying guitars now. Always seeking out the thin neck ones and maybe not trying enough other sized ones.
Maybe that Vintage Tele that I recently tried with the chunkier neck and weird fretboard radius might have taken a liking to me.....over time.
I also don't understand the hatred for something like the Fender Modern C on the basis of it being 'bland' - surely a good neck is one that you just play, without it affecting what you play or you having to think about what you do? In which case 'character' is bad, and 'bland' is good...
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"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
@ICBM - not sure if it is the fender neck profile that you mean, but I also have an Elite telecaster that has the compound radius neck and I find that one of the nicest necks to play.
The biggest issue I have with any guitar is a poor set-up - As such, no matter what size the neck is, if it is badly set-up then they all feel crap - I find a big neck, be it an R8 or a 50's Black Guard Tele, with a flatter radius and chunkier frets, then I have no problem handling either - And again I have relatively small hands - I almost judge the guitar, not by the size of the neck, but how easily it is to fret the note and can I play it, set up, with a slick action that responds to a light touch - As such very little effort required to produce the actual notes required - With this type of set-up then I can easily handle a larger neck
As it happens, the necks I least dislike are the Ibanez 'waif' style speed machine thin necks
Again, no one guitar does it all - So for me I'd expect a big neck black guard Tele to handle differently to say a PRS Modern Eagle - As such I'd use each guitar for a different job
Seriously though, I used to be obsessed with finding the fattest necked guitars out there, definitely less so these days. I would say though, would definitely rather it was too fat than too thin. I have a J45 Legend which I have seen commented on as one of the fattest necks on any production guitar (no idea whether that is true, but it is huge), and whilst I remember it being a little shocking at first, over time it has become extremely comfortable. For me if it is too thin, there is a bit of fatigue if playing for long periods. With a fat neck your hand just seems to be stuck in that shape, palm filled, and I think the reduced movement maybe lessens the fatigue.
Wasn't a fan of the "wide fat" neck on a PRS that I tried, and I tried a 2015 Les Paul which felt damn near unplayable with my chipolata fingers! Biggest restriction with having small fingers is upper fret access. I'm not a fan of double-cuts in general as a result, and would take a 335 or an SG over a LP any day.
I'm sure there's also a lot of truth in the fact that a lot of it comes down to familiarity. If you've always played a chunky old-school baseball bat 7.25 fretboard Telecaster neck, I'm sure an Ibanez shred machine would feel awful. And vice versa of course.
But my main preference is Jumbo frets with a higher action. I love how that feels.
Also the tech types will say its nonsense, but from gigging experience. My fatter neck guitars seemed to have better tuning stability. I rarely touched a tuner onstage when my Kotzen Tele was my main guitar. Nowadays I do find I'm having to check my tuning after 3 or 4 songs.
Th only time I felt the neck was too fat was trying out one of those Gitane copies of a Selmer Maccafari. That was like playing the hull of a boat.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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I think the best illustration of this is acoustic guitars. The larger nut widths on most acoustics (eg Gibson’s 1.725 standard) would be too much of a handful for most at R8 depth. I have an R8 which is pretty deep. My Hummingbird is only 0.830 at 1st fret, so virtually “modern c” in comparison but plays comfortably due to the added width.
Likewise, the thickest neck I’ve ever handled was a custom shop nocaster. It was only manageable because of the slim 42mm nut width and excellent set up. Set up so well in fact that I had to double check it was in fact a 7.25 radius.
All I can find is ESP's 'deep U' and it's excellent (really reduces fatigue for me)
I hate wide thin
Although the slim one was horrible as it seemed to slice into my hand.
I play slightly differently on each one but the end result is more or less the same. Changing from one to the other always feels good no matter which way I go. High cut nuts seem to be more of an issue.