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Guitar Neck Width


Steadfastly

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Quote Originally Posted by Steadfastly

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I am soooo with you on this. As Mr. Keller says about hand/thumb position, I prefer having my thumb on the back of the guitar regardless of what I'm playing. I also have been thinking about a telecaster for my next guitar. Have you thought about buying a telecaster, even a good used one and ordering a wide neck from someone like Warmoth? It would be a lot less expensive than having a luthier build you one.

 

I'm playing an American Standard Telecaster now. It's a 2009 and I had to play a lot of them, but I found one with a neck carve that is fairly comfortable. The variance among the necks is amazing, even on a production guitar, I guess since the neck still has some final hand shaping.


But yes, I have considered buying a Tele wide neck from Warmoth. I've never done this before, but in reading up on the subject, most people found that these replacement necks need a bit of final fret work done, they are rarely good to go. So I'm back to the luthier search, and the two I've used in the area were less than advertized.


Plus, if I go replacement neck, I really want to try stainless steel frets, so that would make it even harder to get a luthier, as it seems that not all of them will do SS fret work.

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Quote Originally Posted by Steadfastly

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I am soooo with you on this. As Mr. Keller says about hand/thumb position, I prefer having my thumb on the back of the guitar regardless of what I'm playing. I also have been thinking about a telecaster for my next guitar. Have you thought about buying a telecaster, even a good used one and ordering a wide neck from someone like Warmoth? It would be a lot less expensive than having a luthier build you one.

 

I'm playing an American Standard Telecaster now. It's a 2009 and I had to play a lot of them, but I found one with a neck carve that is fairly comfortable. The variance among the necks is amazing, even on a production guitar, I guess since the neck still has some final hand shaping.


But yes, I have considered buying a Tele wide neck from Warmoth. I've never done this before, but in reading up on the subject, most people found that these replacement necks need a bit of final fret work done, they are rarely good to go. So I'm back to the luthier search, and the two I've used in the area were less than advertized.


Plus, if I go replacement neck, I really want to try stainless steel frets, so that would make it even harder to get a luthier, as it seems that not all of them will do SS fret work.

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Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Friendly

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I'm playing an American Standard Telecaster now. It's a 2009 and I had to play a lot of them, but I found one with a neck carve that is fairly comfortable. The variance among the necks is amazing, even on a production guitar, I guess since the neck still has some final hand shaping.


But yes, I have considered buying a Tele wide neck from Warmoth. I've never done this before, but in reading up on the subject, most people found that these replacement necks need a bit of final fret work done, they are rarely good to go. So I'm back to the luthier search, and the two I've used in the area were less than advertized.


Plus, if I go replacement neck, I really want to try stainless steel frets, so that would make it even harder to get a luthier, as it seems that not all of them will do SS fret work.

 

IMHO, SS frets are the only way to go if it's at all possible.
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Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Friendly

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I'm playing an American Standard Telecaster now. It's a 2009 and I had to play a lot of them, but I found one with a neck carve that is fairly comfortable. The variance among the necks is amazing, even on a production guitar, I guess since the neck still has some final hand shaping.


But yes, I have considered buying a Tele wide neck from Warmoth. I've never done this before, but in reading up on the subject, most people found that these replacement necks need a bit of final fret work done, they are rarely good to go. So I'm back to the luthier search, and the two I've used in the area were less than advertized.


Plus, if I go replacement neck, I really want to try stainless steel frets, so that would make it even harder to get a luthier, as it seems that not all of them will do SS fret work.

 

IMHO, SS frets are the only way to go if it's at all possible.
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I like 1 5/8" or slightly bigger (1.650") myself, easier for me to wrap around my thumb around and fret with. My hands aren't that big, and 1 5/8" is comfortable. I don't like necks thinner than that - I've played a few and it's too cramped. My LP is 1 11/16" and I do really like that guitar's neck for many things, but it does make some things more difficult and uncomfortable. The thickness (and profile) of the neck plays a big part in comfort, though, as well as fretboard radious and fret type. Super thin necks don't jell with me, and neither do baseball bats. All these dimensions work together - I haven't found any hard and fast rule, it's more a general tendency of what I like. On any particular guitar, who knows...


 

 

 

 

 

What do you think the reason is for this?

 

 

 

 

Tradition is probably a big reason. I'd also guess than on mass produced guitars they want to stick with necks that are easier to play for most people. I'm not sure an internet poll with less than 150 responses is really a valid judge of the guitar-buying public.
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I like 1 5/8" or slightly bigger (1.650") myself, easier for me to wrap around my thumb around and fret with. My hands aren't that big, and 1 5/8" is comfortable. I don't like necks thinner than that - I've played a few and it's too cramped. My LP is 1 11/16" and I do really like that guitar's neck for many things, but it does make some things more difficult and uncomfortable. The thickness (and profile) of the neck plays a big part in comfort, though, as well as fretboard radious and fret type. Super thin necks don't jell with me, and neither do baseball bats. All these dimensions work together - I haven't found any hard and fast rule, it's more a general tendency of what I like. On any particular guitar, who knows...


 

 

 

 

 

What do you think the reason is for this?

 

 

 

 

Tradition is probably a big reason. I'd also guess than on mass produced guitars they want to stick with necks that are easier to play for most people. I'm not sure an internet poll with less than 150 responses is really a valid judge of the guitar-buying public.
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A lot of modern guitars are based on old designs. Fender designed his Tele and Strat in the 50's for country players. They played a lot of cowboy chords. As did the early rock-n-rollers. Some people think narrow nut-widths make chording easier - I don't personally.


AFAIK the Les Paul was based on neck shapes off Gibson's acoustic guitars at the time. Les Paul must have liked the way the neck played because he allowed his name to be attached.


As much as guitarists claim to be individualists, they tend to be a fairly conservative lot. When it comes to gear, anything that deviates from the Fender/Gibson "norm" is generally viewed with suspicion in my experience.


I lean towards iconoclasm, personally.

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A lot of modern guitars are based on old designs. Fender designed his Tele and Strat in the 50's for country players. They played a lot of cowboy chords. As did the early rock-n-rollers. Some people think narrow nut-widths make chording easier - I don't personally.


AFAIK the Les Paul was based on neck shapes off Gibson's acoustic guitars at the time. Les Paul must have liked the way the neck played because he allowed his name to be attached.


As much as guitarists claim to be individualists, they tend to be a fairly conservative lot. When it comes to gear, anything that deviates from the Fender/Gibson "norm" is generally viewed with suspicion in my experience.


I lean towards iconoclasm, personally.

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Originally Posted by 1001gear

Necks should extend at least a half inch beyond the outside strings. For bending of course.

 

 

Quote Originally Posted by photon9

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Uhm no. rolleyes.gif


You bend your top string up, not down... and your bottom string down, not up.

 

That would make for a very wide neck, even way too wide for me.
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Originally Posted by 1001gear

Necks should extend at least a half inch beyond the outside strings. For bending of course.

 

 

Quote Originally Posted by photon9

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Uhm no. rolleyes.gif


You bend your top string up, not down... and your bottom string down, not up.

 

That would make for a very wide neck, even way too wide for me.
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Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Friendly

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I understand, you dig conformity. No problems. I'm guessing you have a Hootie and the Blowfish poster on your wall.

 

Which I masturbate to nightly....



I love skinny necks. Deal. Some people have little girlie hands. Wah.

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Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Friendly

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I understand, you dig conformity. No problems. I'm guessing you have a Hootie and the Blowfish poster on your wall.

 

Which I masturbate to nightly....



I love skinny necks. Deal. Some people have little girlie hands. Wah.

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Quote Originally Posted by nicholai

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Which I masturbate to nightly....



I love skinny necks. Deal. Some people have little girlie hands. Wah.

 

Why would you think I care what kind of guitar neck your prefer? Your preference is meaningless to me. The topic is about the choices of guitar neck widths available to guitarists these days. Some in this thread, myself included, have expressed a desire to see the larger manufactures offer some optional wider widths. Not quite sure how you missed this obvious point, but no one brought up you or your baby-sized appendages.


I guess it just seems odd to me that in this modern guitar-selling world, we are offered choices of finish color, pick-up type, wood type, neck wood type, tuner types, bridge styles, body styles, ect. ect. The choices and manufacturers and various modifications are kind of amazing. Yet the large, big name companies are not offering any real choices in fretboard width. One must go to small builders or aftermarket suppliers.


Somehow, this doesn't seem like a very controversial topic to me, yet for some reason there is a certain type that gets a bit condescending when another guitarist brings this topic up. They will gladly talk about their pickup choices or tube preferences for their amps, but if one expresses a desire for a little extra width to be made available as an option for those players who may desire it, they are told to just pipe down and play with what your given.


Fascinating.

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