Perfect neck

[Jeff_H]

Re: Perfect neck

Actually, the best neck I've played was on the Collector's Edition USA Dean Hardtail I sold several months ago. It was a soft V. I didn't measure it with calipers but it just had the perfect very soft shoulders and feel in the hand, but I didn't bond with the overall tone of the guitar. The Spalted Maple Hardtail I kept is close, but it has slightly less of a V, just slightly.

My Gibson 57' RI is my current favorite neck. It's .90/1.01, but has very small shoulders and more of a V shape and it feels great. Normally that would be too large a neck for my hands, but the shoulders and shape make it almost perfect. If it were just a few millimeters smaller overall, it would be absolutely perfect, but for a guitar I didn't commission and have built to my specs, it's as close to perfect as possible..... so far.

 

[Open lane]

Re: Perfect neck

To me, a perfect neck is one where you barely even notice the neck shape. Recently got an RGEW and when a friend of mine asked how the neck was, i had hardly even noticed. To me, that makes it a winner.

For the record, after looking it up - the rgew has a Wizard III

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Perfect neck

My pre pro Charvel has an incredible playing neck. It is a little different from the production San Dimas era Charvel necks, though. It is a straight 11" radius instead of a compound radius, which came a bit later, and is a not quite as thin. It is 1 3/4 inch wide at the nut instead of the more common 1 11/16 inch. Next to that the San Dimas era Charvels are about perfect for me. The standard Warmoth compound radius profile is pretty close to the San Dimas era Charvel profile, but not as wide at the guitar body end, so it can fit the regular Fender neck pockets, and I believe is based on the San Dimas era Charvel standard profile.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Perfect neck

Straight 11" is $$.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Perfect neck

Pretty wide and thin with a flat back and a compound radius and large frets. Yet I don't own a guitar that truly represents that paradigm.

Exactly the opposite for me. Soft V with 9,5 radius and medium frets

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Perfect neck

Exactly the opposite for me. Soft V with 9,5 radius and medium frets

I'm very much a thumb-behind-neck player, and any V to the neck feels borderline painful. On occasion I thumb-over with open chords toward the nut though, and in those cases I sort of get using a V shaped neck; but definitely not higher up on the fretboard.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Perfect neck

Unsymetrical V neck (sharper on the high string, softer on the lows) with broader back zone, .85 thickness (21mm), almost no taper, heavy rolled binding, 42mm neck width with not too much width taper (not more than 52 mm at 12th fret)

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Perfect neck

The guitar shop I frequent has a museum of sorts which contains all the really cool instruments he has collected over the years. One time he let me play an 1926 Martin 0-18 that the previous owners had played it so much that the taper of the neck had changed. It was asymmetrical with a fretboard so rolled throughout the years that he had to specially file the fret ends when he replaced them. It was truly a thing of beauty to play, it was as if the neck was built specifically for my hand.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Perfect neck

I'm very much a thumb-behind-neck player, and any V to the neck feels borderline painful. On occasion I thumb-over with open chords toward the nut though, and in those cases I sort of get using a V shaped neck; but definitely not higher up on the fretboard.

I used to try learning to play thumb behind neck, but eventually decided it's just doesn't work for me. I do that for some parts when I need, but any longer passages playing like that gets my hand aching.

I keep thumb either under or top of neck most of the time, so V shape feels more natural.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Perfect neck

I love the Super Wizard neck in my RG570. I like it a little better than the Wizard Prestige in my RGA121.

If there's one thing I'd change about my PRS is the neck. The neck profile (Wide Fat) is fine. It's a bit baseball-bat-y, but I can live with it. It's the round fretboard that feels kinda alien to me.

As long as the fretboard radius is at least 12", I'm happy. The flatter, the better, though. I also prefer thinner/flatter necks a la Ibanez/Jackson, but I'd happily play with something like the ESP Thin U or the Gibson 60's.

 

[NoOnesFang13]

Re: Perfect neck

My favorite neck is the one I have on my Warmoth Jazzmaster, its an old neck from an Austin Strat with a CBS headstock, I think its 9.5in radius and it really fat and doesn't seem to have a taper so maybe something like a Warmoth fatback. I really like a chunky neck on a guitar since the way I bend usually involves me rolling my wrist back and sliding my hand so my thumb comes up over the top of the neck. My hands are also fairly large, and I've never had the issue with notes choking out, but in my experience that just comes down a good setup and having level frets