Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

[Miget Kotla]

Re: Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

Thanks.....lots makes sense. I've actually played since maybe 4th or 5th grade and have tried many, many guitars over the years. Where i live we do not have the ability to walk into a "guitar shop" and try out 15-50 different guitars looking for the right sound/feel. I have been to a Guitar Center in Vegas once but don't expect to be out there again for at least another 1-2 years. You guys might be surprised that most guitar players do not have the knowledge you do about guitar parts and lots of your discussion here. Very interesting.

Now......40 years later I am actually able to afford instruments and having started out on a Strat.....want to have my next guitar be my last one. Not into collecting a number of guitars.......or buying and trading......but stumbled onto this site and noticed more specific/experience discussion here than anywhere else. The few forums I belong to will talk about pentatonic minor scales and John Bonham's triplets until they are blue in the face.....but few actually discuss guitar pickups or drum skins. Definitely a wealth of knowledge here.

I'm learning terms and sensitivity too. "Best" is not normally used....and words like "preferred" and "favored" are more accurate. My preference after having played tons of guitars is my first guitar a Fender Strat - and after having played all the major brands (just a small number of customs ranging from Fenders to Steinbergers.....and even an Irish model/make) my "preference" is a 7.25 radius, thin and narrow neck....while I am told I can get "low action" from any guitar it's definitely a feature that makes rhythm so much easier.........a 24ish inch scale......and considering there isn't a Strat or a Fender or any similar guitar with these features (like I'd hope) they would be the reason I ask a custom shop to make me a guitar with these features that are most important to me.

Thanks again for any leads to a stock guitar with all/most of these features.

 

[Miget Kotla]

Re: Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

By the way, here is another technical question for those willing to share their experiences:
How true is it that a thin/narrow neck is going to sound substantially different from say a thick 12 inch (wide) neck almost like the '72 Strat (not sure if that was a 9ish or a 12ish but remember that is when Fender took a shot at heavier rock guitarist with a Strat that was supposed to capture what might be called the "metal" market these days....'72). I know with acoustics big bodies mean louder and fuller sound - does the same hold true for different depths and widths of guitar necks?

Thanks again!

 

[AlexR]

Re: Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

As I and other have said.....Fender Jaguar. The American Vintage 65 has a 24" scale with 7.25" radius. Plus the Jag has two circuits for different tones. Its VERY much like the shape of a strat.

How does this guitar not meet your requirements

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

By the way, here is another technical question for those willing to share their experiences:
How true is it that a thin/narrow neck is going to sound substantially different from say a thick 12 inch (wide) neck almost like the '72 Strat (not sure if that was a 9ish or a 12ish but remember that is when Fender took a shot at heavier rock guitarist with a Strat that was supposed to capture what might be called the "metal" market these days....'72). I know with acoustics big bodies mean louder and fuller sound - does the same hold true for different depths and widths of guitar necks?

Thanks again!

Your confusing width with radius. A guitar with a 7.5 inch radius can have the same width neck as one with a 12 inch radius. Radius refers to how round or flat the fretboard is. Look down the neck of most guitars and you will see the frets arent completely flat they are slightly curved if you were you extend an imaginary circle around that curve and measure it you would find that its diameter is twice that of a given radius. So for a 7.25 inch radius the circle would be 14.5 a 12 inch radius would be 24 so on and so forth. You can have a 5 inch radius on a neck thats 3 inches wide just it will be as round as a baseball bat and you can have a 25 inch radius on a neck thats 10 inches wide it would just be imperceptibly flat.

This is why you need to play some more guitars you need to find out what it is that YOU like not other people. You can say preferred or favored all you want but that still wont tell you anything about what you actually like. What works for me or anyone else isnt necessarily what will work for you. Thats why its called preference I like red heads with big jugs and flat butts but some guys like brunettes with bubble butts.

I realize your not in an area where you can just go play lots of guitars thats ok. Then you need to approach this from going and playing those that you can play then get a guitar that fixes what about them you dont like.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

As I and other have said.....Fender Jaguar. The American Vintage 65 has a 24" scale with 7.25" radius. Plus the Jag has two circuits for different tones. Its VERY much like the shape of a strat.

How does this guitar not meet your requirements

You and me have different definitions of what "VERY much like" mean.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

As I and other have said.....Fender Jaguar. The American Vintage 65 has a 24" scale with 7.25" radius. Plus the Jag has two circuits for different tones. Its VERY much like the shape of a strat.

How does this guitar not meet your requirements

Sounds to me like the Jaguar would fit the bill ... and the Jaguar was the top of the line (and most expensive) Fender guitar in their day, not the Stratocaster. Plus they suit heavier strings, ideal for rhythm playing.

Maybe the Fender Custom Shop could create a Strat/Jag hybrid, with the shorter scale length Jag neck, Strat or Jag body, with Strat pickup arrangement. A Jag with 3 Strat pickups would be awesome.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

Thanks.....lots makes sense. I've actually played since maybe 4th or 5th grade and have tried many, many guitars over the years. Where i live we do not have the ability to walk into a "guitar shop" and try out 15-50 different guitars looking for the right sound/feel. I have been to a Guitar Center in Vegas once but don't expect to be out there again for at least another 1-2 years. You guys might be surprised that most guitar players do not have the knowledge you do about guitar parts and lots of your discussion here. Very interesting.

Now......40 years later I am actually able to afford instruments and having started out on a Strat.....want to have my next guitar be my last one. Not into collecting a number of guitars.......or buying and trading......but stumbled onto this site and noticed more specific/experience discussion here than anywhere else. The few forums I belong to will talk about pentatonic minor scales and John Bonham's triplets until they are blue in the face.....but few actually discuss guitar pickups or drum skins. Definitely a wealth of knowledge here.

I'm learning terms and sensitivity too. "Best" is not normally used....and words like "preferred" and "favored" are more accurate. My preference after having played tons of guitars is my first guitar a Fender Strat - and after having played all the major brands (just a small number of customs ranging from Fenders to Steinbergers.....and even an Irish model/make) my "preference" is a 7.25 radius, thin and narrow neck....while I am told I can get "low action" from any guitar it's definitely a feature that makes rhythm so much easier.........a 24ish inch scale......and considering there isn't a Strat or a Fender or any similar guitar with these features (like I'd hope) they would be the reason I ask a custom shop to make me a guitar with these features that are most important to me.

Thanks again for any leads to a stock guitar with all/most of these features.

If I may make one more suggestion: maybe a good approach for you would be to find a good luthier whose work you like, and work with them to nail down the specs you want. I believe this would be far more productive and useful than asking us. A good luthier can look at your needs and come up with specs that suit them.

 

[Miget Kotla]

Re: Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

If I may make one more suggestion: maybe a good approach for you would be to find a good luthier whose work you like, and work with them to nail down the specs you want. I believe this would be far more productive and useful than asking us. A good luthier can look at your needs and come up with specs that suit them.

Actually that was poor writing on my part and not my thinking a neck is either 12 inches wide or thick. What I meant to write was a 12 inch radius and thick. Have seen descriptions that have "thin" necks but they are "thick"......and have seen similar descriptions for necks with radius of 7.25 (the necks are "thick"). Anyway, thanks again for your help!

 

[Miget Kotla]

Re: Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

If I may make one more suggestion: maybe a good approach for you would be to find a good luthier whose work you like, and work with them to nail down the specs you want. I believe this would be far more productive and useful than asking us. A good luthier can look at your needs and come up with specs that suit them.

Thanks for the recommendation. Earlier on I asked for the "best" when it came to strats but is there a "preferred" luthier for strats you might recommend who is relatively available and able to do the work?

 

[Miget Kotla]

Re: Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

Sounds to me like the Jaguar would fit the bill ... and the Jaguar was the top of the line (and most expensive) Fender guitar in their day, not the Stratocaster. Plus they suit heavier strings, ideal for rhythm playing.

Maybe the Fender Custom Shop could create a Strat/Jag hybrid, with the shorter scale length Jag neck, Strat or Jag body, with Strat pickup arrangement. A Jag with 3 Strat pickups would be awesome.

Thanks!

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

I suggest the Micro Marsupial Klamydia Kustom.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Preferred Fret Style/Size/Make for Rhythm Guitar, Strumming and Chords?

I hate to agree with RD, except for when he is right. I gotta go with RD on this....