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Post by Hohn on May 12, 2006 6:53:44 GMT -7
Fellas, I'm looking at building a parts-o-caster for myself, and I'm looking at different neck options.
Both Warmoth and USACG seem to have good neck options.
Personally, I find thin necks fatiguing to play.
Honestly, a Les Paul neck carve feels about perfect to me (I dunno if it's the pre-60 fat neck or slim taper, though).
My gut tells me to go with a fatter neck.
It seems to me that a fatter neck just sounds better and is more stable.
This guitar is going to be a SRV- #1 type strat-- fatter and meaty tone-- less chime more growl.
The other thing is that I have somewhat small hands and short fingers. "Logic" says I should play a thinner neck, but I just don't care for them-- am I wrong??
Part of me thinks that one should always pick the absolute fattest neck he can handle.
Finally: stainless frets or regular? I've never played stainless, and I know that some love them, others hate them (Ed Roman's not shy about this).
Justin
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Post by BW on May 12, 2006 7:16:54 GMT -7
Well Justin, take a look at my supple elegant fingers. They've been referred to elsewhere in this very forum as 'Tone Sausages', so that oughta give you a clue;^) When Scott Lentz crafted a new neck to replace the Japan reissue neck on my strat, I was AMAZED at how much bigger that guitar sounded. And its a BIG neck. Maybe not quite as big as the Jeff Beck neck, but right about there. I love it and don't have any trouble with it. On the other hand, Mouse Mayes, my co-guitar bud in our little band, likes 'em as big as he can get his hands around and strings 'em like .011-.056, a 'little' stout if you play a lot of different kinds of music. Some of the tele stuff is just plain easier (long term especially) on 10's with a neck where you have kind of a happy medium, if you ask me. Don't know much about the stainless frets except my repair guys say they're hard to 'work' and I HAVE heard that they're really bright. Can't say fer certain, though so I'll get off the soapbox fer a minute....
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Post by Hohn on May 12, 2006 7:22:42 GMT -7
Big thanks, BW-- I'm a fan. (Apologies since *I* was the poster that coined the tone sausage term).
Since I have short fingers, I can relate.
I've never played the JB neck, so no reference for me.
I wear "cadet medium large" golf glove, if that helps.
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Post by Curt on May 12, 2006 7:28:30 GMT -7
I too find a thin neck fatigues my hand and forearm, I recenty got an AllParts "Fat" tele neck and it's the first neck I have come across that was Too big, I took the sander to it, cut some of the "shoulder' off and formed a nice soft V I have narowed the perfect profile (for me) down to a real soft V at about .910 at the nut, If you have a fender CS dealer near you see if they have a strat or Tele with their "10/56" neck...just about perfect IMO, The recent reissue CS Gibson Les Pauls (R-6, R-8, etc. ) have great profiles as well, some are huge..but most are really nice.
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Post by John on May 12, 2006 7:35:09 GMT -7
"Tone Sausages"...I've got to write that one down....that's funny.
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Post by billyguitar on May 12, 2006 11:09:44 GMT -7
My hands are very small. Many women have longer fingers than I do but of course my hand is much wider than most women. I find that a larger neck supports the hand much better. My favorite vintage necks are my prewar Gibson and Epiphones from the 40s and 50s with the V necks. I have a Tele and that neck is not as deep as I like. I have a Tom Anderson hollow T with the standard neck and it's too small also. I have another Tom Anderson Drop Top T and it has the '62 roundback neck and it's perfect for me. Quite a bit of taper from the nut to the body so it's pretty beefy from about the 7th fret to the body, just perfect for me. It also has stainless steel frets and I can tell you I'm sold on them. No wear after 2 years! They are also more slippery for bends. Tom Anderson pickups are pretty bright so I think that is why the guitar is bright, not because of the frets. Playing unamplified I hear a sweetness that the SS frets give but I don't hear that so much thru the amp. I've read people say they make a guitar unbearably bright, shatter glass, all kinds of B. S., and that's what it is B. S.. Once you use stainless frets for a while you won't want anything else.
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robt
Full Member
Posts: 138
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Post by robt on May 12, 2006 11:21:48 GMT -7
I also have small hands. I have a Jimmy Bryant Tele that has a nice neck--not too beefy but not a "U" or "V" profile, more of a C shape. I have a 63 NOS Tele and it has a thin but wide neck, very fast. I had to get rid of a Golden Era D-18 because it was just too big, in large part because of the 1 3/4 nut. I think width gets overlooked a lot, and taper but BW sure is right, necks have an amazing effect on tone. So what am I saying? To me big is OK if the taper and width is right...and smaller is OK if it's wider. Bigger frets are best but not too big. Dunno about stainless. Too small and it is tiring too play, too big same thing, IMHO. Good luck.
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