I'm looking to get more consistency into my neck design and have been looking at the neck profile templates that are available at Luthier Supplies. Follow the link to the next page to see the ones available.
My question to everyone is what is your preferred neck style, size, profile, or whatever you want to call it, and the style of guitar that you like to play. I'm thinking of getting a few of these templates, so I've got a choice on hand so that I should be able to reproduce a neck more accurately than just eyeballing it.
What's your favorite neck profile?
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ozziebluesman
- Blackwood
- Posts: 1550
- Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:12 am
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G'day Allen,
I reckon Maton have it about right with their acoustic neck profile. They use a 12" fingerboard radius with a 44mm width at the nut. Not sure on the neck depth and shape but I think it is a C shape. This is a great all round profile IMO.
I have small hands so this neck profile suits my hand. I find string bending good with this profile too. The 000 (Dawn)Taffy built for me recently has the same profile as a Maton but with a tad wider, 1 3/4", 47mm width fingerboard at the nut. This works for me too as I wanted a little more space between the strings to use this as a finger style guitar.
The 000 size is my favourite body size. It is comfortable to reach over and the right hand sits right over the soundhole for best tone results.
Cheers
Alan
I reckon Maton have it about right with their acoustic neck profile. They use a 12" fingerboard radius with a 44mm width at the nut. Not sure on the neck depth and shape but I think it is a C shape. This is a great all round profile IMO.
I have small hands so this neck profile suits my hand. I find string bending good with this profile too. The 000 (Dawn)Taffy built for me recently has the same profile as a Maton but with a tad wider, 1 3/4", 47mm width fingerboard at the nut. This works for me too as I wanted a little more space between the strings to use this as a finger style guitar.
The 000 size is my favourite body size. It is comfortable to reach over and the right hand sits right over the soundhole for best tone results.
Cheers
Alan
I don’t play as well or as much these days due to a failed experiment in cutting a minivan in half with a motorbike (several broken bones and a couple of irreparably severed tendons in the left hand isn’t a good thing for someone who was at best only an average guitarist… could have been worse, I could have been a good guitarist). However, the lack of dexterity in my left hand has made me much more aware of the importance of the neck profile, so I do have a few thoughts on the topic.
I think that the neck profile is one of the most important but poorly considered parts when building or buying a guitar. Everyone puts so much thought and effort goes into materials, sound, look, finish and so little into the player comfort. Grab any ten people and check out their hands, you’ll have a mix of long fingers, stumpy fingers, thick fingers, thin fingers, big hands and small hands.
A guy I know from the mines has the largest hands and thickest fingers I’ve ever seen (the nail on his pinkie is bigger than my thumbnail). He has enough trouble playing a classical with these huge paws, but he really wanted a steel string. The local music shop he went to told him that there was nothing they could do because all steel string guitars have narrow necks, apparently they have to be that way… they then tried to sell him a two thousand dollar guitar he’d have a very hard time playing. I told him to buy a cheap guitar he likes the sound of from the pawnbrokers and I’d fit it with a neck he was comfortable with for a bottle of good Scotch. If it works out and he’s happy with it he can find a luthier and have a custom guitar made.
The most comfortable guitar I’ve ever played was a very old oversized classical and the neck profile was very non-standard. About 15mm at centre of the neck was almost flat and the radius on the sides of the neck fattened out towards the body. Very unusual and I’m sure many guitarists would hate it, but it fitted my hand perfectly (it also had a much larger radius on the top edge, what a total joy not to have the edge digging into your upper arm). I would have tried to buy it except for the fact it was possibly the worst sounding guitar of all time.
If I was building ‘made to order’ guitars I’d have a few necks of different profiles available on hand for the customer to hold and get a feel for, then I’d customise from there. It wouldn’t matter if these were made from old pine with something glued on top to simulate the thickness and feel of a fretboard.
If it is for off the rack sales… then a standard Martin profile for steel and Antonio Torres or Jose Ramirez for nylon. Simple reason being that they are proven performers and you’d expect anyone willing to spend the money on genuine hand made guitar to relate to these names (good marketing).
I think that the neck profile is one of the most important but poorly considered parts when building or buying a guitar. Everyone puts so much thought and effort goes into materials, sound, look, finish and so little into the player comfort. Grab any ten people and check out their hands, you’ll have a mix of long fingers, stumpy fingers, thick fingers, thin fingers, big hands and small hands.
A guy I know from the mines has the largest hands and thickest fingers I’ve ever seen (the nail on his pinkie is bigger than my thumbnail). He has enough trouble playing a classical with these huge paws, but he really wanted a steel string. The local music shop he went to told him that there was nothing they could do because all steel string guitars have narrow necks, apparently they have to be that way… they then tried to sell him a two thousand dollar guitar he’d have a very hard time playing. I told him to buy a cheap guitar he likes the sound of from the pawnbrokers and I’d fit it with a neck he was comfortable with for a bottle of good Scotch. If it works out and he’s happy with it he can find a luthier and have a custom guitar made.
The most comfortable guitar I’ve ever played was a very old oversized classical and the neck profile was very non-standard. About 15mm at centre of the neck was almost flat and the radius on the sides of the neck fattened out towards the body. Very unusual and I’m sure many guitarists would hate it, but it fitted my hand perfectly (it also had a much larger radius on the top edge, what a total joy not to have the edge digging into your upper arm). I would have tried to buy it except for the fact it was possibly the worst sounding guitar of all time.
If I was building ‘made to order’ guitars I’d have a few necks of different profiles available on hand for the customer to hold and get a feel for, then I’d customise from there. It wouldn’t matter if these were made from old pine with something glued on top to simulate the thickness and feel of a fretboard.
If it is for off the rack sales… then a standard Martin profile for steel and Antonio Torres or Jose Ramirez for nylon. Simple reason being that they are proven performers and you’d expect anyone willing to spend the money on genuine hand made guitar to relate to these names (good marketing).
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Taffy Evans
- Blackwood
- Posts: 1067
- Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:54 pm
- Location: Charters Towers North Queensland
Hi Allen
I have a stack of old necks from other guitars that I or the customer would refer to. In Alans case with 'Dawn', he suggested a Maton style neck [ by Email] so I reached for my Maton 'Southern Star' neck and took it from there. I do not have many standards of anything in my shop, but I'm working on it.
I have a stack of old necks from other guitars that I or the customer would refer to. In Alans case with 'Dawn', he suggested a Maton style neck [ by Email] so I reached for my Maton 'Southern Star' neck and took it from there. I do not have many standards of anything in my shop, but I'm working on it.
Taff
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