Big Fat Necks... Who likes them?

WF all the time...first couple versions of the SAS guitars got me loving the bare feeling, bigger necks. Of course , if I were to have a chance to pick up a "skinny" neck pretty cheap, neck size would NOT deter that transaction!!
 
I have little hands and was a little apprehensive getting my CE with the wide/fat as I had no idea what it would be like, luckily I like it, it feels neither wide nor fat to me. My absolute favourite necks are the carbon glass wrapped Parker Niteflys (if you haven't tried one you should, at least once) and Ibanez Wizards as fitted to the 'S' series, not just for shredders.
 
I used to be a thin neck guy. But, my hands were cramping on longer sessions. Fat neck solved that. My hands are bigger than I think they are.

PRS is the only guitar I prefer a fat neck. Then again, the last year, they've been all I've played minus my Strat from now and then.

Had a LP Std with the Asymmetrical neck and I just could not get a long with it. I could play it just fine, but it never felt comfortable.

Yep, that's my issue with smaller necks now. Cramping, particularly with barre chords. Thankfully, I don't have that issue on my WT SE C24 or my Strat. Can't quite place my finger (Bad pun?) on what it is with the wide thin I don't get on with. Seems like those fractions of an inch make all the difference these days.

On the other hand, scale length difference doesn't bother me a bit. I can go between my 24.5 scale Bernie and the 25.5" scale Strat (Both loaded with 10-46 strings without any issue.
 
I'd like to say that my musical taste is varied enough that I can, and like to play on all neck types depending on what I want to play, but the truth is I'm barely skilled enough to recognize the difference. I do have big hands and with my W/T I do get some cramping that I don't with the W/F, but I am also faster and more elegant on the W/T. My old CE24 is thinner than my W/T Cu24, but in someways it is easier to play. In short, I just pick 'em up and play 'em. :wink:
 
had a mid 90's gibson lp studio that had a neck like babe ruth's baseball bat, didn't like it.i've had a nf3 with a regular neck, didn't like it. i've had 4 prs's with wide/fat, and love them. also had 1 prs with a wide/thin, and too be honest, it didn't feel much different AT ALL to me than a wide/fat.
 
I have become very accustomed to Wide/Fat and regular neck profiles from PRS, but that first year of playing PRS was a tough transition. My previous main guitar was a Warmoth with a "fatback" profile, a full 1" thick at the 1st fret. Another partscaster favorite of mine was the Allparts TMNF-Fat, very similar neck carve to the Warmoth Fatback.

The Warmoth guitar now has a USA Custom Guitars 25" scale conversion neck, 10" radius, and .86 U carve. It's got just a touch more of that 58LP shoulder to the carve than a round C like a wide-fat. If I ever order a private stock, I will send them that neck to copy. It's just superb. Sadly, it's the guitar I play the least.
 
The Bernie is a wide fat but it certainly feels or felt different to the wide fat on the SE245. Based on Bernie's '59 LP at least in part. It's the feel of the edge of the wide thin i'm not keen on -the shoulder. Perhaps it's that rather than the depth or width that's making the difference.
 
I guess I do too Mike. When I first watched your video of the Bernie demo, I kept thinking 'my fingers look like his'. That's NOT to say that I'm anywhere near the player you are; I just mean we both seem to be a bit 'digitally challenged'. :laugh:

Lloyd

I thought the same thing at experience PRS when I saw Bernie play in a session. His finger are just like mine.
 
I have huge hands and like wide fat necks. Only my Mccarty has one, my other two do not but I get by just fine.
 
Wide-Thin or Pattern-Thins for me. The Wide Fats always caused me wrist pain and fatigue that would last awhile. It took me a long time to figure out why, and I think it's because I rarely, if ever, wrap my thumb around the neck or "grip" the neck/chords with my palm...I didn't take classical lessons, but for years my teacher forbid me from allowing my thumb to even approach going over the top of the fretboard, which has stuck with me...to this day, I play more like a classical guitarist with my wrist bent in the opposite direction of the "thumb/palm-grip." I loved the Wide Thins until I discovered the Pattern Thin...maybe just a hair more shoulder on them, which I like.
 
If I could carve my own neck, I'd make it narrow and deep, but not sure I've ever tried a guitar like this. My 70's style Japanese Strat is the closest.

Very comfortable on my pattern regular, though. But I'd love it even deeper.
 
I absolutely LOVE the old Wide Fat carve and I really dug the DGT carve...

But, when I got my paws on a Paul's Guitar and that Pattern neck carve was just a smidge wider and a fuzz fatter, fuhgeddaboutit, it was game over.

I briefly had a Pattern Regular neck on a Studio model and didn't really care for it all that much. It felt too bulky for my grip. That guitar and I fought for months trying in vain to make it work. Great guitar, we just didn't jive...

Never really messed around with a Pattern Thin. I'd wager it very easy to play but I think I need that chunk of the Pattern carve to feel like home.

I really want something goldtop with a solid rosewood Pattern neck next...just gotta settle on a model to compliment the wonderful stable I have currently...
 
I absolutely LOVE the old Wide Fat carve and I really dug the DGT carve...

But, when I got my paws on a Paul's Guitar and that Pattern neck carve was just a smidge wider and a fuzz fatter, fuhgeddaboutit, it was game over.

I briefly had a Pattern Regular neck on a Studio model and didn't really care for it all that much. It felt too bulky for my grip. That guitar and I fought for months trying in vain to make it work. Great guitar, we just didn't jive...

Never really messed around with a Pattern Thin. I'd wager it very easy to play but I think I need that chunk of the Pattern carve to feel like home.

I really want something goldtop with a solid rosewood Pattern neck next...just gotta settle on a model to compliment the wonderful stable I have currently...

I'll have to try out a guitar with a Pattern neck.. Sounds like it may fit the bill.
 
The first electric guitar I had a chance to play was a MIM strat with what fender call the "modern c" shape. because of that, I can say that the fender of my generation (I'm 25..) modern C is the shape by which I judge all others (just psychological, I suppose, being that my first impression is based on my first experience..) I never took issue with the "modern c," and have owned/played many with the same profile since..

Then came my intro to the LP-specifically the "fat '50's" profile- and I have been in love with thicker necks, with a nice V - or U shape(much like what is on my Korina McCarty-Brazilian with Wide-Fat neck carve..). Since, Gibson has come out with a newer asymmetrical design, that to me at least, feels like a Taylor Acoustic--and as for a LP, just doesn't do it for me.

As for tone, I'm not sure.. I feel like the way the neck is connected to the body, and the wood that the neck is made of offer more to alter/improve the tone more than the shape. You always read that a bolt on neck inherently has less sustain than a glued in neck. I can't say for sure I've experienced this, as my time with bolt on necks doesn't stack up to my time with glued in necks.

As a side node: I'm only 5'7" and have what most would call small to normal sized hands (not Burger King commercial territory..), and if I'm playing a guitar with a thin neck for any long period of time (2+hours) my hands do cramp up. However, with a wider, fatter neck, I don't seem to have that issue.

wide necks for me.
 
I recently played a caribbean gig, which involved the usual back beat skank in a repetitive pattern. This used to mean hand cramping and breaks spent trying to loosen my fingers. I used my PRS SE Singlecut Soapbar on the last one, no cramping. I also find I can do some pretty outrageous string tremelo with the wide/fat neck. Then there is the sound................
 
It's kind of strange that as I have gotten older, I seem to pick up my guitars with fatter necks over the few that I have that are thinner. It just feels more comfortable to me now, but when I was younger, and probably trying to play to fast, I played the thinner neck guitars.
 
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