Confession...

[ScottM65]

Just watched a Rhett Shull video (I'm a big fan of his videos), and it reminded me of something that REALLY bothers me. - I hear it in many videos, I hear customers say, I hear my students say, I hear my colleagues say: the neck carve is not right, too wide, too flat, too thin, the neck carve is great, is a C, is a D, is a V, is pattern thin, pattern classic, a '59, a 61, blah blah blah. I might be able to ID one of these. ...maybe.

For 40 some years I have been playing the guitar. I have been consumed with fretboard side of the neck for at least the last 40 of those. I think can identify a V. I don't care, and I think people make too much of it. OK, the last sentence is probably just me trying to justify my own deficiency.

If you hand me a guitar with decent action and at least .010's, whatever the neck shape ("carve"?), it takes me until the band leader counts to 4 for me to become perfectly comfortable with it, There are just more important things on my mind.

Am I just stupid??

Be honest. I can take it.

 

[KentuckyBoiledChiccan]

Personally, I can't feel a difference between Pattern Thin and Regular. PRS necks are not in my way.

 

[AP515]

I can feel a difference between necks. I am usually not bothered by the difference. I mostly play the same on all of them. The W/T will cramp my hands if I play a long time. The W/F plays better for me, but all of them feel fine in my hand.

 

[ScottM65]

Well, I should have mentioned - I can tell the difference from one to the other, but I don't what they're called. I just... I don't care.

My Heritage 575 has the smallest neck of any guitar I have ever had my hands on. I wonder if it was a custom order or a mistake. Whatever it is, I love it. My PRS has a bigger neck and it is wonderful! (it's an S2 McCarty 594, and I don't know what the neck carve is.) My Mexican Strat has a bigger neck and it is fantastic. I have a Takamine acoustic that has a really big neck that I only notice until I start playing it. My Eastman 372 has a great neck, whatever size it is. I think it's kind of bigger.

 

[KentuckyBoiledChiccan]

Reflecting on what I said above, I should say that part of the reason may be related to the fact I approach my guitars differently. One is flat E; the other one is in drop. I play them in different ways. Most likely, this is why I don't take much notice of neck shape differences.

 

[veinbuster]

I adjust to different necks pretty easily. I do like a bit of a V on an acoustic and more of a C on an electric, but I've never rejected a guitar because of the neck profile.

Given a choice, I'll pick wide fat.

 

[JasonE]

I can feel the difference. It usually doesn't bother me, unless it is a very narrow and skinny neck like the one I had on my EB Axis. I moved that guitar on because it felt like I was playing a broom handle. I just didn't care for it. Other than that guitar, I have been able to easily adjust to just about any neck. The wizard neck wasn't a favorite of mine either but I was able to play it. After saying all of that, I think the nut width is probably the thing that affects me the most. That could be because the huge bulk of the guitars I have owned in my life have had a 1 11/16 nut on them. Anything that is too far in either direction from that affects my playing.

 

[dmatthews]

I can feel a difference between necks. I am usually not bothered by the difference. I mostly play the same on all of them. The W/T will cramp my hands if I play a long time. The W/F plays better for me, but all of them feel fine in my hand.

Pretty much same thing here.
My completely subjective preference from fav to least fav:

Pattern Vintage
Wide Fat
Pattern Regular
Pattern
Pattern thin

Of these I'd say I'm completely comfy with the Pattern and up. JM/Silver Sky is up there too.

 

[Wakester]

I have 7 different guitars wirh probably as many different carves. I could not tell you there is any difference felt in my hand.

 

[rwandering]

I don't love super-chunky necks, but have at least one. Generally when I pick up one of my guitars with a different neck, I think: "that's novel", not "that sucks". Though I'm not super thrilled about narrow fret boards. I have a late 60's Ovation acoustic with a crazy-narrow fret board (at the nut), and am borrowing a 60's Gibson 12-string that is also super-narrow. I don't have big hands, but geez.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Not caring is a great spot to be in.

Never change.

 

[gemyneye]

I can totally understand and after a warmup, I too can adapt to pretty much any neck. However, as far as comfort, thin narrow necks are more comfortable for my small hands. I am a small guy, so it gets uncomfortable with those big necks. But we are all different and unique.

 

[Lewguitar]

I don't like necks that are too narrow at the nut (1 5/8") or too wide (1 3/4"). So 1 11/16" works for me.

And about an inch thick...give or take a little.

I like medium frets that don't buzz with fairly low to medium action.

If it's within those parameters, I can make it work.

All of my PRS guitars work fine for me, even my Korean Singlecuts. In fact, they're just about perfect.

 

[RickP]

I can get used to anything pretty quickly, and change neck sizes and scales often simply because I want to play the guitar that neck happens to be attached to. So I would be one of those non-specific sorts that doesn't obsess over it. I'm like that with most aspects of a guitar. I just pick it up and go. Extremely high action or really bad setup that won't let it stay in tune could be a thing, were I looking for something I cant live with.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I feel it, unless it’s like a tree trunk it doesn’t bother me.

 

[Gtrbldr]

Like the OP, I can play on any neck carve, as long as the guitar is set up well. However some carves will cause me to fatigue faster than others. The Ibanez carves for example do not help in that regard. The "basball bats" on my starla and McCarty on the other hand provide support to prevent that.

 

[aphantomvaper]

Wide thin was my nemesis. There was an SE Custom 24 I really wanted to love but it didn't feel right. Tried a few more and chalked it up to WT carve. Never enjoyed any with that carve.

Then I got my SE Mira and flipping love it!! It was not the WT neck carve it seems, I just don't get along with SE CU 24 it seems, which is fine!

 

[alantig]

I'm pretty much neck agnostic. I can feel the difference in carves (usually), and I definitely have my favorite (DGT), but I can adjust to just about anything. That said, there are days that wide thin bothers my hand and causes cramping. But that's fairly rare.

 

[Maxime Bousquet]

I can tell the difference, but don't ask me what it is.

As many have said, if the guitar is set up correctly, no problem!
It gives me a different way of playing and I like it!

 

[Toolmaster Of Brainerd]

Big necks bother me when playing. Pattern thin is the biggest I like.