bluesmantis

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Mar 10, 2020
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I recently purchased a silver sky, being a huge mayer fan and fan of the blues.

This came after a long search for a new guitar and I returned my first guitar purchase from sweetwater. The first one was a Music Man Cutlass RS with rosewood fingerboard and roasted neck. I returned it for one main reason which was the icepicky sound and the Buffered output.

So, now here we are and I have a beautiful Silver Sky in White. The pickups sound incredible. I was not a fan of the low action from the factory so I had the instrument set up by a professional tech that has never let me down. That still didn't satisfy me so I also tried multiple string gauges. I have settled on 10.5-50 set from GHS. Although on my other strats I have used 11-52 for years.

The Problem: The Neck is so wide, big and chunky even compared to my chunky MIM Fender 60s Player Strat that I'm in pain playing it and having a lot of trouble playing many of the normal runs I do on my strats.
I can play it for about an hour and that's my limit. It's a painful thing to try to play this guitar neck and I'm in my mid 30's so my hands are done growing, done getting stronger I think.

I'm looking for a solution but I'm not sure there is one. Anyone know of a way to modify the guitar in a way that will make it easier to play, and eventually be able to take this instrument on a 4 hour gig?
My first thought was neck reshape. But I'm not sure that would work. Or how it would work.
But I do know my tech does that kind of work.
Anyone switched the neck on this PRS Silver Sky Guitar? Any Advice?
I'm trying to avoid selling it or returning it, because I truly love the sound of it.
 
Absolutely the right luthier can do this for you. After all, they are just shaved down in the first place to the desired size. You will need to get the neck appropriately finished afterward.

The wrong "luthier" will butcher it, so ... be careful.

Ideally you would have an example neck profile for them to follow.

It's unlikely that it's the actual width, from what I know most Strats have either 1-11/16th or 1-10/16th in width. The actual shape of the back of the neck makes a giant different in how overall large it feels.

Small difference make a giant impact as well. The PRS Fat vs Thin necks are literally 1/16" of an inch difference, yet feel like night and day.
 
Absolutely the right luthier can do this for you. After all, they are just shaved down in the first place to the desired size. You will need to get the neck appropriately finished afterward.

The wrong "luthier" will butcher it, so ... be careful.

Ideally you would have an example neck profile for them to follow.

It's unlikely that it's the actual width, from what I know most Strats have either 1-11/16th or 1-10/16th in width. The actual shape of the back of the neck makes a giant different in how overall large it feels.

Small difference make a giant impact as well. The PRS Fat vs Thin necks are literally 1/16" of an inch difference, yet feel like night and day.

This is very comforting and helpful.
The guitar is an absolute piece of art and it sounds incredible. Better than any strat I have ever heard.

I know I have the right luthier for the job. He does this kind of work regularly without butchering anything.
I was just kind of concerned that this particular guitar wouldn't be able to handle it for some reason.

The question is I'm not sure if its the neck thickness or the shoulders being too tall. But I find my palms getting stuck on the sides of the neck and my fingers just can't react the notes I need to in time.
 
The 2020 silver sky has been modified in the shoulders slightly - maybe track one down and check that out? Only the rosewood was modified, the maples are the original profile.
 
I've only played one Silver Sky so far and I also found the neck terribly uncomfortable. It's not the width, it's the "shoulder" in the back shape. It's more of a D shape, which forces your hand to spread open. A good luthier can reshape to more of a C shape without removing much of the overall depth of the neck. The SS neck is finished in nitro, so they can hit it with a few coats to reseal it or you can go for Tru-Oil if you like a minimal finish.
 
Thanks for all the comments. I'm going to have the neck shaved down somehow. I may only alter the neck after the 5th fret. Because the first frets are pretty good size in the neck. It then starts to get really thick after that.
I talked to the luthier over the phone he suggested possibly rolling the shoulders. But, I'm not sure that would be enough. Does rolling the shoulders do much?
 
Thanks for all the comments. I'm going to have the neck shaved down somehow. I may only alter the neck after the 5th fret. Because the first frets are pretty good size in the neck. It then starts to get really thick after that.
I talked to the luthier over the phone he suggested possibly rolling the shoulders. But, I'm not sure that would be enough. Does rolling the shoulders do much?

It could but I feel like it would be user preference. I suggested earlier tracking down a 2020 as that’s what they changed on the rosewood necks - more round in the shoulders. Not saying you should sell yours and buy one, but it would give you an idea if that’s the right path. Could also be beneficial to find a good local Fender Custom Shop dealer - they have thick c necks, thin c, v shaped, soft v, u shaped, d shaped, compound, baseball bat sized - could be useful in determining a shape you like.
 
It could but I feel like it would be user preference. I suggested earlier tracking down a 2020 as that’s what they changed on the rosewood necks - more round in the shoulders. Not saying you should sell yours and buy one, but it would give you an idea if that’s the right path. Could also be beneficial to find a good local Fender Custom Shop dealer - they have thick c necks, thin c, v shaped, soft v, u shaped, d shaped, compound, baseball bat sized - could be useful in determining a shape you like.
This is a good point. I'm not certain where a good custom shop dealer is.
I like my classic 60s Player Strat Neck and that's actually pretty chunky. I could do with slightly less chunky than that though.
I feel that's a Fat C, but I'm not certain
 
I did a reshape job on my Modern Eagle. One of reasons I did is that the rosewood neck doesn't want a protective finish. So all I've done are roughly ground the neck to desired thickness, fine shaping with sandpapers, oiled it with Tru Oil, and finally polished the dried oiled neck with 00 steel wool.

The thing is while I was grinding I made a 'hiccup' the the job and that caused the grinder to bite a bit too deep. I had no choice so I sanded the entire neck down even thinner by another half millimeter than what I originally planned. Fortunately, things work fine afterall, with incredibly fast playability that no other MEs can come close mine.

BTW, my suggestion is taking your guitar to a luthier. Don't take a risk like me.

kPzVmA7.jpg


PeZI7pJ.jpg
 
I did a reshape job on my Modern Eagle. One of reasons I did is that the rosewood neck doesn't want a protective finish. So all I've done are roughly ground the neck to desired thickness, fine shaping with sandpapers, oiled it with Tru Oil, and finally polished the dried oiled neck with 00 steel wool.

The thing is while I was grinding I made a 'hiccup' the the job and that caused the grinder to bite a bit too deep. I had no choice so I sanded the entire neck down even thinner by another half millimeter than what I originally planned. Fortunately, things work fine afterall, with incredibly fast playability that no other MEs can come close mine.

BTW, my suggestion is taking your guitar to a luthier. Don't take a risk like me.

kPzVmA7.jpg


PeZI7pJ.jpg
OWNER!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I did a reshape job on my Modern Eagle. One of reasons I did is that the rosewood neck doesn't want a protective finish. So all I've done are roughly ground the neck to desired thickness, fine shaping with sandpapers, oiled it with Tru Oil, and finally polished the dried oiled neck with 00 steel wool.

The thing is while I was grinding I made a 'hiccup' the the job and that caused the grinder to bite a bit too deep. I had no choice so I sanded the entire neck down even thinner by another half millimeter than what I originally planned. Fortunately, things work fine afterall, with incredibly fast playability that no other MEs can come close mine.

BTW, my suggestion is taking your guitar to a luthier. Don't take a risk like me.

kPzVmA7.jpg


PeZI7pJ.jpg

you have some very grandes bolas my friend.
 
I did a reshape job on my Modern Eagle. One of reasons I did is that the rosewood neck doesn't want a protective finish. So all I've done are roughly ground the neck to desired thickness, fine shaping with sandpapers, oiled it with Tru Oil, and finally polished the dried oiled neck with 00 steel wool.

The thing is while I was grinding I made a 'hiccup' the the job and that caused the grinder to bite a bit too deep. I had no choice so I sanded the entire neck down even thinner by another half millimeter than what I originally planned. Fortunately, things work fine afterall, with incredibly fast playability that no other MEs can come close mine.

BTW, my suggestion is taking your guitar to a luthier. Don't take a risk like me.

kPzVmA7.jpg


PeZI7pJ.jpg
This is Awesome man Thanks for sharing!
 
Out of the two Silver Sky's I tried before buying one had a much more comfortable neck than the other and that's the one I got, it just felt thinner.
The other one was borderline uncomfortable in comparison, it just felt like it had much more shoulder on the bass side.
If you are as sensitive to neck differences like I am you may want to checkout out couple others, if you have that possibility, to see if one feels drastically better to you.
It's still a big neck either way though.
 
Out of the two Silver Sky's I tried before buying one had a much more comfortable neck than the other and that's the one I got, it just felt thinner.
The other one was borderline uncomfortable in comparison, it just felt like it had much more shoulder on the bass side.
If you are as sensitive to neck differences like I am you may want to checkout out couple others, if you have that possibility, to see if one feels drastically better to you.
It's still a big neck either way though.
Thanks man. Did you try the rosewood only? Or did you also try the maple neck?

unfortunately no one carries these guitars near me so it's online order only.
 
That was last summer so RW only. I have SS Nebula on pre-order due this summer, if it has thinner shoulders I think I will like it even more.

What happened is that the first one I got (with the neck I liked) was great feeling and sounding but had finish issues where having it stored in the gig bag from PRS to the dealer to me left minor marks on it and also looked 'porous' (not perfectly smooth).

Returned it to get a different one, and the neck on the second one didn't feel right to me. Slightly uncomfortable.
I ended up getting that first one back. By the time I got it back the finish marks from the gigbag were gone (the dealer couldn't see them when they got the return), the finish was still somewhat porous looking but you have to look real hard.
 
I've only played one Silver Sky so far and I also found the neck terribly uncomfortable. It's not the width, it's the "shoulder" in the back shape. It's more of a D shape, which forces your hand to spread open. A good luthier can reshape to more of a C shape without removing much of the overall depth of the neck. The SS neck is finished in nitro, so they can hit it with a few coats to reseal it or you can go for Tru-Oil if you like a minimal finish.

That describes my experience too. I am not 'fussy' about necks and can usually play pretty much anything, but the SS beat me.

As for the suggestion about rolling the edges. Its a personal preference, but I hate to be robbed of playing surface and that's what rolling will do.
 
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I do extreme rolled edges on the guitars I make, extreme enough that I stay away from tremolos with vintage string spacing (otherwise strings would more easily fall of the edge when bending).
It does wonders for the feel for a neck you already like, but I don't think it's gonna make you like any better a back shape you hate.
 
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