I have a 1995 McCarty with a Wide Fat neck, a 2018 Hollowbody II Piezo with a Pattern neck and a 2020 Special Semi-Hollow with a Pattern neck. I’ve always read that the Pattern neck is just an updated version of the Wide Fat neck and that they are almost identical. My Pattern necks both measure 1.69” wide and 0.89” deep at the nut, but my McCarty Wide Fat measures 1.65” wide and 0.86” deep at the nut. The McCarty is noticeably smaller in the hand than the other 2 Pattern necks. I happen to love the McCarty’s neck. Is mine an outlier or were Wide Fat necks smaller back then?
Wide Fat vs Pattern
- Thread starter Goodsal
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CatStrangler
PRS Enthusiast
Pattern necks vary as well. I've had some that felt a lot smaller than others. Our hands notice small differences and I think the small differences are within manufacturing tolerances. I like the *slightly* slimmer pattern necks myself.
dmatthews
Dave's not here
There are various "Pattern" necks as well:
Pattern
Pattern regular
Pattern thin
Pattern Vintage
Pattern
Pattern regular
Pattern thin
Pattern Vintage
Alnus Rubra
Loving nature’s wonders
CatStrangler
PRS Enthusiast
To clarify, I meant within the pattern and pattern vintage examples I have handled. could not say about pattern regular and thin.
dmatthews
Dave's not here
dmatthews
Dave's not here
You're welcome!
DISTORT6
NJ Devil
The necks are all hand sanded and that will make them vary.
They are all close, +/- within parameters.
Mozzi
https://imgur.com/user/BAMozzy/posts
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PRS used to hand carve their Wide Fat necks and use various jigs along the neck to try and keep them as similar as possible. Pattern necks are CNC carved - the CNC machine cuts the neck much more precisely to its digital 'Pattern'.
All their neck shapes were recreated in a Digital 'Pattern' so that everything is far more 'consistent'. However, as with both methods, once you have the neck to its basic shape, you then need to spend time hand sanding to remove any tooling marks, scratches etc so there is going to be some variation if you're measuring to thousandths, if not hundredths of an inch. An extra couple of passes with the courser grit sandpaper may take off a bit more or leave deeper scratches to be removed.
What CNC does is not make a 'finished' neck but make every neck much closer to each other. With Hand carving, you may end up with a similar neck but could vary more between guitars (say maybe +/- 0.5mm so could have 1mm difference) but with CNC, the difference could vary by 0.2mm (+/- 0.1mm) - unless you get the 'odd' neck that needs a bit more 'hand work' on for whatever reason.
The biggest difference to me is the width of 1.65 vs 1.69, which I don't think can be attributed to sanding. Those are standard widths for Fender and Gibson guitars, and are very noticeably different in the hand. I'm wondering if and when PRS changed from 1.65" to 1.69" if that was an intentional change.
Rider1260
New Member
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The shoulders of the Pattern are rounder making them feel more narrow ( sometimes )
Yes there is a difference between the Wide fat and Pattern in feel and measurement depending on where you measure.
that difference is about 1/32" which does seem like a lot , I'll have to check mine.
Yes there is a difference between the Wide fat and Pattern in feel and measurement depending on where you measure.
that difference is about 1/32" which does seem like a lot , I'll have to check mine.
SinSir
Mad Scientist
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I just measured my W/F and Pattern necks, they all measure 1.69. My Pattern Regular is 1.65
That’s why I’m wondering if Wide Fat in 1995 was narrower, since mine is 1.65
SinSir
Mad Scientist
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My 97 W/F is 1.69
If memory serves, back in 1995, necks were still carved with a Duplicarver (an old-fashioned analog jig that traces a pattern, isn't as accurate as CNC, in use since at least the 1940s that I know of, and requiring a lot of hand finishing work).
For some time now, and certainly since the Pattern necks were introduced, they're carved by CNC. The carves are now more accurate, yet there are still variations based on hand-sanding. Go figure!
I did hear Paul Smith say that the Pattern is similar to, but a little different from, the old Wide/Fat necks. I had a bunch of Wide/Fat necks on PRSes along the way, and each one felt a little different to me. Same with Pattern necks, of which I've had about a dozen or so.
I actually like the small variations between individual guitars created by hand-finishing. It helps give each one its own personality. It makes choosing guitars a bit more fun, at least for me.
I'm going to guess that, measured with a micrometer, no two Stradivari or Amati were alike. That actually seems like a desirable thing to me. YMMV.
For some time now, and certainly since the Pattern necks were introduced, they're carved by CNC. The carves are now more accurate, yet there are still variations based on hand-sanding. Go figure!
I did hear Paul Smith say that the Pattern is similar to, but a little different from, the old Wide/Fat necks. I had a bunch of Wide/Fat necks on PRSes along the way, and each one felt a little different to me. Same with Pattern necks, of which I've had about a dozen or so.
I actually like the small variations between individual guitars created by hand-finishing. It helps give each one its own personality. It makes choosing guitars a bit more fun, at least for me.
I'm going to guess that, measured with a micrometer, no two Stradivari or Amati were alike. That actually seems like a desirable thing to me. YMMV.
AZGiant
New Member
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- Jul 14, 2019
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I have guitars with multiple next patterns. If you like the way it plays, then go for it. That and sound are the only things that matter
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