Wide Thin vs Pattern regular

[Brandon117]

Can anyone tell me how drastic the difference is in these two neck carves? I've been looking at getting an se or s2 for a long time now. I've played an se custom 24 at my local guitar center extensively and thought the wide thin neck was nice but they don't have any s2 guitars I can get my hands on to compare the two. I also played an se Santana that had a wide fat neck which I didn't like at all because I have small stubby hands. If anybody has some experience playing the wide thin and pattern regular necks I would greatly appriciate some input.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

To use Johnny Hilands terms, I have steak fry fingers, but I love a big chunky neck...there is a notable difference between the two necks you mentioned....but you'll see that when you test drive one...the basics of the S2 make it worth the bigger money, but if you can find one second hand, you could save some coin?,!?! good luck, and happy hunting!!

 

[BrianC]

I have both and feel that I am a person who can adapt to various neck carves more easily than what others have stated here and other forums. With that said if I had the chance to do it over, all of my gtrs would have the same carve.

So YES there are drastic differences with those two carves, more so than reg and WF IMHO.

 

[Whitecat]

Of all the PRS neck carves, I like W/F and Pattern, I like Regular and Pattern Regular, but Wide Thin/Pattern Thin is not for me, I don't feel the neck is deep enough and my hand has to wrap around "air" too much. I've turned down a couple otherwise exceptional instruments because of the neck carve not being right. YMMV obviously - your style of play, the size of your hands etc will all inform your choice.

For some reason the Pattern Regular carve on the S2 guitars feels bigger than the Pattern Regular/Regular carve I've experienced on Core models. I don't know if that's purely psychological or if there is something else at play, some variance. But I have three Starlas - a Private Stock with a Wide/Fat, a Core with a Pattern (solid Rosewood) and an S2. The S2 and the Core feel like they have almost the same neck size, but the difference in wood & feel might be fooling me somehow. The P/R on my old NF3 felt a touch smaller.

 

[Brandon117]

Cool thanks for your input guys! I'm gonna try and travel to the nearest city with an s2 and test drive one!

 

[Boogie]

In my meager opinion, there's a pretty big difference between the Pattern regular and WT carves. Love them both, but the Pattern and DGT carves are my fav. To further qualify, I have WT, WF, and DGT guitars and love playing all of those necks...none bother me.

 

[Chiliphil1]

Big difference. My first PRS was one of the SE's with the wide thin and I absolutely loved it, then I got my s2 and did not like the neck at all but the more time I have spent with it the more I like the s2 neck, in fact I like it better than the wide thin at this point. I sold my first SE to a friend and got a chance to play it again the other day and while I still like the thin neck I find I am more comfortable with the pattern neck on the s2 it just took some getting used to. The closest thing I could compare it to would be a Gibson 60's style neck or maybe a Schecter, it's got some meat to it but it seems "just right" after you play it a bit.

 

[LindseyP]

... The closest thing I could compare it to would be a Gibson 60's style neck or maybe a Schecter, it's got some meat to it but it seems "just right" after you play it a bit.

^^ This ^^ I initially loved WT necks and I still have my first CU24 with WT, but I sold the other WT I owned and still have three with Standard/Pattern necks for that specific reason above. I also own LPs with 60s necks and I own one Schecter (the BEST neck in my collection). It just seems to be the right amount of wood and girth for me.

 

[kes7u]

I haven't played a pattern regular, with the slightly narrower fretboard. I will throw in my $0.02 regarding Pattern thin vs Pattern. I initially really liked the Pattern thin, and the similar '60 Gibson neck.

I finally purchased a guitar with the Pattern neck, in spite of the neck, just because I loved the guitar itself. I came to love the Pattern neck, much more so than the Pattern thin.

I subsequently bought a guitar with the Wide Fat, which is more substantial than Pattern, but not significantly so. I subsequently bought a Les Paul R9 with a slightly thinner than typical neck. It is noticeably chunkier than either the Pattern or Wide Fat. Again, though, I have grown to love all of these more than the Pattern thin / Gibson '60, which I've since removed from my collection.

Definitely give it a try. I think you'll like it.

 

[Rider1260]

pretty sure I have most every neck carve now ( WF , Pattern , standard , WT ) each different carve i 1/32 different usually in one dimension , yes they are different but NOT that different to me not like going between a Lester and a Strat different

 

[Chiliphil1]

pretty sure I have most every neck carve now ( WF , Pattern , standard , WT ) each different carve i 1/32 different usually in one dimension , yes they are different but NOT that different to me not like going between a Lester and a Strat different

Yeah, you should have seen me at practice the other night trying to use my s2 for some songs and then switch over to a Jackson for others, that's a drastic change right there I couldn't even hit the right notes on the Jackson it felt so different. Now going from pattern to wide thin wouldn't be so bad but that combo I was trying was just not working.. I won't try that again!

 

[Brandon117]

Big difference. My first PRS was one of the SE's with the wide thin and I absolutely loved it, then I got my s2 and did not like the neck at all but the more time I have spent with it the more I like the s2 neck, in fact I like it better than the wide thin at this point. I sold my first SE to a friend and got a chance to play it again the other day and while I still like the thin neck I find I am more comfortable with the pattern neck on the s2 it just took some getting used to. The closest thing I could compare it to would be a Gibson 60's style neck or maybe a Schecter, it's got some meat to it but it seems "just right" after you play it a bit.

Actually I'm trying to stay away from the Les Paul style neck. I'm currently using an Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pro which I believe has the 60s D style neck and it's a pain to use during shows where I move around a lot. I like the wide thin on the SE because its easy to wrap my hand around. The wide fat I played on a Santana model felt most similar to my LP and I didn't like it at all. Everyone seems to agree that the s2 neck feels like an LP. That kinda turns me off because I want the thinnest neck I can get and I want the guitar to be a PRS. Curse my short and stubby fingers.

 

[Brandon117]

I don't have any problem getting an SE guitar. It certainly doesn't feel like an "affordable" guitar. I was considering the s2 model simply because it was Maryland made and somewhat reasonably priced. Still pricey for me but cheaper than a core model which I can in no way afford. I only have 1 American made guitar right now, a Gibson explorer I bought when I was 17 (I'm 22 now) that I absolutely love. But it's more about how it feels than where it's made. So I might stay in the SE range since they all have the wide thin necks, at least the custom 24s.

 

[JustRob]

The S2's are starting to show up in the wild. The GC near me recently got rid of all their PRSs and kept only the SE line, but last weekend I was surprised to see 6 different new S2's there. Definitely try before you buy. I too love the WT, but I notice a difference between my CU22 WT and my CU24 WT. Maybe it's in my head, but that's where I live, so it's real to me. :dontknow:

 

[Chiliphil1]

I don't have any problem getting an SE guitar. It certainly doesn't feel like an "affordable" guitar. I was considering the s2 model simply because it was Maryland made and somewhat reasonably priced. Still pricey for me but cheaper than a core model which I can in no way afford. I only have 1 American made guitar right now, a Gibson explorer I bought when I was 17 (I'm 22 now) that I absolutely love. But it's more about how it feels than where it's made. So I might stay in the SE range since they all have the wide thin necks, at least the custom 24s.

You know what you could do? Buy a used custom 22.. the cu24 guitars tend to stay in the $17-1800 range and above but I have seen cu22's for less than $1300.. You could track one of those down with the wide thin and you would be set. Check used.guitarcener.com the have some smoking deals, only thing there is that you would have to call them to ask about the necks because they generally don't list it in the ads, there is also always eBay. If you go the used route you have a shot at a core model for around the same price, if you can come up $2-300 you can get yourself a real cu24 with a wide thin, it may have a nick here or there but it'll be the real deal.

One other thing, you mentioned above that the santana neck was too big, keep in mind the s2 neck is going to be thinner than that, it's right in the middle of the santana and the wide thin. Here is just one example http://www.guitarcenter.com/PRS-Use...id-Body-Electric-Guitar-110697566-i4046472.gc

 

[Boogie]

Maybe it's in my head, but that's where I live...

Me too. It's a scary place, ain't it? :biggrin:

 

[László]

I'm immune to neck-patternitis. I've had all of the PRS carves, historical and current, and they've all worked fine for my hands. I'm 100 percent sure I wouldn't be able to tell whether a guitar had one of the older carves, or the newer carves, unless I played them side-by-side.

However I am still (thankfully) able to feel the difference between the fat, the thin, and the regular necks. And for me, the big difference isn't the carve, but the string spacing and the slight variance in tone. The regular neck seems to play very intuitively for me. The Wide/Pattern Thin does play fast, you can get a nice angle with your fingertips, but I'm not a speed player where that matters. I've found slight differences between the Fat and the Thin in tone, but I mean very slight. I generally seem to favor the thicker necks for soloing and the thinner necks for rhythm playing, which is contrary to their stated purpose, but that is what seems to work for this player.

Anyway, the best thing to do is just play a bunch and see what works, as you've said!

 

[markintime]

I like both, but the pattern regular on my Paul's Guitar feels the best to me. Maybe it's the satin finish versus the glossy neck on the SE CU24, though just because its glossy doesn't present any problems for me. My hands don't sweat, at home at least, :dontknow:

 

[FunkyFreeman]

Have tried both and found the Thin suits me best. Probably coz I'm an Asian.