How much do you value neck feel?

[Silly Moustache]

My critical parameters, apart from looks and tonality of course are :

Nut width - ideal =1 & 13/16"
String spacing = " & 5/16" (short scale) or 2 & 3/8" standard scale.
Neck Profile = "C" shape or modified V

Scale depends on guitar design.
Fretboard radius - never been that crucial.

Here's ol' me struggling to communicate this :

[Russ C]

As long as it’s not extreme - pointy V, very square, baseball bat or thin I don’t mind. Nut width is more important to me - somewhere between 1 5/8” and 1 3/4”.

[abn556]

I bought a 64 SG Reissue from the Gibson Custom Shop room at the Gibson Garage solely because of how great it felt. I think rolled edges are important on fingerboards and unfortunately an afterthought to many guitar builders.

[Jaimoe]

Super important, especially if I’m recording/performing. I play fingerstyle at high volume and high speed, and precision is key. I have half a dozen guitars with different woods and shapes but very similar necks because I want to be able to get the tone I want without readjusting to subtle but significant differences in the angle my fingers reach the strings.

Plus I have small hands and play 1.75 inch wide necks, so I don’t have much margin of error. I need to be able to reach!

[raysachs]

$700. A few years ago I wanted to get an 000-28. The reimagined had an MLO neck and the EC had a really beefy mod-V. Other than that and string spacing, they're built VERY similarly and sounded nearly identical. I LOVED the feel of the mod-V on the EC model and didn't like the feel of the MLO on the reimagined. The best prices I was quoted on both had the EC costing $700 more than the reimagined. I paid it. I sold it last year because I got an 000-28 CAA - its neck is just fine with a nice V to it, but it's not as comfortable to me as the EC neck. But it SOUNDED so amazingly great that I had to do it. I've never regretted it, but the EC was my favorite neck of any acoustic I've ever played...

-Ray

[KenL]

The older I get, the pickier I get about necks.

The three in my sig all have substantial necks with 1 3/4" nuts. The Martin Mod V with that nut is my favorite. The Collings might be a bit chunkier, and the Taylor just a little bit more slender, but not much.

I'm with Ray, just don't like the Martin MLO. Too bad, that eliminates a lot of nice guitars for me.

[Glennwillow]

How much do you value neck feel?

Not much. I don't think about it very much; I adapt to the guitar and move on.

- Glenn

[boneuphtoner]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

How much do you value neck feel?

Not much. I don't think about it very much; I adapt to the guitar and move on.

- Glenn

I’m with Glenn on this! I have yet to encounter a neck that I couldn’t make work - perhaps my long skinny fingers help. But I find it very interesting to see many of you who find this to be very important.

[zoopeda]

When I first started playing guitar, everything felt weird. My fingertips were SO sore, my hands cramped, but I kept going. Eventually it started sounding better, but my hand still got tired or sore, and my fingertips hurt, but it was worth it. Never thought about the neck. Then the internet came along and callipers, and suddenly if a guitar doesn't feel like a feather pillow, it's a deal-breaker. Then you get older, and the shoulder doesn't like a dreadnought, so you have to find a tiny guitar that sounds like a dreadnought...

Current conclusion: the more I play, the less neck profile matters. Not to say I don't prefer some necks over others, but if my heroes just bought the guitars that sounded best, I sure can learn to play those same guitars. Playing instruments is work. The primary goal isn't comfort; it's tone. If you have two identical sounding and looking guitars, sure, pick the comfy guitar.

We've seen players who have said an extra 1/16" one way or another at the nut is a dealbreaker or 1/16" at the bridge one way or another is a deal breaker. IMO, if this level of minutia prevents a person from enjoying a guitar, that means that person has not learned to play the guitar.

If one guitar has the greatest sound of all, you're crazy not to spend every drop of energy learning how to play the hell out of that neck. 2 cents.

[AdlGMT8]

Luckily I don't seem to mind different neck shapes and nut widths etc. However, like most people have said a great neck makes a guitar better and probably makes or facilitates you playing better.

[Godfather]

Because of my age combined with having small hands, several surgeries on my left hand, a guitars neck size/profile along with body shape, and scale have become most important. This is the only reason I’m selling my brand new Collings C 10–35.

[Guitars44me]

Neck shape matters a LOT to me. Like others here I am aging and it becomes more important yearly….

John Kinnaird has built me yet another with 1.78” nut width, and 25” scale. Plus an asymmetrical neck in between a soft V and a slim C. A bit more meaty C on the bass side, and slim V on the treble side. Apex of neck a mm or so toward the bass side.

And these BIG guitars have Manzer wedges and bevels for comfort too.

Very difficult to want to play anything else anymore…. Fortunately I don’t have to. They sound spectacular.

Play whatever makes YOU comfortable and happy! And spread Joy

Paul

[jmagill]

Playing music takes effort.

Originally Posted by zoopeda

We've seen players who have said an extra 1/16" one way or another at the nut is a dealbreaker or 1/16" at the bridge one way or another is a deal breaker. IMO, if this level of minutia prevents a person from enjoying a guitar, that means that person has not learned to play the guitar.

This hits the nail on the head (my emphasis added).

Originally Posted by zoopeda

If one guitar has the greatest sound of all, you're crazy not to spend every drop of energy learning how to play the hell out of that neck.

Again, this is exactly right: Tone trumps everything, and if you find a killer guitar and the neck is not quite right, modify the neck until it is.
.

[musicman1951]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Very important. I'm lucky in that I find a variety of neck profiles and widths comfortable, but if it's not comfortable, it really doesn't matter how good the guitar sounds.

I am in this boat. I rarely find a top level guitar with a neck that bothers me, but if it does I wouldn't consider buying it for a moment.

[TheGITM]

Looks like some people are posting some seriously judgmental replies in here...

While I couldn't care less about the 'specs' of a guitar... it's neck... the nut... the shape... etc. - I very much care about how it feels when I play it. I can play two guitars of the same model and they can feel different when I play them. I will always prefer the one that has the better feel.

Those that suggest you should just learn to play whatever guitar has the best tone/sound, you are not taking into account that some of us have spent countless hours learning some very complex/difficult pieces of music, and it's simply impractical to have to relearn how to execute very complex music, or even to consistently repeat less complex music, using very different 'feeling' guitars. That makes no sense.

The best guitarists are very particular about the instruments they play in performance. Many of them have specific specs, or even have custom guitars made to their specifications. Not just for the sound, but also for playability.

I've been at this for over 40 years now (I know some of you have been playing longer) and I've played everything that has crossed my path. Can I play any guitar? Sure. Can I play any guitar fairly well? Absolutely. Do I 'enjoy' playing certain guitar over other guitars. 100%. The guitars that I enjoy playing are the ones I keep. They are the ones that allow me to do what I want to do with the least amount of effort and produce the best results.

Most listeners can't tell the difference between the tone of two different acoustic guitars, as long as they are both decent and tuned properly. What the listener can tell is how well the guitarist is playing. The musical expression, to me, is greater than the tone of the instrument.

So, while it's fair to say that a 'good guitarist' should be able to play across a variety of guitars... it's also quite reasonable to accept that at a certain point, a guitarist learns what works best for them and their ability to get what they want from an instrument.

I don't think that there is anything wrong with that, and if pushed to give a personal opinion, I'd lean hard the other way against the idea that guitar tone is everything and that the musician should just learn to play whatever instrument has the 'best tone' (whatever that is).

Just throwing out my thoughts here on a rainy Thursday morning.

Y'all have a great day today (or great afternoon across the pond - and great whatever, whenever else you are).