chunky or slim necks?

chunky or slim necks? (Full Version)

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Billyboy -> chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 19 2004 20:17:05)
the most annoying thing about my Sanchiz is the thin neck, I like the fat chunky necks, my question is, do the top makers like Ramerez, Reyes, Gerundino etc have chunky or slim necks. Cheers Dave

Ron.M -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 19 2004 20:27:33)
Dave, I wonder if the trend now is for luthiers to go for slimmer necks? When Jim Opfer came up to see me and brought all his guitars the all had fairly slim necks compared to older (1960-70's) guitars I've tried. I have a 1975 Ramirez student model which has a neck like the arm of an armchair LOL, but the 2001 Bernal I got from him is very much slimmer. Make the luthiers can shed some light on this? cheers Ron

Escribano -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 19 2004 20:28:32)
Do you mean chunky and slim across the fingerboard i.e width or under the neck, in the palm, i.e depth?

Ron.M -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 19 2004 20:34:39)
What I was talking about was standard width across the fingerboard, but variation in "fatness" or depth in the palm of the hand. Is this what you meant Dave?

Billyboy -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 19 2004 20:43:21)
Sorry depth I meant or chunkyness in the palm, rather than width of finger board, which I would think is standard, slightly narrower than a classical. Dave

Patrick -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 19 2004 22:23:15)
Dave, My 83 Ramirez 1a negra is fairly thin.

Guest -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 20 2004 7:18:36)
I sell guitars, and notice that most players want a slim neck, and that´s why they are slim. I personally like a few milimeters fatter and rounder neck, that makes me relax more. The 3 necks I´ve made myself are like that, and interestingly everyone comments that it´s very comfortable, so maybe this slim neck fashion is just because players think slim is better. In the electric guitar scene, it´s always been a discussion. And in periods, the necks have been very slim. I´ve had to Gibson Les Pauls, and the fat neck sounded way better, and was a lot nicer after the first hour of playing. It seems to me that a very slim neck is very nice at first touch, but that you get tired faster and loose the touch. Just my 2 cents

Billyboy -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 20 2004 11:05:35)
I agree Andres, it feels good at first, but I assume it is like a Stienway, difficult to play at first, but better in the long term. I remember Eddy Van Halen once saying he likes electric guitar necks like chunky flamenco guitars,. If I bought another guitar which is unlikley I would go for chunky neck. Dave

Jim Opfer -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 20 2004 11:39:49)
Traditionally, necks were stout to add strength. Flamenco guitars always had a problem because a stout neck adds unwanted weight particularly if you play with the guitar held upright, in the past, they all played that way. Manuel Ramirez cracked it and since then most flamencos have been made to his pattern being lightweight and with a fairly slim neck. Modern carbon inserts and modern playing style with big chord stretches have led to shallow neck guitars being possible and preferred. My own thing is to find a guitar with a nice balance between body and neck. Often, guitars have a slim neck but are still too heavy because there is a great wack of ebony at around 6mm which in my book is far too thick (nominal 4mm about right). A really personal topic and all ideas get turned on their heads when you pick up a really nice and comfortable guitar and then notice the neck is contrary to what you thought you'd like. Cheers Jim.

Billyboy -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 20 2004 12:36:18)
Thats a n intresting insight Jim, never thought of the weight aspect. Dave

Guest -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 20 2004 14:58:50)
The thing that outbalances a guitar the most is the tuning machines. Especially some of the good ones are very heavy. (Gotoh, Schaller) I´ve never tried Gilbert, but they look like light high quality tuners. 4 mm is a very thin fingerboard, but of course it´ll help the balance. (but not that much). A very easy way to balance the guitar is to put an endblock which is a bit heavyer, but then everyone yells... uuuuuuhhh, a flamenco guitar must not weigh more than x grams. Again the opposite way that you should think. If it´s nice and weighs 1200 grams, its good, and if it weighs 1250 grams and is eaqually nice...... well, then it´s equally good. I sell both high end flamenco and classical guitars, and to be honest, the flamenco guitarists are a lot more stupid on these aspects (sorry) They have so many fixed ideas on how things have to be, that they often forget to listen and feel the instrument. Classical players are obsessed on Cedar/spruce soundboards, but besides that it´s sound, sound and playability

aarongreen -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 20 2004 15:05:12)
A number of luthiers, myself included will carve their necks to fit their customer. I have a fairly middle of the road approach to my necks but in the cases of people with special requests it is not big deal to make it fatter, flatter, more taper, less taper etc. etc. I do recommend against going too thin, less than 20mm at nut for example for a number of reason. The first is that while a slim neck may seem easier to play I think all else being equal it causes more strain on the right hand. The other is that if the fingerboard ever needs to be planed, which is a common enough repair, well then you have an even thinner neck and then of course there is the whole stability issue. Like everything else it's a fine balance. I also feel that the contour of the neck is more important to the playability than the actual thickness, within reason of course. Many guitars have rather flat back necks which are easier and quicker to carve but don't make for comfortable playing in my opinion. I like to have a slightly asymetric neck with the high point about where the D string is. That makes for the hand to fall in proper position naturally and allows me to keep the neck at a reasonable thickness without the neck being chuncky.

Miguel de Maria -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 20 2004 16:23:25)
Aaron, did you mean it was more strain for the left hand (fretting hand)?

aarongreen -> RE: chunky or slim necks? (Mar. 20 2004 17:49:55)
Whoops I did mean left hand. My typing dyslexia rears it's ugly head once again.

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