Neck Shapes

[stewblack]

Baseball bat. C profile. Slim. D profile. Chunky.

I surely can't be alone in wondering how all these adjectives translate in the real world . I have now grasped that Jazz necks and Precision necks enjoy a 4mm difference at the nut end. And while I can happily play either I prefer the wider one. 

Is there an idiots guide to necks? 

[joeystrange]

If you’re talking Fenders there’s some info with a little illustration here.

[lou24d53]

I've never owned a 'V' shaped neck, but they certainly don't look all that comfortable going by that guide.

A bit like the OP, I also struggle with neck descriptions.

Of the 4 basses I own - Lakland Dudepit Jazz; Fender 2011 Am.St P; Fender 2002 AVRI 75 Jazz; and 54P self-build with a TB neck - out of all three of them, perhaps rather surprisingly, the chunkiest neck of them all (to me at least) I would say is the AVRI Jazz.

[TheGreek]

Serious contender for Best Neck I've ever played was on my ACG Harlot (currently for sale here). Loved the asymmetric shape and silky smooth finish. That Mr Crigean certainly knows what he's doing...

This said, I still think the necks on the Bass Collection Nanyo 4 have the nicest and easiest necks to play on any mass produced bass.

[bloke_zero]

Don't forget radiused as well so that the radius changes down the fingerboard - it's mind boggling!

I'd say the best idiots guide would be to visit a well stocked shop and try a load of stuff.  It wasn't until I was idlly mucking around with a 70's stingray on Denmark street that I clicked with a neck.  Wide but not too deep - I guess kind of a shallow D shape. It was £2000 and the most amazing monkey poo brown so I wasn't too tempted by it! But it did help me pick out what I wanted in a neck.  It was a really instant feeling - "this is right".

[fleabag]

Best profile neck i've tried to date is the Aria Pro ll  SB.  I've had 2 over the years and they're sublime and so comfy.  They're not for everyone though, especially  ogres with giant mitts.

I dont know what the shape is officially called.   I'll call it comfy

[yorks5stringer]

Then there's necks for people with huge hands....

[itu]

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/What_the_Heck_is_with_that_Neck

I think that Tobias was at least one of the first to introduce an asymmetrical neck. A lapsteel may have a square block neck (which I like, and have in my fretless), but they are not common in basses. My feeling is that a Steinberger L-2 neck profile is very close to a double bass neck.

[stewblack]

5 hours ago, bloke_zero said:

Don't forget radiused as well so that the radius changes down the fingerboard - it's mind boggling!

I'd say the best idiots guide would be to visit a well stocked shop and try a load of stuff.  It wasn't until I was idlly mucking around with a 70's stingray on Denmark street that I clicked with a neck.  Wide but not too deep - I guess kind of a shallow D shape. It was £2000 and the most amazing monkey poo brown so I wasn't too tempted by it! But it did help me pick out what I wanted in a neck.  It was a really instant feeling - "this is right".

Interesting isn't it? I have been tugging away at the thick string since coming over from the dark side back in the very early 80s. It's only the last year or so I've begun to discover that I prefer some necks over others. 

Probably only because of Basschat. 

[ead]

Hear, hear @stewblack

I don't mind what they feel like but I have quite large hands so that possibly makes it a bit easier.  My personal favs are the asymmetric ACG necks made by @skelf that are just delightful closely followed by the Sandberg necks that are also a joy to stagger around on.

[Woodinblack]

On 25/07/2020 at 16:30, lou24d53 said:

I've never owned a 'V' shaped neck, but they certainly don't look all that comfortable going by that guide.

I had a V necked telecaster, it had a very good neck (for a telecaster).

[nige1968]

My tuppence ha'penny: Width and profile are a bit less important than neck thickness and fingerboard radius.

[danbowskill]

My Matt freeman P has the greatest neck(for me) I've come across... Chunky bat type with 9.5 radius.... Feels bang on for my big hands

[miles'tone]

I played a Stingray Special in Wunjos last year.  I'm not sure what they call the neck shape or profile but I call it "perfect". 

 

[Nebadon2000]

I have had wide 1.75 chunky Fender'75 P neck, Fender Modern C 1.625 width,  Music man 'C' 1.7 width, Music man and Fender Jazz 'C' 1.5 width and now Fender Modern D with 1.625 width. 

I had no real trouble with any of them [just adapted] my favorite by far is New Modern D on my Ultra P super fast also puts Thumb closer to fingerboard that makes stretching fingers easier. My least favorite is 1.5 width; feels uncomfortable. [1.7 was my favorite width.]

I always figured thin 1.5 width necks were for least talented Guitar player in Band they they made Play Bass😁 [ or Guitarist whom came over to the Darkside]

[drTStingray]

14 hours ago, bloke_zero said:

Don't forget radiused as well so that the radius changes down the fingerboard - it's mind boggling!

I'd say the best idiots guide would be to visit a well stocked shop and try a load of stuff.  It wasn't until I was idlly mucking around with a 70's stingray on Denmark street that I clicked with a neck.  Wide but not too deep - I guess kind of a shallow D shape. It was £2000 and the most amazing monkey poo brown so I wasn't too tempted by it! But it did help me pick out what I wanted in a neck.  It was a really instant feeling - "this is right".

I also played that guitar and it was very nice indeed - great tone as well (I think it was in Regent Sounds when I saw it). A colour of that era on Stingrays and Precisions, maybe other Fenders was walnut, as demonstrated by that bass. 

The neck profile on the Stingray was one element which I found perfect (for me) when I bought one new at the end of the 70s. The Precision's neck profile was one element that put me off buying one. As has been said, it is the profile as well as the width which counts.

Modern Stingrays have an 11" radius which gives them a shallow feel and as they are all hand finished with a super slick oil and wax (no laquer) finish. They are particularly good - and the roasted maple of the Specials seems to make them feel even slicker to me. 

The Classic Rays and Old Smoothies have a more curved radius (7.5 in) and a lacquered finish so feel much more like the 70s Stingray.

They feel quite different from other makes of basses, and even those with the same width at the nut. 

Radius, width and profile are the keys to this IMHO, and finish is the other core element to the feel. 

Edited July 28, 2020 by drTStingray

[Baloney Balderdash]

The best neck I ever played was a the Jerry Jones Longhorn 4 string bass I once owned, but was stupid enough to sell, and as far as I have been able to research it is supposed to have a neck with a slim C profile, and a fertboard with a pretty flat radius of 14,5", and even though the nut width is 1 5/8" (approcimately 41,3mm) the neck is pretty straight, as in it doesn't expand much in width as you get further down the neck towards the bridge, with it's just 17mm string spacing at the bridge.

I also quite like the neck of my current 4 string Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass, which neck is likewise a slim C profile, the fretboard having a 12" radius, and the nut being 38mm wide. but the neck then expanding as you go further down towards the bridge accommodating a standard 4 string string spacing of 19mm at the bridge.

But as far as I recall, which is a bit hard since some years has passed between selling the Longhorn and then to me getting the Mikro, I slightly preferred the feel of the Longhorn neck, which seems to suggest that I prefer an even flatter radius than the Mikro's 12", and an even more narrow neck than the Mikro's 19mm string spacing makes for, though the slightly more narrow nut width of the Mikro is nice.

Also I prefer the slim C profile of my Mikro Bass over my Epiphone SG guitar's slim D profile.

Weather then I might prefer other neck profiles over slim C I can't really tell, as I haven't really tried for example slim V or U shaped necks, but at least I know D isn't where it's at at, and slim does seem to be just the right thickness for me, also 38mm nut width seems to be just right for me, as does a quite narrow neck that accommodates for a 17mm string spacing at the bridge, and an even flatter fretboard radius than 12", closer to around 14", seems just right for me as well. 

And as for scale length, even if that really has little to do with the topic of this thread, the Mikro's 28,6" seems to be just absolute perfect for a 4 string bass for me. 

I still rather have the slighter shorter 28,6" scale length of the Mikro, over the Longhorn's 30" scale length, than the benefit of the overall more narrow neck given by the slightly tighter string spacing at the bridge and the slightly flatter fretboard radius the Longhorn would give me, but ideally I'd have a custom bass made at some point with a 28,6" scale length, a slim C shaped narrow neck, as narrow as 17mm string spacing at the bridge would require, with a 38mm nut width and a 14,5" radius fretboard with 24 medium sized frets. 

So I am actually pretty sure on what I prefer from a neck, even if there theoretically could be a possibility that a slim V or U shape would fit me better than a slim C shape. 

Otherwise narrow, slim, most likely C and definitely not D shaped, but with a vague possibility for maybe V or U shaped instead, and with a relatively flat fretboard radius, flatter than 12" and likely just around 14,5", seems to be where I feel most at home.

All in all I got my preferences in just about everything from neck shape, fretboard radius, fret wire size, scale length, wood preferences, pickup preferences, electronics and control preferences, and overall design/shape preferences down close enough to a perfect fit for me that I would feel totally comfortable with getting a custom bass made exactly to my specs and be quite sure that I actually would end up loving the result, all I need now then is the kind of money that would require. 

But at least the 4 string Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass that I own close enough for now,, if just it had had a slightly flatter fretboard radius, and slightly tighter string spacing at the bridge with the resulting slightly more narrow neck, had got 2 additional frets, and had had a Music Man style pickup at the bridge instead of a J style pickup, it would have been perfect, close enough to perfect at least that the fretboard wood being rosewood and not ebony, and that it'a visual design not matching my personal vision of my dream bass, probably wouldn't bother me to such a degree that I would still have a dream constantly itching about getting a custom bass made exactly to my preferred specs at some point.

My Mikro's 28,6" scale length, mahogany body, bolt on maple neck, medium sized frets, and P style neck/middle position pickup, is spot on at least.  

I guess technically I could save up for about 15 month or so, not being able to buy any other musical gear or other "luxury" stuff in that time span, beside what I strictly would need to survive, and then probably have just about enough money saved up for getting my dream bass made by one of the cheaper luthiers who will make custom basses exactly to your specs, but unfortunately I don't possess that kind of discipline and patience, so for now I will have to do with what I got and let my dream bass remain nothing but a dream.

Sorry for going way off topic, just seemed that it made my thoughts spin beyond that. 

Edited July 28, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[itu]

17 hours ago, nige1968 said:

My tuppence ha'penny: Width and profile are a bit less important than neck thickness and fingerboard radius.

And for me neck thickness and fingerboard radius are a bit less important than width and profile.

[BigRedX]

IME the figures are irrelevant, simply because there are so many variables - width, taper, distance of the outer strings from the edge of the neck, shape, thickness, symmetrical or not, and many of these can vary along the length of the neck.

For me the simplest thing to do is to play the instrument. It will either be comfortable or not.

[Woodinblack]

There is certainly something to the shape that is important. I can't really play a P. Well, I did for a year and when I switched to a J it was a huge boost in playing. But now I only play 5 strings. I generally thought it was the bridge size, so 16.5mm ibanez good, 17mm ok, 18 nope, 19 can't even find the strings any more, and something like a musicman (or any fender) is way out. BUt the dingwall has a huge neck and that was ok, althoguh very thin. Also the G&L has big old baseball bat for a neck and that was ok too. The other shuker I have at the moment? No chance.

So who knows. As above, best is to try it although sometimes you just dont know, although not generally possible on line.

[4000]

43 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

IME the figures are irrelevant, simply because there are so many variables - width, taper, distance of the outer strings from the edge of the neck, shape, thickness, symmetrical or not, and many of these can vary along the length of the neck.

For me the simplest thing to do is to play the instrument. It will either be comfortable or not.

Whilst this is true to a degree, assuming you are sensitive to such things - I am - you will start to identify common factors. Over many years playing I’d wondered why most modern instruments never feel quite right to me. Eventually, I realised that I don’t really like basses with a relatively flat fingerboard radius. And when I actually started measuring the radius of the necks I liked, it was consistently 7.25, regardless of the actual width of the neck. 

[chris_b]

I only play 5 string basses and the string spacing at the bridge is the only neck/string/bridge parameter where I have a preference and that's 18/19mm. I also have a leaning towards darker fretboards, ie not maple, but if the bass sounds good enough I'll wave that preference.

[Happy Jack]

All my necks are long and thin. Seems to work.

[BigRedX]

2 hours ago, 4000 said:

Whilst this is true to a degree, assuming you are sensitive to such things - I am - you will start to identify common factors. Over many years playing I’d wondered why most modern instruments never feel quite right to me. Eventually, I realised that I don’t really like basses with a relatively flat fingerboard radius. And when I actually started measuring the radius of the necks I liked, it was consistently 7.25, regardless of the actual width of the neck. 

I play lots of different stringed instruments, so I'm very tolerant of a wide range of specifications.

About the only things I can't get on with are very narrow, very V-shaped necks and Bass VIs with narrow guitar-style style string spacing, although even those can be accommodated.

[4000]

I play guitar too, but both bass and guitar-wise, whilst I can and have played many instruments,  my preferences are for certain things. Can play and prefer to play are completely different things, IMO.