Am I the only one who expected the fatback to be thicker?

[hillerheilman]

So my warmoth neck came today. 12" radius, fatback, roasted maple/macassar ebony, 6150ss frets. All in all, a beautiful neck. But I have one complaint. The contour. I expected a massive neck. Something that would really fill my hand. But what I got was rather surprising, in that I could do with it being quite a bit thicker. I'm talking like almost double the thickness. I don't have big hands either, so I must really just want a tree trunk for a neck or something. Has anyone else had this experience or am I just insane?

 

[Fat Pete]

You want a 2" thick neck? Yep, you're insane.

 

[Kostas]

Ι had three Fatbacks, now I have two.

First (sold): Huge, uncomfortable after a while
Second: Big, better but I will sand it in the future
Third: Comfortable, feels like a bigger '59

On the other hand the two 59's I have feel very similar. I suspect the dimensions change on the final sanding that is made by a person.

 

[Tonar8352]

I have finished several guitars for a guys who love big necks and one guy in particular I have done 3 for. He thought that the first one was perfect and felt the beefiest while the other two came in with less girth. All were 1 11/16" nut widths.

I have also had 1 5/8" fatbacks come through and there is a different feel to them. So to answer your question I think part has to do with the nut width and then there is the final sanding and profile. 

 

[BigSteve22]

Did you check the dimension with a caliper? I don't think it's likely, but perhaps it's not cut to spec. You can't expect it to be exactly 1", but it should be real close.

And to echo Fat Pete: Yes, a 2" thick neck would seem insane to me too! 

 

[hillerheilman]

Did you check the dimension with a caliper? I don't think it's likely, but perhaps it's not cut to spec. You can't expect it to be exactly 1", but it should be real close.

And to echo Fat Pete: Yes, a 2" thick neck would seem insane to me too! 

I hadn't considered the possibility of it not being cut right, but I suppose I should check.

 

[musicispeace]

The first fatback I got from Warmoth measures .94 in thickness all down the neck, which must attribute to sanding on their end. I also thought it was a little slimmer than I expected but here is what I think the thing is.....the C shape. I had gotten a boat neck earlier and once on a guitar it felt pretty chunky and I liked it but still had some wiggle room hand wise. What I think is that the rounded C has an effect on the feel of the fat back. Now to me the slight V of the boatneck protrudes into my hand more than the C of the fatback regardless of the slight extra shoulder on the fatback so to me the boatneck feels bigger. But that said I think the rounded C is massive comfortable.

I also have a fatback from USACG which does feel somewhat bigger than my Warmoth fatback and I know Tommy does a super fatback which is a little more than 1 inch if you want to consider that but it will also be a C shape and runs, I think, an extra $50. I just recently got a roasted maple tele fatback from Warmoth that may be closer to something like .97 and feels quite substantive.

To conclude I think the C shape tames the extra shoulder and I think the slight variances in sanding to final product may add to what you are experiencing. But so far I myself am liking the larger necks.

 

[aarontunes]

Not sure if you have built a guitar and experienced this before, but the neck will feel bigger once it has strings on it. Your fingers are going to be sitting an 8th of an inch higher than they do when you're just holding the neck in your hand. I always try to withhold my judgement until I've got the whole thing put together.

 

[hillerheilman]

Not sure if you have built a guitar and experienced this before, but the neck will feel bigger once it has strings on it. Your fingers are going to be sitting an 8th of an inch higher than they do when you're just holding the neck in your hand. I always try to withhold my judgement until I've got the whole thing put together.

That's a fair point I hadn't considered. This is in fact the first guitar build I've done. You're probably right.

 

[musicispeace]

Not sure if you have built a guitar and experienced this before, but the neck will feel bigger once it has strings on it. Your fingers are going to be sitting an 8th of an inch higher than they do when you're just holding the neck in your hand. I always try to withhold my judgement until I've got the whole thing put together.

Good point.

 

[DustyCat]

Is Fatback the thickest?

 

[bagman67]

Is Fatback the thickest?

I think actually Boatneck and Fatback are tied for depth as the biggest kahuna. The Fatback is rounder, and the Boatneck more v-shaped.

See:  http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/BackContours.aspx

Fatback
Similar to: Vintage Fender® deep "U"
Thickness at 1st Fret: 1.00"


Thickness at 12th Fret: 1.00"

Boatneck:
Similar to: Vintage Tele® (52 Reissue)
Thickness at 1st Fret: 1.00"
Thickness at 12th Fret: 1.00"

 

[BigSteve22]

I've never played either the Fatback or a Boatneck, but generally speaking the more shoulder a neck has, the bigger it feels. At least I  find that to be true. My guess would be that, with the thickness being the same for both, the shoulder on the Fatback would make it feel bigger.

 

[musicispeace]

Is Fatback the thickest?

I think actually Boatneck and Fatback are tied for depth as the biggest kahuna. The Fatback is rounder, and the Boatneck more v-shaped.

See:  http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/BackContours.aspx

Fatback
Similar to: Vintage Fender® deep "U"
Thickness at 1st Fret: 1.00"


Thickness at 12th Fret: 1.00"

Boatneck:
Similar to: Vintage Tele® (52 Reissue)
Thickness at 1st Fret: 1.00"
Thickness at 12th Fret: 1.00"

One inch minus a bit of sanding by the time it reaches you. If you want a sense of the feel and a brick and mortar shop near you carries Nash guitars see if they have anything in stock with one of his boatnecks, which he claims averages .97. I still feel the rounded C of the fatback makes that profile feel a little less chunky than a boatneck, but in theory they are about the same mass. 

 

[fdesalvo]

Get behind me, Tony Robbins!