Asymmetric neck contour / profiles (SRV, Wolfgang).....Why not more popular?

[ejm]

4-21-2021

There was a poll done here for favorite shape/contour/profile umpteen years ago, with the last entry being around 4 years ago.
The asymmetric shapes were only about 10% of the vote.
(You can find the poll with a quick search of the forums.)

I was just wondering why they are not more popular.

Have you tried them and not liked them for some reason?

Are guitarists creatures of habit (I may know the answer to this one) and stick to what they like, or *think* they like?

Do the Warmoth specs offered not appeal to you? (The Wolfgang and the SRV seem to cover just about any base slanted towards the slightly beefier side, so I'd think that they'd be close enough.)

Some other reason that I missed?

Thanks in advance.

 

[daizee]

I certainly don't know the answer, but my knee-jerk reaction is that it's VERY expensive to try them out. Not like you can find that sort of profile to demo somewhere before committing to something rather unusual.

 

[DieterDeux]

Yeah, i think Daizee has the answer there. I’m super intrigued to try one but I just don’t have access to put my hands on one to know if I like it and it is an expensive gamble. I’ll absolutely order a Wolfgang sometime in the future, but you’re also limited by where it’s offered. I couldn’t, for instance, get it on the baritone I’m building now or I’d be going for it right away.

 

[TBurst Std]

For myself, none of them I think are thick enough for my preference. The 59 profile is almost to small. The boat neck is more what I lean to. Even on that, I can easily wrap my thumb to play the 6th string. At times the fifth. Think open A/C#

 

[mayfly]

Way too thin for me.  that's why I didn't try them.

To each his/her own - that's what makes the world interesting!

 

[BroccoliRob]

the asymms (short for asymmetricle) feel like mistakes to me. like i hold one and i'm like "hold up, they made this wrong, the peak is offcenter. someone got a little randy with the sandy (sanding)" but then like "oh yeah, some ppl like em this way lol". the discomfort is palpable and i'm palping it.


edit: hey how do I turn off signatures? swearfart's big 11 Rack sig takes up so much screenestate (short for screen real estate) that it reminds me of when i lay in bed eating ice cream and i can't see over the bowl to my TV when i'm watching my stories (anything with that guy, Fieri). i tried that new Ben N Jerries pretzels 'n' peanut-butter flavor, but the one i got was all pretzels. I called to report the anomaly but Jerry picked up and said "you gotta talk to Ben" and when Ben picked up he said "you gotta talk to Jerry" so now i don't know what to do. i'm as stuck with that situation as i am with this forum signature situation. 

 

[garytlove]

I just ordered a boat neck.  I have no idea if I will like it or not, but here is my thought process.  If it is too thick, I can work it down in the EVH/SRV shape which is really appealing, but I haven't had a chance to try.  Will be a fun experiment!

 

[Rick]

You got to try a bunch before you find the right one. 

 

[TheOtherEric]

Objectively speaking, it’s kinda hard to argue the Wolfgang profile is too thin, given it’s 0.815” at 1 and 0.94” at 12. Which I think is fatter than any EVH type neck in production, and thicker than many many popular guitars (e.g. Suhr, who likes 0.80”/0.85”).

Guess I’ll have more to say when mine arrives Monday.

 

[jay4321]

I've run through almost the entire list and the Wolfgang is my favorite, but there are a bunch of profiles I'm comfortable playing on. It's like radius or frets, as long as they're not obnoxiously opposite to my general preferences it's not really that big a factor. Even then the guitars I actually spend the most time playing are all over the place with their specs. They handle differently and maybe lead to different ideas but after a couple minutes I'm not really thinking about the nut width or whatever.

Now, a new recliner? I'll try every model in every store in the Northeast if that's what it takes to find The One. 

 

[jay4321]

But to answer the initial question, it's probably because your typical buyer doesn't want to experiment with an unfamiliar neck profile, and pay an upcharge at that. My guess is the majority of customers have never touched a guitar with a [substantially] asymmetrical neck. Plus they might be 1 or 2% of stock in the Showcase? I mean it's my favorite profile and I only own a couple at the moment myself.

 

[ValeBliz]

I ordered a Wolfgang neck and ended up sanding it down to a slightly thicker standard thin shape. The bigger shoulder really felt strange when I played with my thumb behind the skunk stripe, like the neck carve was pushing my hand down and behind. Nothing i ever felt with much thicker neck carves, like the one on my Revstar which is similar to a 59 profile. Weird.

 

[T89Rex]

I'm a big fan of the SRV profile. I have two now and I'd hesitate to order anything else now that I know how good they feel.

 

[TheGreatRedDragon]

I figure people who like thinner necks will get one that's all thin, and people who like thicker necks will get one that's all thick.

To me, the Wolfgang is perfect. It fits my hand exactly.

 

[Cagey]

Over the years, I've gone from a Gibson  for a buncha years, then a Fender for a buncha years, then a G&L for a buncha years, back to a Fender and finally Warmoth's "Standard Thin". Always different frets. Every one of them has felt "perfect" at the time even though there was very little similarity to them. But, until I started building Warmoths, I've always been a "one guitar kinda guy. So, I learned to live with what I had, and called it a love story. Then, I've played other guy's instruments here and there, not being able to understand how they could stand it. Leads me to believe You can get used to anything, given enough time. Where I get tripped up is going from one to another that's too different without spending some serious time on it. So, now I have a whole lotta guitars, but they all have Standard Thin necks with mungo SS frets, so they all feel/play roughly the same while sounding dramatically different. I'm pretty sure if I spent the time on one of the asymmetricals, I'd learn to love it and understand perfectly why their namesakes came up with them. But, why should I? Then everything else would feel weird.

 

[Kostas]

I have experience with the SRV of a friend, it's my favorite shape by I found it thin initially. Over the years I switched from the FAT to the 59 shape and now it's fine for my hand. If I was starting now all my necks would be SRV. Outside the specific dimensions the asymmetric contour feels great, if I could make a custom neck on a luthier it would be asymmetric .850" - .920".