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General feel of a 10"-16" Compound Radius?

Xyz

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I've always played Fenders and Gibson's. I really don't like the feeling of Ibanez and Jackson's guitars for my main guitar. I don't like their necks and how they sound in general. (Unless I'm going Metal, nothing wrong with them, I just don't use them for my main guitars)


I'm building a Stratocaster Partscaster and I'm starting with the neck.


I want to get a modern fast neck but that also has wood for tone and resonance. That can help me shred. Not in the Yngwie Malmsteen style but more in the 90's Alternative Music style. (Think Billy Corgan in his first three albums with Smashing Pumpkins)


So I'm thinking of getting a Fender Stratocaster replacement neck, vintage/modern, maple one piece, standard thin, 43 mm modern medium (or 41 mm) 10"-16" Compound Radius neck with 6150 frets. SKU VMS-19411 .

(Most modern Fenders have a radius of 9.5", a 57 Strat has a 7.25" radius)


Do you think this neck will feel close to a typical "fast and thin" Ibanez or Jackson guitar neck?
 
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The Ibanez and Jackson necks are typically flat in the back (which I don't like), while the Warmoth "Standard Thin" is nice and round, yet the neck is not real thick. Obviously it's a personal preference, but to me, the Standard Thin is perfect as in not to thick and not too thin. Another available option other than 41mm and 43mm, is 42mm (1.65") nut width.
 
The Ibanez and Jackson necks are typically flat in the back (which I don't like), while the Warmoth "Standard Thin" is nice and round, yet the neck is not real thick. Obviously it's a personal preference, but to me, the Standard Thin is perfect as in not to thick and not too thin. Another available option other than 41mm and 43mm, is 42mm (1.65") nut width.
Thanks so much.

"The Ibanez and Jackson necks are typically flat in the back (which I don't like), while the Warmoth "Standard Thin" is nice and round"

This is the example of a perfect piece of information I was after. I don't like nor play well with necks that are typically flat in the back Ibanez and Jackson style.

The "middle ground" nut width is an interesting option.

What do you guys think about the frets (6150's) for this particular neck and style of playing, which is psychedelic alternative rock blues, alternative music modes, modalities, and Punk Rock/Alt Rock shredding?
 
6150 is my favorite fret size. Again, not to big and not too small. I also like 6115 which is slightly bigger but not as big as the 6100, and the 6115 has a more peaked crown.
 
After much though and going back and forth I went with narrow tall frets, 6105's. It just made sense to me for what I wanted to achieve with the playability of this build.



Something tells me this will not be the first nor the 4th neck I'm buying from Warmoth lol. Gotta find that perfect neck. It's being too long buying stuff that's not spec out like I wanted it. The amount of customization on the shop really blew my away. I bought it with no finish, gonna do the job myself. I'm really happy with my purchase. Gotta say I was a bit surprised with the price of shipping. A bit on the high side. Probably they're packing it so it arrives as intended. No stress.



Surely gonna buy a MIM or CIJ Fender Strat used body, buy and place the expensive lace sensors, and then populate it with cheap hardware, and then upgrade the cheap hardware every month. This guitar is meant to replace my main Fender Strat guitar. My other main is a CIJ Jazzmaster. Which is pretty decent.



If I get the bug (most likely when) I'll buy the same neck when they're on sale with jumbo frets and see what frets help me the most for this particular build. And narrow it down from there. Same with the other dimensions. In reality I can play with any guitar I spend time with, but this is another level.

I'm very happy and satisfied I bought at Warmoth and not in other similar type of store. I'm really relaxed about the quality of the neck from what I've read online in these intense research filled days.
 
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I play a 41mm 10-16 & 43mm 10-16
Both thin with my personal neck shaping.
To me the Feel is unique. I would not compare the neck to a straight radius. It has its own thing going on and it's good.
I prefer a wider nut with a compound radius.
Rarely play the 41
Go for it 👍
 
I play a 41mm 10-16 & 43mm 10-16
Both thin with my personal neck shaping.
To me the Feel is unique. I would not compare the neck to a straight radius. It has its own thing going on and it's good.
I prefer a wider nut with a compound radius.
Rarely play the 41
Go for it 👍

Hey thanks for chiming in!

Every opinion and experience helps me.

If everything goes accordingly I'll be buying another neck in a couple of months with jumbo frets and very similar or same dimensions and see which fits me better.

For sure I'll be posting here to get recommendations!

Any other opinion is completely welcome!
 
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I've built 3 W's with all the necks having a 43mm nut and 10-16" radii, 2 of them being Standard Thin and 1 having a Wolfgang carve. I also have experience with a few Ibanez shredder types. I also have a mid 90's MIM Strat with the 9.5" radius and 1 5/8 nut.

IMHO, the Standard Thin does not replicate the carve of the Ibanez's that I've played. Personally, like you, I'm not a huge fan of Wizard type profiles, and like a bit more meat in the carve. W's Standard Thin gives more of a standard Strat carve, but with the compound radius. Someone had mentioned more rounded than flat, and that's a good descriptor. I will say though, I am a huge fan of W's Wolfgang carve. A touch thicker on the bass side and a similar thickness to the Standard Thin on the treble side. For me, it really works well.

The compound radius works as advertised. A touch more rounded at the nut, and flattens towards the bridge. Terrific combo and my preference for any new guitar.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience. It will for sure help me when ordering my next neck. The Wolfgang carve is an interesting option.

I have big hands and long fingers yet I can play well with thinner rounded necks. I use quite a lot the thumb gripping technique. I have to watch out for intonation with 6105's cuz I have heavy hands, a heavy grip. Coming early from playing blues I do a lot of bends and vibratos, so the 6105's helps with that (bendings, vibrato, etc) and I think they make a contrast on the neck say if I placed medium jumbos 6150's. Then it will be an all fast neck. (Correct me please if 6150's are not medium jumbos)

These builds for sure will have lace sensors b/s/r on them. Unless they sound way off. Which I'm almost sure they won't.

The variables I'm thinking now of changing in the next neck is the neck width (if I remember correctly I went with 42 mm), and place medium jumbo frets 6150's on it. Lesser variables are the nut and the tuners. I think I might be going Gotoh Magnum tuners with this one.

Again, totally different than "classic" Fender guitars that I like, but I think it will pay off going out of my comfort zone on this search build. But I've had locking tuners before in an Epiphone SG (yes, the G string lol)

I don't want this build to be this type of scenario where you grab two completely different guitars and just the different feel makes you feel good playing it, but narrow down the specs I need for my soloing and riffing/rhythm playing technique and have a neck that helps me with it. So I don't have to worry about placing a certain higher or lower action so the strings don't fret out when doing multiple step bends, good control of vibrato, sustain, and that sort of thing that comes from the blues but played in a different way in a Alternative Rock style. Since a few years back I've introduced in my playing more Alt Rock shredding. That comes inspired from all kinds of players. (Dimebag, Mustaine, Corgan, Mascis, Frusciante when they go all out, Allman Brothers for the modes, etc and etc).

I play Punk Rock as well. And noise music. All in one band.

Then I have to concentrate on which tremolo system to place on it. Go the easy fast secure route and place a modern vintage Fender one and be done with it, or dig deeper and kinda gamble high stakes on it, and place a more modern one. The same with the nut and the string trees. Rolling nut and the rolling type of tree.

I think I won't have any issues riffing and playing chords with this type of neck. Or with any type of "classic" or "classic inspired" neck for that matter.

So that's the final point of these builds I'm planning on doing, once and for all. Accommodate the specs to my playing and techniques, not the other way around.

Next year if everything goes accordingly I'm going to start gigging live again so I'm very excited. (And I have the same search scenario build with a Jazzmaster which is my other main guitar that's meant to replace my current one, but that one will have to wait a little bit lol)

I use quite a lot the tremolo system in a dive bomb config in my strat.

Anyone that wants to chime in is more than welcome, as it helps tremendously with my build and my search for my personal specs!

This is going to be a fun ride for me!
 
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For necks, it really is in the end a subjective personal choice of which neck profiles, nut widths, fret types and radius that will work for you. What will suit one will not suit another.
 
For necks, it really is in the end a subjective personal choice of which neck profiles, nut widths, fret types and radius that will work for you. What will suit one will not suit another.
Completely right.

But the experience and feel of what other players have had is what I'm after to help me figure out or map out what I need without going in a blind wild goose chase or spend a lot of money and time in this project, as it is not a vanity project, but an utilitarian one.
 
Completely right.

But the experience and feel of what other players have had is what I'm after to help me figure out or map out what I need without going in a blind wild goose chase or spend a lot of money and time in this project, as it is not a vanity project, but an utilitarian one.

But the experiences of others on their preferences is not really going to help you. I would suggest you play many guitars to get a feel and zone in on the specs that work for you.

If you already have preferences, then go for something like that.

So I'm thinking of getting a Fender Stratocaster replacement neck, vintage/modern, maple one piece, standard thin, 43 mm modern medium (or 41 mm) 10"-16" Compound Radius neck with 6150 frets. SKU VMS-19411 .

Consider also the 1.650" (42mm) which is in between and may be a sweet spot for you.
That neck will be a reasonable choice and has a good likelihood to be close to what you are looking for. The compound radius will not feel like an Ibanez or a standard straight radius Fender but something in between.

You can also check out the link in my signature, which in turn has many links to builds and tips and tricks which may give you some ideas.
 
It is pretty much subjective, I would say the 10-16 radius feels like a magical rainbow. But I really like a straight 9.5 too, and that feels like a beautiful sunset. 43mm nuts
 
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Imo the biggest differences that i can feel are #1 nut width and #2 scale length,
that said my only experience is with #3 standard thin and I use the #4 ss6105 frets. I don't think frets size matters so much, but others will have different experiences
 
Wi
But the experiences of others on their preferences is not really going to help you. I would suggest you play many guitars to get a feel and zone in on the specs that work for you.

If you already have preferences, then go for something like that.



Consider also the 1.650" (42mm) which is in between and may be a sweet spot for you.
That neck will be a reasonable choice and has a good likelihood to be close to what you are looking for. The compound radius will not feel like an Ibanez or a standard straight radius Fender but something in between.

You can also check out the link in my signature, which in turn has many links to builds and tips and tricks which may give you some ideas.
Will do that, thanks so much for the tip.

I completely understand what you're saying but;

I'm interested in other players opinions, per say, if they have heavy hands like me, they may say they have to watch out for intonation and things like that using tall and narrow frets, stuff that's kinda general. Or ashtray type of bridges really hurting their hands when they're palm muting. I have friends that actually like those bridges, I have played their Teles, but that bridge will cut my hand in half in five minutes lol.

Or stuff that's actually personal that can get me thinking about configurations I haven't thought before and how that would affect my playing.

I have personal preferences but I'm willing to get out of my comfort zone to get to that place where I have the almost perfect neck. One year ago I would have played nothing but vintage style exact replica Fenders down to the bone, even if the tuners would go out of tune with just one touch of the tremolo bar. That's the "temperament" of the guitar.

Or metal rolling frets making their guitar brighter. All that stuff I know from friends telling me, personal experience, and from reading on the net.

I guess this is what forums are for, to share experience and help each other. Plus we enjoy talking about gear and set ups.

I will be interested in other players opinions about tuners, neck nuts, tremolo systems, and stuff like that. Do I open a new post or follow it up in this one?
 
It is pretty much subjective, I would say the 10-16 radius feels like a magical rainbow. But I really like a straight 9.5 too, and that feels like a beautiful sunset. 43mm nuts
lol, I actually understand exactly what you're saying, thanks for sharing your experience.
 
Imo the biggest differences that i can feel are #1 nut width and #2 scale length,
that said my only experience is with #3 standard thin and I use the #4 ss6105 frets. I don't think frets size matters so much, but others will have different experiences
Thanks, I'll be thinking more about nut width. Going to measure again those in all my guitars to be certain. But I think all the combinations of all the variables (not only on the neck) is what makes up the playability of the guitar and neck. Talk about neck dive from having heavy tuners and a light neck (rolling my eyes, a pain in the butt of a problem to have)

In my experience, the frets really matter. For me, they can make or brake a guitar.

I've had to raise the action to unholy heights in one Fender Mustang I had to keep the strings from going under and sliding under my fingers gripping really hard or to keep them for going over my fingers, and with other frets in other guitars I can adjust at any height and they will play at best. I do step bends that are a couple of steps. Regular tuning. I refreted the Mustang and problem solved.
 
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I'm interested in other players opinions, per say, if they have heavy hands like me, they may say they have to watch out for intonation and things like that using tall and narrow frets, stuff that's kinda general. Or ashtray type of bridges really hurting their hands when they're palm muting. I have friends that actually like those bridges, I have played their Teles, but that bridge will cut my hand in half in five minutes lol.

Understood, though now we are straying into an area which is more about playing itself. Heavy-handedness (regardless of hand size) does cause intonation problems due to fretting too hard. The string needs to contact the fret but trying to press it to the board itself will make notes go sharp. You can use lower frets, and higher gauge strings, but really that is a technique issue that needs improvement.
 
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