ChrisMC
Senior member
- Messages
- 150
How do you choose a neck profile having never played any of them before? Well...you read the descriptions, look at the diagrams, look at the 1st/12th measurement specs, then you take all that, and compare it with necks that you HAVE played, and hopefully you’ll like what you chose.
That said...if you COULD play a neck profile before you buy, would you? Of course you would.
Thankfully, I’m in close proximity to a lot of musicians, and a lot of them are fellow guitarists. I got the word out that I was about to do a Warmoth build, and asked if anybody had any Warmoth necks (preferably with a 1 11/16th nut width) that I could play.
Sure enough...several Standard Thin’s, a Wolfgang, and a 59 Roundback were presented to me to try. Two of them were in the running...the third was definitely not (the 59). You see, if I’m not playing one of my Strats (which if I’m being honest about it...I haven’t been, lately), I’m playing my Ibanez Prestige RG 652 AHM, and I’ve been playing those Wizard necks for decades now....but over the past year or so, I have suddenly been wanting something a little meatier (but with a flatter than 9.5” radius like my Strats).
The standard thin’s, to me, were crossed off the list within a few chords and a few bends. I don’t know what it is about them...but they just didn’t work for me at all.
So then I played the Wolfgang, and that was much much better; I like that neck a lot. The same guy that had the Wolfgang also had the 59, and he was urging me to try it. He offered to bring it previously and I told him not to bother, but he insisted that he was going to bring it, so I told him that if he’s going to go to the trouble of bringing it...the least I could do is play it.
So he brings in this great Warmoth build with a 59 Roundback neck with a 1 11/16 nut width, and a Schaller Floyd Rose to boot (mine is going to have an OFR), and I was absolutely stunned, because...on paper I wasn’t supposed to like that neck; I even told my buddy...”It’s too thick, don’t bother bringing it!”, but he insisted. I’m glad he did. It reminds me a lot of how the Fender Deep C neck is, and one of my Strats has that neck, which I like, I just dislike the narrow/tall frets, and the 9.5” radius, but this neck, which happened to have the same specs as mine, so far as the nut width, nut type, fret size, radius, and of course profile...just felt really comfortable to me. It’s thicker than I thought I’d go, but when it feels right, it matters not what it specs out as on paper.
I just thought I’d share if anybody else was considering a 59 Roundback but wasn’t sure quite what to think about it. I’m either getting old or my playing preferences are changing (or an outside chance of both!), but my 16.9” radius Wizard HP neck has started to feel a little too flat and a little too thin over the last six months or so. So....59 Roundback it is.
Playing a few profiles before placing the order really helped, and I realize that the vast majority of people won’t be able to do that, so hopefully this helps.
That said...if you COULD play a neck profile before you buy, would you? Of course you would.
Thankfully, I’m in close proximity to a lot of musicians, and a lot of them are fellow guitarists. I got the word out that I was about to do a Warmoth build, and asked if anybody had any Warmoth necks (preferably with a 1 11/16th nut width) that I could play.
Sure enough...several Standard Thin’s, a Wolfgang, and a 59 Roundback were presented to me to try. Two of them were in the running...the third was definitely not (the 59). You see, if I’m not playing one of my Strats (which if I’m being honest about it...I haven’t been, lately), I’m playing my Ibanez Prestige RG 652 AHM, and I’ve been playing those Wizard necks for decades now....but over the past year or so, I have suddenly been wanting something a little meatier (but with a flatter than 9.5” radius like my Strats).
The standard thin’s, to me, were crossed off the list within a few chords and a few bends. I don’t know what it is about them...but they just didn’t work for me at all.
So then I played the Wolfgang, and that was much much better; I like that neck a lot. The same guy that had the Wolfgang also had the 59, and he was urging me to try it. He offered to bring it previously and I told him not to bother, but he insisted that he was going to bring it, so I told him that if he’s going to go to the trouble of bringing it...the least I could do is play it.
So he brings in this great Warmoth build with a 59 Roundback neck with a 1 11/16 nut width, and a Schaller Floyd Rose to boot (mine is going to have an OFR), and I was absolutely stunned, because...on paper I wasn’t supposed to like that neck; I even told my buddy...”It’s too thick, don’t bother bringing it!”, but he insisted. I’m glad he did. It reminds me a lot of how the Fender Deep C neck is, and one of my Strats has that neck, which I like, I just dislike the narrow/tall frets, and the 9.5” radius, but this neck, which happened to have the same specs as mine, so far as the nut width, nut type, fret size, radius, and of course profile...just felt really comfortable to me. It’s thicker than I thought I’d go, but when it feels right, it matters not what it specs out as on paper.
I just thought I’d share if anybody else was considering a 59 Roundback but wasn’t sure quite what to think about it. I’m either getting old or my playing preferences are changing (or an outside chance of both!), but my 16.9” radius Wizard HP neck has started to feel a little too flat and a little too thin over the last six months or so. So....59 Roundback it is.
Playing a few profiles before placing the order really helped, and I realize that the vast majority of people won’t be able to do that, so hopefully this helps.
