Mimic an Ibanez neck

[WarmothRules]

I’ve been thinking about mimicking an Ibanez neck. Besides the wizard profile, jumbo frets, and nut width do you think getting a straight 16 inch radius will help it feel more Ibanez like? Or will the standard 10-16 radius not make much of a difference and feel close enough?

 

[Capacitatertot]

Comparing my warmoth wizard to my ibanez RG, the compound radius makes chording, especially in first position more comfy. It isn't super dramatic - it just feels nice to play.

My warmoth wizard has 6100 frets and 43mm nut width. It's a fantastic profile. I know the internet in general looks down upon thin necks, but if you're an Ibanez appreciator, the wizard profile is legit. It's a nice "smooshed" C shape. Can't recommend it enough.

 

[WarmothRules]

Comparing my warmoth wizard to my ibanez RG, the compound radius makes chording, especially in first position more comfy. It isn't super dramatic - it just feels nice to play.

My warmoth wizard has 6100 frets and 43mm nut width. It's a fantastic profile. I know the internet in general looks down upon thin necks, but if you're an Ibanez appreciator, the wizard profile is legit. It's a nice "smooshed" C shape. Can't recommend it enough.

I’ve owned many warmoths over the years. I usually get standard thin but at times it feels too thick for me. I had a fat back once with vintage frets but it was a tele shape body. I got tired of the tele look. In the past I’ve owned ibanez guitars and I miss that thin neck. I just want an excuse to put together a new guitar but will the compound radius make it feel less Ibanez like? That’s what I want to know. All those little costs add up. I wish warmoth didn’t charge extra for different radiuses.

 

[ruscio]

The compound radius will make it feel a little different than an Ibanez, but as noted above that'll only be the case on the lower frets and it actually feels pretty nice. So the Q is whether you want something more authentically like an Ibanez or you want something that's a little cheaper and that you might feel as or more comfortable with, depending on your playing style?

Also, if you're having this neck built and you're handy with some minor woodworking skills you might consider getting a paddle headstock and shaping it like an Ibanez. I got pretty close starting with a mooncaster neck, which had nearly enough wood to reproduce the Ibanez shape. I was replacing the neck from an Ibanez JS2000--which is very stratty in profile, radius, frets, etc.--with a Warmoth mooncaster with the Wizard profile, compound radious, and SS6100s. Here's the before-after on the headstock reshaping part of that project:





I did a lot of add'l work to that neck, including scalloping the fingerboard, fret end dressing, rolling the fretboard edges, and a level/crown/polish of the frets; I also had someone paint the headstock to match the body. This is now on an Ibanez JS1200 body and the guitar feels a lot more Ibanez-y than it dd with an actual JS neck on there! All that's left is to eventually replace the Fender style nut with a Floyd locking nut, but it works well enough even without that so it's not urgent.

 

[WarmothRules]

The compound radius will make it feel a little different than an Ibanez, but as noted above that'll only be the case on the lower frets and it actually feels pretty nice. So the Q is whether you want something more authentically like an Ibanez or you want something that's a little cheaper and that you might feel as or more comfortable with, depending on your playing style?

Also, if you're having this neck built and you're handy with some minor woodworking skills you might consider getting a paddle headstock and shaping it like an Ibanez. I got pretty close starting with a mooncaster neck, which had nearly enough wood to reproduce the Ibanez shape. I was replacing the neck from an Ibanez JS2000--which is very stratty in profile, radius, frets, etc.--with a Warmoth mooncaster with the Wizard profile, compound radious, and SS6100s. Here's the before-after on the headstock reshaping part of that project:

View attachment 62436

View attachment 62437

I did a lot of add'l work to that neck, including scalloping the fingerboard, fret end dressing, rolling the fretboard edges, and a level/crown/polish of the frets; I also had someone paint the headstock to match the body. This is now on an Ibanez JS1200 body and the guitar feels a lot more Ibanez-y than it dd with an actual JS neck on there! All that's left is to eventually replace the Fender style nut with a Floyd locking nut, but it works well enough even without that so it's not urgent.

View attachment 62438

Wow that’s amazing, nice work! I don’t need an Ibanez headstock shape. Going for another 7/8 build and yeah I know Gibson scale isn’t too Ibanez like but the access to all 24 frets is great.

 

[NutBehindTheGuitar]

I was replacing the neck from an Ibanez JS2000

Hey Ruscio
What was it that you didn't like in the Ibanez JS200 neck ? Was it the nut width, the frets or ??? I really like Ibanez wizard necks but they always so narrow in the nut width dimension.
Bye

 

[ruscio]

The JS necks are very strat-like in profile, radius, and frets. I prefer something thinner, flatter (or compound), with very large SS frets. I got all of that in the Warmoth mooncaster. Having said all of this, I once again took the plunge on a JS guitar this year, a new JS2410. I love it, but I can't stop thinking about at least getting a refret to SS6100s (it's got nickel 6105s on it, I believe). If I do that, I might also have the radius changed from 9.8" to 12" or 16". All just a matter of personal preferences, really nothing wrong with either one.

 

[timanator]

Another wizard fan here, Slightly narrower in my opinion makes the neck more comfortable for chording and still retain the "fast" characters of the profile.

 

[oliviaadair]

Mimicking an Ibanez neck sounds like a fun project. The straight 16-inch radius will definitely help achieve that Ibanez feel, as their necks typically have flatter radii.