Superwide in action!

[Cagey]

You will get weaker tone on a thin neck as opposed to a thick neck. That is fact and not myth. Your neck plays a HUGE role in your tone.

You will absolutely get hand fatigue due to the overall lack of support a thin neck offers your hand. When you're playing on a thick neck, you are forced to grip the entire neck and have more resting contact between your hand and the neck itself. On a thin neck its just the tip of your thumb. That is not myth.

Ultimately, there are no set rules as human anatomy doesn't get stamped out on a conveyor belt. If a thin neck is comfortable for you then its the right neck for you. If a thicker neck is your cup of tea then good for you.

I agree that the physical design of a neck has something to do with the tone you'll get out of the guitar. That only makes sense for a wide variety of obvious reasons.

I don't see where a neck has ever "supported" my hand anywhere. I don't hang my fretting hand off the neck by my thumb, or try to fret with my thumb, so where is the neck "supporting" anything? Worst case is my hand is supporting the neck, at which point I realize I picked up somebody else's guitar with a neck that's heavier than the body or has poorly located strap hangers. Best case is the neck stays where it's put because the instrument is balanced, so support isn't an issue.

I also agree that all humans are different, claims from the terminally philosophical notwithstanding <grin>

 

[JaySwear]

when a neck is so thin that only the end of my thumb is resting on the back of the neck my hand will hurt so badly i can't continue playing. it'll feel like it's burning right between my thumb and index finger and some in my wrist. might be bad form, but it doesn't happen with a thicker neck. my guitar teacher had carpal tunnel surgery and had to take a very long break from playing to recover. i'm kind of protective of my playing hand after hearing his story and how long it took him to get back to playing regularly and teaching

 

[Cagey]

You clearly need a hand transplant <grin>

I don't know. My hands aren't unusually large or small. I'm 6 feet tall and they seem proportional, perhaps a tad thin. Maybe I'm just lucky. As long as I practice regularly and maintain form, I don't have any cramping problems playing a thin neck. It's actually easier, since I'm not fighting this big clubby thing in my hand that feels like a baseball bat with frets.

I do know that small differences in dimension can have large impacts on accuracy. I have a Les Paul copy here that I miss notes all over the place on, simply due to very small fractions of an inch in difference between frets and strings. It's a wonderful instrument, but I'm going to get rid of it because of that.

So, I guess the dimension thing isn't a myth, per se. I just can't imagine it causing cramps.

 

[elfro89]

What happens after 10 minutes?

people claim thin necks give you hand cramps.
never had it happen - but i still HATED playing on a wizard neck. ugh

I used to be an ibanez maniac! I LOVED those wizard necks with a passion! But I can understand the view point on the hand cramp thing, sure the shred is great but try playing a 12 bar blues or something were your barring alot for a sustained period of time; it gives the whole "spank the monkey" cramp a run for its money like!