Thundermtn
Member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2016
- Messages
- 548
I want to ask about neck size (or stiffness) and how it influences tone. Al had some observations in another thread that seemed to correspond closely with what my ear hears as good tone.
Earlier this year I bought a guitar with supposedly a '58 neck profile. It's probably not 100% accurate but it's for sure a beefy neck, larger in profile than anything else I've bought before and a little outside my comfort zone on first impression. The thing was, it had great tone so I just kept playing it and after a few minutes sort of get used to the neck size.
Something was said about neck stiffness in relation to either stability or needing less fequent truss rod adjustments. When I started thinking about which of my guitars have the best tone they do tend to be the ones that need the least amount of monkeying with. Once they are setup how i like them they just stay put unless I get them out in really extreme temp and humidity swings.
Now for the can of worms.
Do these guitars sound better to my ears because they are higher quality in the lumber department?
Is it because they are stiffer than others of the same model in an in store A/B comparison, and my ear hears it as better tone than the others?
Does my more affordable new guitar acheive the same effect as stiffening/hardness by having a large neck? I know a lot of Robin guitar players go nuts over the baseball bat necks on some of those guitars.
Are there so many other variables going on that this is just a coincidence and each guitar is it's own animal?
Earlier this year I bought a guitar with supposedly a '58 neck profile. It's probably not 100% accurate but it's for sure a beefy neck, larger in profile than anything else I've bought before and a little outside my comfort zone on first impression. The thing was, it had great tone so I just kept playing it and after a few minutes sort of get used to the neck size.
Something was said about neck stiffness in relation to either stability or needing less fequent truss rod adjustments. When I started thinking about which of my guitars have the best tone they do tend to be the ones that need the least amount of monkeying with. Once they are setup how i like them they just stay put unless I get them out in really extreme temp and humidity swings.
Now for the can of worms.
Do these guitars sound better to my ears because they are higher quality in the lumber department?
Is it because they are stiffer than others of the same model in an in store A/B comparison, and my ear hears it as better tone than the others?
Does my more affordable new guitar acheive the same effect as stiffening/hardness by having a large neck? I know a lot of Robin guitar players go nuts over the baseball bat necks on some of those guitars.
Are there so many other variables going on that this is just a coincidence and each guitar is it's own animal?