Bigger neck = bigger tone?

se7en

se7en

Active member
Just curious. Generally speaking, does a thicker neck make for a fuller sound with more sustain? I imagine the density is important for that, but strictly talking about the girth of the neck itself...

I'd imagine a thicker neck could lead to a duller tone or might be less resonant as well...true?
 
se7en":3cez35m3 said:
Interesting, ok. More sustain?
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Too many variables to make a blanket statement like that
Personally Even if the tone is a little bigger I certainly wouldn't use that as a prerequisite for the order.
I would order a shape I felt comfortable playing and tweak the rest of the guitar with that in consideration.
You can not isolate one part of a guitar build.
I do hear more of a difference between the extremes but would never be able to say, Ah I can hear that neck is smaller.
 
The reason I asked is because I had read that you find about 50% of the guitar's tone to be in the neck ...it got me thinking about the neck design more than I would have...
 
I definitely find my 73 lp custom snappier/spankier sounding than most mahogany neck les pauls I played (my guitar has a thinner neck than the slim taper profile)
but I gotta say this guitar sounds HUGE in the lows
maybe it might be missing something in the mids compared to a fat neck, but it definitely doesn't lack anything
I do believe a fat neck would fatten things up, but I wouldn't like to lose that spanky attack and the very comfortable grab
 
Hmm, but I would wonder if the larger maple cap & the ebony board of the LP Custom is what contributes to that snappier/spankier tone?

I have read a lot online about how a thicker neck is equated to a fatter tone, but didn't necessarily believe that...that's why I wanted John to weigh in.
 
se7en":14aba37r said:
Hmm, but I would wonder if the larger maple cap & the ebony board of the LP Custom is what contributes to that snappier/spankier tone?

I have read a lot online about how a thicker neck is equated to a fatter tone, but didn't necessarily believe that...that's why I wanted John to weigh in.
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I don't think it has a larger maple cap
actually, early 70's gibsons seem to have a less prominent belly :confused:

the ebony board does add something to the top end, but I've played other gibson guitars (lp, sg, flying v, explorer) with ebony boads and thicker necks that didn't have this type of attack in the upper mids

I recently played an ebony board ESP snakebite with a relatively thin neck profile that had some extra snappy attack compared to gibson explorers
can't tell for sure, as it had the stock emgs, though :scared:
not an ESP fan, but loved the neck profile
 
I was comparing a LP custom to other Les Pauls (as that was the comparison you used)...they typically have a thicker maple cap than say a LP Standard.
 
tone definitely gets beefier in my experience.. I have swapped some necks on my strat and depending on the thickness of the neck, I could kind of hear the tone changing.
 
My Tele has got the biggest neck of all my guitars. But it sounds like a Tele. Twang over all. No beef.
My beefiest guitar is my Sambora strat. It's a modern C shape. Not thick at all.
 
The bigger the better for me but I've had Ibanez wizard necks that had good tone too. Very subjective question. For me I play better on thicker necks , cramps quick if playing thin. So for me better tone on thick necks :)
 
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