why do 335s feel so stiff to me compared to Lps. Teles and strats

[JackBootedThug]

I had a 60’s es-355 custom stereo and it had the tiniest neck ever. Super narrow. Really strange. Always ran 9’s and never noticed any issues with tension.

 

[MusicIsLife]

Are you playing sitting or standing? What I've found with some of my guitars is that if the guitar hangs a bit lower on me, it changes how much leverage my left hand has. I tend to want to wear 15"+ guitars lower so the extra body size isn't creeping up to my chest. If I shorten my strap a notch or two, my fret hand feels like it does on my other guitars.

 

[VonBonfire]

You could always tune down a 1/2 step. I have done that on my guitars for close 30 years to ease the tension and make singing and playing with keys and horns easier.

 

[70 Mach 1]

Top wrap it. Set the action low and take all the relief out of the neck you can without it being a buzzy mess that frets out. Balance that bridge height and relief until it plays good. Lemme know how it goes. My Bigsby equipped Edwards ES is about the lightest string tension of any guitar I've owned until I top wrapped my Edwards LP. String gauges on both are 10 11.5 15 20 30 39, the bottom three are flatwounds.

Well i raised the TP way above where i normally set them. Up 4 threads.
Made a positive improvement.
Even my picking hand is easier to navigate .
Not perfect but id say 75% better.
I think 9s next time around will improve the other 25%

 

[VonBonfire]

Well i raised the TP way above where i normally set them. Up 4 threads.
Made a positive improvement.
Even my picking hand is easier to navigate .
Not perfect but id say 75% better.
I think 9s next time around will improve the other 25%

That's great news Mach 1. You can always drop tune to Eb if you wanted to keep thicker strings. Unless you gig with other guys who demand E standard. I been doing that for years and gig that way too. Might require some light re-tweaking of bridge and/or truss rod once it settles in. Might need a slight intonation adjustment as well. Adjust it, let it sit or play it for a couple hours and double check things.