Fret Boards, Action Options

[Travelin' Man]

I hear alot about how fast and smooth the Ibanez necks play out, but what makes them so special? Is it the wood that makes them smooth, say Maple verse Rosewood? Is the fretboard curved or flat? Are the frets smoother, higher or lower to the board, etc? What makes it smoother than another guitar? Does anyone have an Ibanez and another make of guitar who can honestly tell me if they feel that difference?

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[Andrew Cockburn]

I hear alot about how fast and smooth the Ibanez necks play out, but what makes them so special? Is it the wood that makes them smooth, say Maple verse Rosewood? Is the fretboard curved or flat? Are the frets smoother, higher or lower to the board, etc? What makes it smoother than another guitar? Does anyone have an Ibanez and another make of guitar who can honestly tell me if they feel that difference?

I have a Jem - the radius of the neck is lower, and the width of the neck in your hand is a lot flatter, making it easier to grip and move around, its a big difference compared to my Strat.

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[lost-jgs]

gotta say the neck on my rr3 jackson feels 100x easier to play than my PRS Santana cause of the thinness on the jackson

ive grown quite fond of compound radius rosewood fretboards , but ive been hearing good things about ebony fretboards

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This post has been edited by lost-jgs: Aug 28 2007, 10:31 AM

[Travelin' Man]

Thnx for the tips guys. I guess my next question is...how does one figure out what guitars have the skinner diameter necks? Is it a feel or is it written in stone somewhere?

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[shredmandan]

You can really tell alot just by looking at it.Like a les paul has a fat round neck compared to maybe a shred guitar like Jackson or Ibanez have a thin neck that makes it very easy to move around on quick.Strats tend to have a neck size in between les pauls and shred style guitars/I like them but have to say i love a thin neck.

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[rokchik]

Thnx for the tips guys. I guess my next question is...how does one figure out what guitars have the skinner diameter necks? Is it a feel or is it written in stone somewhere?

Oh guitar necks....the root of all my problems

I've talked endlessly about the size of guitar necks and how I find some harder to play than others. As Shredmandan said you can tell the difference with most by looking at them. However most guitar companies will post the neck dimensions with the description of the guitar. Ibanez does a very good job with this I think. But you need to play them to see for sure.
I have a Les Paul standard with a 60's slim taper neck. Now to look at the dimensions there is really only about .010 of an inch or so in difference of the 60's neck and 50's neck but to play it's a huge difference. For me anyways. The 50's neck just felt big and cumbersome (the old baseball bat comparison again ) to me while the 60's was smooth and quicker. Now the 50's probably had a bit more sustain but it wasn't for me. Compared to an Ibanez it's night and day again. For techniques such as legato or just really fast runs I stumble with the LP....with the Ibanez I tried I was 10 times quicker. The neck was a thinner profile, the action was lower and I just seemed to have a better grip...it was like pressing buttons. I even tried a Strat but didn't see much difference between it an my LP.
To me it's all a personal preference. Some like the thicker neck while others like the thinner ones. Style of play will probably come into the debate as well. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutley love my LP. The sound is beautiful and she feels awesome....and well it's a Gibson for god sakes it's the sh**! But the neck on the Ibanez was like a dream for me to play....better for my hand size I guess....hopefully will have one very soon. Hope this helped.

rok

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This post has been edited by rokchik: Aug 28 2007, 11:19 AM

[fkalich]

You can really tell alot just by looking at it.Like a les paul has a fat round neck compared to maybe a shred guitar like Jackson or Ibanez have a thin neck that makes it very easy to move around on quick.Strats tend to have a neck size in between les pauls and shred style guitars/I like them but have to say i love a thin neck.

I can play just as fast on my baseball bat neck 58 les paul standard reissue as I can on my Firebird, or other slim neck guitar. It takes me about 20 minutes to adjust when I have been playing one type for some time.
Actually I find the big les paul easier in the sense that it holds in place better, it is more stable to play on. The Firebird though is also very stable because of that long heavy neck on it.

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[MickeM]

And the price you pay for having low action is tone.

For a shred guitar I keep my Ibanez with low action, but for tone I have my LP with high action. I've tried the LP with low action aswell and the differnce in speed is not noticable, maybe on Ibanez which has a slimmer neck the difference would be larger.
But on LP for me it's useless to keep a low action, it's just ruining the tone and the difference between low and high action there is huge. Really.

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[fkalich]

And the price you pay for having low action is tone.

For a shred guitar I keep my Ibanez with low action, but for tone I have my LP with high action. I've tried the LP with low action aswell and the differnce in speed is not noticable, maybe on Ibanez which has a slimmer neck the difference would be larger.
But on LP for me it's useless to keep a low action, it's just ruining the tone and the difference between low and high action there is huge. Really.

I put the base side higher, otherwise the rattle runs the tone. Treble pretty low. My style of play is a bit odd ball, I do bends and vibrato with my wrist and forearm, so my thumb is never used for strength, so it always stays at the back, in fact the low back at the upper register. That is why the thin neck does not mean much for me, nor does having a cutaway. I do feel that the bigger the neck and the less the cutaway, the better the tone and sustain. At least what sounds good to me. I could be wrong about that, but that has been my experience.

edit: although I have grown to really like my Firebird. Not so much upper fret access or thin neck, but the tone of it at higher speeds, and the ease of the pickups in getting harmonics. Those are the stock pickups, the little ones. That is a guitar that most shredders would really like, but not one talked about much. But at high speeds, it really come into its own with that clear tone, and the long heavy neck helps you keep stable.

edit2: the stable aspect may mean more to me than most people, who use their thumbs for vibrato and bending. If I don't have a guitar with some mass to it, I start shaking it up and down. Can't really play a strat or sg. Tele is ok, it has some mass. The Firebird as I said, while not a heavy body, has the long heavy neck, and that keeps it from bouncing.

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This post has been edited by fkalich: Aug 28 2007, 05:35 PM

[Travelin' Man]

In my early days, I owned a Gibson Explorer. I found it a bit too heavy for me and the neck too wide. So, when I start looking for a new guitar, being married with limited funds, I may only have one shot at buying the right guitar for me. I guess the only true way of knwing what fits me, is to go and try each and every guitar before buying. I was entertaining Ebay, but I am thinking differently now. Thnx for all the imput ya'll.

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