Anyone else feel like fretboard radius and neck thickness hardly matters?

[Stiman]

So I just got a Fender Am Pro Shawbucker HSS Strat in a trade, which has a fairly thick neck and a 9.5 inch radius board. I've been playing it back and forth between my RG550 and I feel like I can play equally as fast on both guitars. Now, I'm not a shredder, so maybe at the very peak of speed it matters more, I don't know.
I'm not super picky about these specs, although I probably prefer a middle ground in terms of neck thickness and fretboard radius, something like a Wizard III - 19mm thick, 15.75 inch radius.

Anyway, I acknowledge there is a huge difference, especially going back and forth between these necks, but my playing consistency and speed seems unaffected. Any one else?

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Guitars aren't one or two or even ten specs. They're a sum of their parts and the math doesn't always make sense.

 

[budda]

Neck is make or break for me. So yes it matters, a lot.

 

[Kwert]

I’d think what matters more is how well the guitar is made/built, and how comfortable you feel with it. I personally don’t think a flatter neck is definitively “faster playing” than a neck with a rounder radius, but it will feel sluggish as shit if it’s a poorly made neck, fitted poorly to the guitar etc etc etc.

 

[ExMachina]

I don't think it's a matter of one radius or neck thickness has a higher theoretical top end bpm than the other. It's more that people have preferences, I like flat radii with 19mm ish necks.

 

[A.JohnHayes]

it’s the most important thing to me. I found thinner necks cause my hands to cramp, and flatter radius necks let me get silly with the action. The thicker neck with a 16” radius on my Mayones is perfect.

 

[Surveyor 777]

For me the neck shape and thickness are one of , if not the, most important parts of the guitar. When I check out a new guitar I don't bother plugging it in. I grab it and run my hand along the neck and play it for a bit. If the neck shape isn't how I like it, I don't care how it sounds.

I have quite a few guitars and find I gravitate towards more of the modern Charvel DK/Jackson Soloist/Ibanez RG Premium/Prestige neck shapes. I know they aren't the same, but generally I'm looking for a flatter back on the neck, somewhat thinner and a flatter fretboard, along with a slightly wider fretboard. This makes me want to play. If I grab other guitars I can play them just fine, but I tend to not want to spend as much time with them and sometimes they just feel absolutely uncomfortable.

 

[TedEH]

Once I got used to thinner necks, I have trouble going back. The S7420 I think is one of those wizard necks? It's thin. But when I switch to something thicker, I can play just fine but after a while my hand starts to hurt in the thumb meat (or whatever you call it). Even more so if it's also a longer scale length. It's just extra hand stress for not much reason.

I expect that, like a lot of things, you can sort of get used to anything, and it's the change that matters more so than the actual spec.

 

[Pingu]

Guitars aren't one or two or even ten specs. They're a sum of their parts and the math doesn't always make sense.

This and also the person 'doing the math' can make the exact same set of parts add up to something completely different.

 

[jephjacques]

It's a subjective thing. I have no strong preference on 6 strings, and actually lean more towards chunky necks. But on 7s and 8s the thinner the better. Radius makes no difference to me.

 

[ShredmasterD]

As time goes on, neck thickness matters less and less to me. I have thin necks and chonky ones. It’s the overall vibe that matters most. I can played equally fast on either but fretboard width and string spacing seem to matter most. A vintage narrow feel is not my preference. Never was actually. Some old fenders and most ricks are uncomfortable and my fat fingers don’t like the tight space in the open and first few positions and sweeping? Forget it

 

[MetalDestroyer]

I was with you until I got a guitar with a .9-1.0 neck. It was incredibly comfy for chord stuff and simple bluesy leads but I would get hand cramps when doing 5-fret stretches. I generally stick to necks that are similar in thickness to my PRS (~.8-~.88) and I prefer less shoulder.

Neck profile makes more of a difference than thickness though, the farther from D-shaped the better. I actually like V-shaped necks the best but they only really exist on thicker necks. Patiently waiting for the return of FR's to the Luke lineup.

As for radius, I prefer 12-14". 10" feels a bit round and 16" feels too flat. I can definitely feel a difference here, but 10" is better than 16" if I'm departing from the radius of my Horizons.

One thing I don't think people consider on neck thickness is fret height. I think Suhr's Modern profiles feel very thick despite them really not being thick, and I attribute that to the big ol jumbo frets they use.

 

[cardinal]

Radius matters to me only because I prefer lower action and bends can choke out on a tighter radius of the action is too low.

I don't really care about neck profile or thickness in terms of comfort, but I'm finding that I seem to have a more grip strength on a thinner neck, so I deal with lower frets and not slip off the strings so much.

 

[USMarine75]

None of it matters to me for the most part.

GIRTH/PROFILE: I regularly switch between baseball bat necks (Schecter Loomis 7, Samick TV20) and thin wide (JEM) or just plain old thin (Samick Strat or KXK). The only difference is how it inspires me to play. I might shred a lil more on one, funk up another, or get metal AF if the mood is right.

RADIUS: I don't get how flatter radius makes the guitar any shreddier? Yngwie doesn't have a problem on vintage radius necks. I feel like as long as you rotate your thumb and hand properly it doesn't matter as much as people think it does.

To me all that matter is that the guitar is set up properly.

TLDR I'm a thumb-over player and luckily I'm well-endowed. (Meaty paws, you pervs.)

 

[somethingsomething]

I think the people who obsess over this stuff probably spend way too much time on gear forums and probably obsess similarly about a guitar weighting 7.8 lbs vs. 7.5 lbs.

There are absolutely differences between super thick necks and super thin necks, but a lot of the middle ground is kinda whatever from my perspective. Same for radius. I don't think there's a massive difference between a 10" and 12" radius. I wouldn't be surprised if many guitarists couldn't tell the difference between guitars with different radiuses if they weren't told what the measurements were.

 

[groverj3]

I have preferences because of what I'm used to based on the gear I have. Though, it's not like you can't play well with other stuff.

 

[Avedas]

I have my preferences but at the end of the day they are details and don't matter all that much. Very few guitar specs are far enough out of my comfort zone to actually hinder my playing.

 

[budda]

Inb4 AANJ

 

[BenjaminW]

Neck profile/thickness matters to me since I like a thicker neck and I want something to hold onto while I'm playing. I can't do thin/flat necks since they just feel really awkward and uncomfortable to play.

As far as radius goes, all of my guitars all have different radiuses so it doesn't particularly bother me. I guess if I had to pick one I liked the most, it would probably be 12" or 12-16". It's what I have on my three main guitars and considering I use them the most, it's obviously what I like.

 

[Stiman]

Inb4 AANJ

Let's not go there lol


To give some additional context for my reason to start this thread:

I falsely assumed that the stereotypes of "80's hair metal shred guitars with the thinnest shredyest necks..." had more legitimacy behind it. But now it seems like it's more about the aesthetics than any sort of specific specs.