Neck Profiles

[Caddie]

I have a '94 Studio for sale on Reverb. I have received quite a few inquiries. All of them ask "what's the neck like? fat or thin?" or " how does the neck profile compare to a 50s-60s LP. " Having never held a 50s - 60s LP in my sweaty little paws, I have no clue how to respond. From what I gather around here Gibson LPs can vary widely.

My first response response is: "Have you ever held a Hamer setneck made between '94 thru '97? Its uncanny how they all feel the same. Its what Hamer called the "Vintage Carve" when they moved to CT in'98(?). If you want more info than that I can get out the calipers. What measurements do you want and where on the neck?" "nah, nah, nah, nah, nah...I don't need the measurements"

Second response is: "I've never held a 50s - 60s Gibson LP so I cannot judge how a Hamer '94 neck compares to your specific Gibson '59 LP.

My third unspoken response, wtf, are your paws soooo sensitive that you can tell the diff between an LP you owned in the 80s and an LP you owned in the 90s? No? Well then how are you gonna tell the diff between a Hamer neck and your beloved '59 LP?

Unless you can "A-B" them.

Anyway, for you nexperts out there, how would you "compare a 50s-60s Gibson LP neck to a '94 Hamer Studio neck carve".

Suggestions for a response? Is this the kind of buyer who will get out the magnifying glass and look for a pinhead size indent, even though I would love to sell this I don't need that kind of P.I.T.A.

Thanks folks

caddie

[murkat]

for a quicky in neck (gibson) terms...

A. C shape. "60's" profile, the slimmer, a lil wider.

B. D shape. late 60's, early 70's. a C shape with a lil more thickness to it, almost straight sides to the fretboard edge

C. U shape. 50's profile. medium to large to baseball bat size profile.

Those are the very basic (Gibson) terms for the "close your eyes and picture" terms.

But, even that should be a very loose guideline(s)

because each neck is hand sanded to shape, and each neck hand sander is different, with different hands, etc.

even though there are templates of right next to them to get a "general" idea of what each should be.

Fact: the 50's fender V neck was an accident.

Leo returned from His first vacation ever to find 300 necks were V shaped carved.

He was pissed.

Most were destroyed.

Some leaked out to limited retailers, etc.

[Caddie]

So can you actually make a comparison in words of a '94 Hamer setneck neck profile to a 50s-60s Gibson neck profile?

Sounds like a no, humans made it, so the human element causes variations.

Which profile would say comes closest to hamer neck? I'm thinking its a somewhat shallow D Shape. What do you think?

caddie

[Tres Aardvarks]

If it's any consolation, I also have zero idea how most neck shapes feel. Heck, I can't tell you which shape my Chapparals are and which my Calis are, but I can tell you they feel different.

[BadgerDave]

When I sell a guitar, I always include a description of the neck shape. Otherwise, I invariably get e-mail inquiries.

A general description that satisfies most buyers is a comparison to these common standards:

Slim 60's = thin to medium, like most current LPs and SGs

Fat 50's = thick, like Gibson's current 58 reissues

If the neck falls between the two, I'll say so and indicate if it's medium or on the thinner or thicker side of medium.

Most buyers have no idea what the difference is between a D and C profile, but I'll mention if there's a V shape and state whether it's sharp or slight.

Finally, I'll include a precise measurement of thickness of the neck and fretboard (not the fret), measured with a digital calipers at the nut and 12th fret. That prevents later complaints from those who obsess over the different variances of "medium".

[cmatthes]

Exactly what Dave said!

[The Shark]

for a quicky in neck (gibson) terms...

A. C shape. "60's" profile, the slimmer, a lil wider.

B. D shape. late 60's, early 70's. a C shape with a lil more thickness to it, almost straight sides to the fretboard edge

C. U shape. 50's profile. medium to large to baseball bat size profile.

Those are the very basic (Gibson) terms for the "close your eyes and picture" terms.

But, even that should be a very loose guideline(s)

because each neck is hand sanded to shape, and each neck hand sander is different, with different hands, etc.

even though there are templates of right next to them to get a "general" idea of what each should be.

Fact: the 50's fender V neck was an accident.

Leo returned from His first vacation ever to find 300 necks were V shaped carved.

He was pissed.

Most were destroyed.

Some leaked out to limited retailers, etc.

I just love when the "Kat" shows off!

[crunchee]

I've had several mid-90's Hamers, and I'd have to call them uniformly, with no real variance, 'Goldilocks' sized...not too fat, not too thin, just right. That didn't help much, did it? But, it's just like Caddie and everybody else says here, they're very definitely CONSISTENT in size! I'd call them a nice comfy 'medium' carve.

I currently have three '90's Gibson LP Studios (a '92, a '93, and a '94), and their neck sizes vary (even LP Studios in the '90's were supposedly hand-sanded for final finishing, like Murkat said above, maybe they still are), and they all fall in the '50's carve group size-wise, apparently. I've seen it said online on various LP/Gibson forums, that the Gibson '50's carve is patterned on late '50s Gibson necks, but I too have never held a late '50's Gibson neck, so I'm taking the general consensus' word on it. The '92 and '94 LP Studios I have, I would call 'medium' for my hands and pretty close, maybe just a tad bigger, to the mid-90's Hamer carve, though there is probably a little variation just between those two LP Studios alone. The '93 I have has a noticeably fuller neck than the other two LPs, just big enough to mention the difference from the other two, almost but not quite as big as a Hamer 'vintage carve', IMO. Does that mean that '93 LP Studios all have fatter necks? I really doubt it, I think it'll vary. Hell, maybe the one I have was sanded by somebody on a Friday afternoon, I dunno.

Edited to add: I think, in recent years, LP Studios have come in BOTH 50's and '60's carve, from what I've seen online. I couldn't even begin to guess when they started doing that! Or how to tell the difference between the two without picking it up and playing it first. What little knowledge I have is only from the LP Studios that I have, and I couldn't venture ANY guesses about other LP models, either.

If somebody is asking to compare Hamers to Gibsons, thinking that Gibsons have consistent neck sizing, then they haven't owned enough Gibsons. And I've owned far fewer Gibsons over the years than I've had Hamers, so it didn't take that many for me to figure THAT out! YMMV, indeed!

[sledhead44]

Exactly what BadgerDave said. If I'm going to sell a guitar, I usually change or at least slacken the strings so I can clean the fretboard (I hate when people don't clean their stuff prior to a sale) and to take the pickups out to take a pic of the back of them (or at least double check what's in them if I don't know) so why not get the calipers out anyway and measure. It saves a bunch of time answering questions later. I usually give the neck thickness at the 1st, 3rd, and 12th frets and the neck width at the nut. This really helps me out when wanting to buy a guitar too. I know I prefer necks with a thickness at the 1st fret of .800 or less. I really like the 60's slim taper at .765 and even had a Epiphone I really liked the neck on at .748. Having this information lets me know that I could possibly go up to an .850 for the right guitar, any larger is a deal breaker.

I printed out the following a while back to help me when guitar shopping. Credit to BigKahune who posted all of the following on the Gibson forum:

Here's some info collected from various sources (some from MLP) -

A comparison based on some measurements - . . . . . . . (Of course everything varies a bit with Gibbies)
Neck Thickness - (avg, meaurements taken at nut end of 1st fret)
R8 - - - - - - - - - - .925"
R7 - - - - - - - - - - .920"
R9 - - - - - - - - - - .910"
50s Early - - - - - .900" (from Gibson C/S)
50s Rounded - - .870" (from my 2008 SG)
50s Rounded - - .818" (from Gibson C/S)
Asymmetrical - - N/A
30/60 - - - - - - -- .800"
60s Slim taper - .765"

- 30/60 is .030 of an inch thicker from front to back then the 60s slim, all the way up the neck.

50s Early 1st fret - - -- .900” 12th fret – 1.00”
50s Rounded 1st fret - .818” 12th fret - .963”

Asymmetrical -

The asymmetrical neck's center line is moved .005" toward the bass side. The back is tapered toward the high strings, more closely matching the natural curve of your hand making it easier to reach the fretboard. The neck is thicker toward the bass strings resulting in the asymmetrical shape

[atomicwash]

On the guitar selling topic, I recently purchased an Accuteck postal scale for under $20 including shipping. It weighs up to 70 lbs, it's light, and runs on batteries. I've had so many buyers ask about guitar weights over the years. What the heck took me so long?!?!

[Hfan]

I bought a little digital luggage scale. It has a hook and I just hook it on the tuner peg.

I also bought a digital caliper with the goal of measuring my necks. Planned on doing it at string changes but I usually forget.

Crunchee: I also have a 93 Studio, nice LP, found cheap on CL. Love the neck..have heard it called a 50's carve. Not a baseball bat by any means