Neck Profiles

[Blunote]

I have to confess that I am not a guitar connoisseur. Like wine, every now and then I find something I like. It's visceral.

 

That's how feel about the neck on my 2006 Millie Ultra Std. When I first bought it seemed slimmer than my acoustics and I noticed a bit of an ache at the base of my thumb. Pretty soon the ache went away. I think I also found myself holding the neck a bit differently too; letting it lay across the palm of my hand more. Later on, I bought a mid-90s H-150P and the neck seemed bigger. While the 150 is easy enough to play, the Millie is just more comfortable. My perception was that the H-150 was wider, or fatter, or both.

 

But that turns out not to be true.

 

With the strings off, I measured the neck widths at the nut and 12th fret and both are the same. The 150 at the 3rd fret was .785". thick; at the 12th fret, .900". It's bit harder to measure the depth of the Millie with the strings on using calipers, but it actually seems quite similar in thickness at those frets -maybe a smidgen thicker.

 

The main difference seems to be profile itself, The Millie is rounder and I think asymmetrical. It fills my palm easier where the 150 seems to require a little more wrist break to get my thumb over the low E.; it seems flatter across the back of the neck.

 

It would help to know how to describe these necks should I think about buying another guitar, or order one from the factory.

[MartyGrass]

I am watching this thread with interest.

 

The neck and fretboard are where the rubber meets the road in electric guitar land.

 

Here's my very personal opinion. The neck carve does not really affect my performance. I have a couple of guitars with fat late 50's carves and some that are pretty thin. Most are mediums. Within a few minutes I've adjusted.

 

Thin ones feel comfortable immediately, but their advantage fades fast.

 

My Heritage Golden Eagle is kinda fat and very round. My G&L is both fat and round. Not a problem.

 

I know that neck carve is a huge deal to many players. I don't know why it doesn't affect me much.

[yoslate]

The necks may very well have been shaped by different people. I'll bet your Millie neck was done by Marv Lamb, who's been working there since the mid-fifties. To watch him shape necks, as many of us have at the PSP gatherings, is to marvel at someone whose relationship with a piece of wood is just...Zen. He also does shape them asymmetrically as an ergonomic consideration. Many players here have made note of this characteristic, and like it. Some of the nomenclature used to describe neck shape would be "C" shaped or "D" shaped, shallow or deep. Some other characterizations would include references to neck shapes typical of Gibsons of the Fifties (deeper "C", chunky, baseball bat) or the Sixties (thinner, more shallow). In any event Ren Wall has said if someone wants a particular neck dimension, to do as you've done, with the calipers, and work your way up a neck you like, at various frets, and send the spec's to Heritage, and they'll nail it. I have a 150 neck modeled on a specific '62 SG Les Paul. They nailed it cold! I'm sure I've left out some significant info, but others will chime in.

[Spectrum13]

My four Heritages each have a different neck profiles and feel. From the thick 50s 137 to the kind a slimmer Millie. Each feels "right" and fits my hand better than any of the five other makes I have or any I ever had with the exception of 60's Gibsons. You can call it mojo but I say its 50 plus years of knowing what they are doing.

[GuitArtMan]

Here are some Fender neck profiles, but the same would apply to Heritage:

 

 

I'm not sure if they use the same term(s) but it's a starting point. Many people will talk about the "shoulders" of the neck - this is the sides of the neck as it comes off of the fingerboard and a subtle changes here can have a dramatic affect on the feel of the neck. The D and U shape necks have the broadest shoulders and feel chunky, maybe even fat in the hand. The hard V has the softest shoulders and can feel narrow to some. Of course depth and width play a big part in how a neck will feel. I tend to like fairly deep necks, but my small hands make the shape critical to me. On 1 11/16" nut necks, I tend to like a soft shouldered C shape. On 1 5/8" nut necks I can take a little more meat on the shoulders. That said, I just borrowed a strat style guitar that had a HUGE V shape neck that felt wonderful. The shape missing above is asymmetrical and both Heritage and Fender have done this shape, many find it very, very comfortable.

[jjkrause84]

It matters to me as I've got wee-hands. That said the ONLY guitar neck I seriously had trouble with was the Baja Telecaster...total baseball bat territory. Probably the most comfortable neck I've ever played was my Gretsch, which I think was a 'D'...althouhg I'm not sure.

[Blunote]

Here are some Fender neck profiles, but the same would apply to Heritage:

 

 

I'm not sure if they use the same term(s) but it's a starting point. Many people will talk about the "shoulders" of the neck - this is the sides of the neck as it comes off of the fingerboard and a subtle changes here can have a dramatic affect on the feel of the neck. The D and U shape necks have the broadest shoulders and feel chunky, maybe even fat in the hand. The hard V has the softest shoulders and can feel narrow to some. Of course depth and width play a big part in how a neck will feel. I tend to like fairly deep necks, but my small hands make the shape critical to me. On 1 11/16" nut necks, I tend to like a soft shouldered C shape. On 1 5/8" nut necks I can take a little more meat on the shoulders. That said, I just borrowed a strat style guitar that had a HUGE V shape neck that felt wonderful. The shape missing above is asymmetrical and both Heritage and Fender have done this shape, many find it very, very comfortable.

 

 

That helps a lot. At this point, I'm thinking my H-150 is a D shape and the Millie would be an asymmetric C..

 

Looks like the nuts on both guitars are the 1 11/16 variety. One measures 1.690" and the other 1.678". Nominal would be 1.6875".

 

 

[LK155]

My four Heritages each have a different neck profiles and feel. From the thick 50s 137 to the kind a slimmer Millie. Each feels "right" and fits my hand better than any of the five other makes I have or any I ever had with the exception of 60's Gibsons. You can call it mojo but I say its 50 plus years of knowing what they are doing.

 

I agree 100%. Well, OK, 75%. But that's only because I have just three Heritages, not four.

 

My three all have different neck profiles; two have rosewood fretboards and one is ebony. Two have dots and one has blocks. Two are bound and one is not. One has had all its nibs removed. They all feel different. But, damn, they all feel great. Never played anything better. Ever.

[tulk1]

My Custom Prospect has, of course, a custom neck profile. I sometimes think I got it too fat. (the custom Millie is dead perfect) But after a couple of songs it makes no difference. Then I'll pick up the Legacy and think it's too thin ... for about 1 song. Now, you want something that will really screw with your feel of a neck profile? Play mandolin (mine has a deep "v") for a couple of songs and try jumping over to bass guitar. Just going back to a regular 6 string is odd enough. But lordy, going from mando to bass is a stretch and a half. Anyway, as for neck profiles, I only own one guitar that I have problems with, as the neck is just too thin. And it's not a Heritage.

[FredZepp]

Those Fender pics are great examples.. here is another brand showing an asymetrical shape.

 

[Blunote]

Those Fender pics are great examples.. here is another brand showing an asymetrical shape.

 

They both look a little asymmetrical to me but the '08 Gibby looks more like my Millie. My H-150 is a bit shallower, with more pronounced shoulders than either of the profiles shown above. I'm thinking it's a symmetric "D".

So far, the only neck's I've really not been able to play are the baseball bat sized ones on some Fenders -especially the ones with the 7" fretboard.