![]() ![]() But if you tried using the same terminology with your bass player friends or salespeople at the guitar store, you’ll most likely get the deer-in-the-headlights look. Should you call nut width size by its proper letter designation?īetter luthiers know the old-style letter designations for Fender nut widths. The instrument would be well-built, but it “wouldn’t feel right” because the profile is off just a tad.Īnd yes, learned players that know their Fender vintage necks can feel the subtle difference between a Soft V and a Medium V. …and this can be hell for a luthier trying to recreate that shape if he doesn’t have an actual ’63 for a frame of reference.įor example, if it were the case where a luthier was trying to recreate the exact feel of a ’63 Fender neck with a Medium V profile but didn’t have the original item for reference, he would take his best guess that the neck shape would either be a Soft or a Hard V, which of course doesn’t hit the mark of what a Medium V is supposed to feel like. You’ve obviously heard some players say something to the effect of, “Only a real ’63 feels like a ’63!” Well, there’s more truth to that than you realize, because it could very well be that in ’63, Fender decided to use a Medium V profile… Not exactly a Hard V and not exactly a Soft, but right in the middle. What I did is listed the most commonly known shapes.įor example, there is the lesser-known “Medium V” shape. Are the letter designations for neck shapes above a complete list? Again, there’s nothing wrong with the neck when that happens even when properly set up as it’s just the nature of what vintage-spec is like. In addition, the older 7.25-inch radius can in fact “fret out” when doing bends of at least one semitone. Fingerboard radius and fret wire size also count for a great deal.Ī ‘true vintage’ build would probably be a Soft V shape with a 7.25-inch fingerboard radius and tall/skinny frets, meaning a super-round fingerboard with frets that no matter how well-done by the luthier will buzz all over the place because, well, that’s what tall/skinny vintage-style frets do. Does neck shape totally dictate how a neck feels? You will know a Large C when you pick one up, because as said above, it’s chunky. IMPORTANT NOTE: The terminology Fender currently uses for the larger old-style C is literally called “Large C”, such as on the American Vintage ’58 Precision. You play one of those, and oh yes, you’re holding a whole lot of wood – literally. The chunkiest neck shape is without question the U. When a player, luthier or builder says that a neck “feels like a baseball bat” concerning Fender shapes, he is referring to the old-style C or the U. Old-style C is much different compared to the flatter Modern C. It’s a common mistake that some players state all C-shapes are the same. (Tip: Looking for tuners that will fit your Fender neck?) ![]() This means a C does have a shape similar to that of a letter C, a V actually looks like a letter V on the back, and so on. …and these were the original letter designations for Fender necks well before the whole neck-shape-by-letter thing came into being.įender neck shapes can be C, U, or V, and these letters literally refer to how the back of the neck is not only shaped but also how it looks. The modern Fender American Standard Precision Bass is a guitar with a B neck with a Modern C neck shape, with B referring to nut width, and Modern C referring to the curve shape of the back of the neck. Where it gets really confusing however is that a letter designation can refer to the neck shape OR the nut width. In addition, those same letter designations are often used by luthiers to describe a neck’s feel to someone who hasn’t actually played the instrument yet. Letter designations for bass guitar necks is more or less “a Fender thing”, and because Fender terminology is so pervasive in bass builds, Fender’s letter designations are used even for bass guitars they don’t even make. Although bass guitar necks can be built to any number of different sizes and shapes, more often than not a player does take the letter designation of the neck into consideration when shopping (especially if buying online unplayed). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |