benefits of a vintage v-neck
 

what does a v-neck offer?

Some people like the way it fills their hand, but I find them awkward when playing barre chords.

Historically, they were profiled that way as a way of making the neck stiffer (before truss rods were used).

Yep, they helped stabilize the neck before truss rods. Now, people really have a love/hate relationship with them. Martin uses them on the vintage series, along with GE and Authentic for replicatation puposes.

I prefer a slimmer profile myself.

Not really sure. I've always preferred low-profile necks.

To me v-necks seem obsolete.

I love "V" necks...in electric and acoustic guitars. As gitnoob said, I like the way they fill my hand. I find them very comfortable. It's just speculation, but I think the peek of the "V" provides slight leverage in forming chords. But I also think your hand has to be the right size and fingers the right length for that to occur. If my hands were smaller I don't think I'd like "V" necks as much as I do. OTOH, I'm a bluegrass guy and I play very, very, few bar chords.
Take this all with a grain of salt. As I said, it's just speculation. But I have small hands and there has to be a reason I find "V" necks so comfortable. However, when I was playing jazz I found them not so comfortable because of all the bar chords. My jazz guitar (Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster archtop with P-90s) did not have a "V" neck.
When I was playing traditional blues and swing/jump blues I used a Tele and sometimes a Strat, both with "V" necks and liked them a lot. But I didn't play quite so many bar chords in those genres. Also, those guitars had an offset "V" (toward the 6th string) and were a little more comfortable for bar chords.
My advice is to play a D-18GE or any guitar with a "V" neck and see how you like it. Neck size and dimension is such an individual/personal thing.


Tom

The mass of the neck adds to the tone of the guitar as well.

I like the V neck myself and I have a mild preference for it, but I'm pretty flexible about neck profiles overall. drbluegrass, I actually think the V neck helps me with barre chords - I am able to brace my thumb against the V to help hold down my index finger.

Comfort for those who like it.
Discomfort for those who don't.

I don't like a sharp pointy V, but a soft V feels very comfortable to me. Feels like there's a little less drag from the flesh between my thumb and first finger.

I can't stand v necks. I think the only people who like them are people who learned on them. In addition I know several times I have heard people develop hand problems from v necks so they had to switch. My guess is they had small hands but I really don't see why you would choose it. My first guitar had one and I didn't realize how much I hatred it until I bought a taylor.
Old habits die hard I guess.

Does anyone have a pic or link that shows all the different neck profiles? I've seen comparison charts like that for bodies, but not for necks. It would be intersting to see how a vintage V compares to a Martin C to a Gibson to a Taylor.

One of my Martins has a V neck and I like it. I find that in my playing position, I have a fairly small contact patch on the back of the neck and position changes seem smoother. I'm not very particular though and switch between V, Low Profile, and C shaped necks without much thought.

Some of my guitars have sharp V necks, some have a real fat V neck, some have a soft V neck, some have round necks...

I can play all of them equally well. Guess I'm just adaptable.

Only thing I can't handle are guitars with real high action (especially at the nut), more than 1 3/4" width at the nut on acoustics and more than 1 11/16" on electrics, or real super fat necks like some 30's Nationals and some cheap guitars from the 50's and 60's.

But if a neck is nicely shaped and the action is comfortable (AND the guitar sounds good!) it's probably going to be all right for me however it's shaped.

I can play either but then I do have large hands with very long fingers. My preference however is a low profile neck.

Depends on how your left handholds the guitar when you play -if your thumb is up on the side instead of the classical way of playing with your thumb centered on the back of the neck -you might like V necks . I play the guitar both ways - depending on what style im playing- but with me i have long fingers -I like a full size neck -more comfortable with me . but with necks -i swing both ways ( like all shapes and sizes -its the tone i look for not the nit picking neck thickness etc )

Martin vintage series are typically a step up on the quality level -thats one of the main reasons i bought my OM28v ( with a V neck )-i though it to be made of better quality materials with a bit more hand work than their standard series - well worth the difference in price .