How much do you value neck feel?

[LAPlayer]

Like Jeff, I find many different profiles comfortable. That said, I have a few that are perfect for me. it's important. Not as important as how it sounds but playing 3-5 hour sessions, I have to have comfort to avoid cramping or taking time to recover. I also find the entire neck carve and fingerboard profile important to be able to move fast when needed.

[RussellHawaii]

I’m very particular about some aspects of a guitar, but oddly neck shape is not one of them. I find I can play a variety of neck shapes and it’s not that big a deal to me.
I like thin necks, thick necks, C’s, D’s, V’s, ovals, and even the baseball bats of some older guitars. Of course there are limits, but when people discuss the subtleties of neck shape preferences, it just is not relevant for me.
Im very picky about sound, volume, looks, and what I call ‘string feel.’

[thefsb]

So long as the neck is wide enough, at least 1 3/4" across the fingerboard at the nut, then I don't care very much about the rest.

This should have been a poll.

[seaveez]

I guess neck feel and tone are important to me. But how the neck feels is the first gate for a guitar to get through.

[brencat]

Originally Posted by TheGITM

It's easily 80%+ of my decision. The neck feel alone can eliminate a guitar for me, even if I love it's sound.

Additionally, if I have 2 guitars there are candidates based on the sound, I will gravitate to the one that is 'easiest' to play. Playability is probably a more important factor that sound/tone. I can have the best sounding guitar in the world, but if it isn't high on the playability scale I'll never get the most out of it... and won't enjoy playing it as much.

Originally Posted by Llewlyn

I literally don't play guitars whose neck I don't like (and sold many of them for this reason).

Ll.

Both of these above might well have been written by me.

I'm super picky about neck profiles. It's literally 95% of whether I'll keep a guitar.

[Tunesalot]

Agree with many here that the neck is where alot of the magic happens for me. Tone matters but not if I can’t create it with these tiny hands.

[stephenT]

There are a multitude of factors in "neck feel". I'm guessing the OP is talking about geometry,.. the neck profile, width, thickness and possibly action as well.

I think of how the neck finish feels when I try out a guitar. I have a custom guitar w/ a nitro lacquer neck that took a year to gas out and felt slightly sticky until the finish dried completely, so I'm sensitive to the tactile aspect.

And recently bought a Martin custom shop 00-18 w/ a satin lacquer finish on the neck and it felt little cheap when compared to my standard 00-28. After the honeymoon I noticed there was some orange pealing on the surface so I wet sanded w/ 1800 grit to 2000 grit and removed all the irregularities, feels like a million satin bucks now.

[Zissou Intern]

1. Price (Or I'd own a '36 D18 and '42 J45.)
2. Ergonomics (Neck Profile and General Playability)
3. Tone
4. Aesthetics

[Bluenose]

Not real important to me as long as I can get my thumb over the 6th string. I find classical guitar necks a bit too wide for me because I avoid bar chords if I can. I know, that's what I get for being home schooled but it's much too late to change now.

[Mandobart]

“Neck Feel” is another one of several things the main body of the AGF cares a lot about and is pretty much invisible to me.

I play so many different instruments that are way beyond the range of “just guitars” - if I got worked up over nut width, scale, body shape, string spacing and neck feel I don’t know how I could stand playing violin, viola, ukulele, mandolin, mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello, guitar and double bass.

[Zissou Intern]

Originally Posted by brencat

Both of these above might well have been written by me.

I'm super picky about neck profiles. It's literally 95% of whether I'll keep a guitar.

Exactly! My Collings baked D1T and Walker Wise River both went away because I fell out of love with the neck profiles. My current HD28LSV is a romping good guitar, especially after visits to Judge Wolfe's and Gary Wagner's shops. The neck is a ModV but on the shallow side for me. I am not certain how long it will stick around.

[jricc]

Originally Posted by TheGITM

It's easily 80%+ of my decision. The neck feel alone can eliminate a guitar for me, even if I love it's sound.

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Very important. I'm lucky in that I find a variety of neck profiles and widths comfortable, but if it's not comfortable, it really doesn't matter how good the guitar sounds.

Yes to both of these. Exactly how I feel.

[hubcapsc]

It is the neck on this that makes it my "favorite" guitar...



I recently traded into a Schoenberg made by Bruce Sexauer
and it sounds great like you'd imagine... but the comfort of my
relatively dull J-35 trumps sound ...

-Mike

[Br1ck]

I was always an I can adjust to anything kind of guy. One day I was playing higher end guitars than I'm used to, including some Authentics, when I picked up my Santa Cruz and the tunes I was fumbling through became instantly clean and clear. I played better on it. It did not take ten minutes to decide to buy it.

So my whole point of view was changed. Instantly.

[Mbroady]

Love the way it feels but not so much the sound….it’s a deal breaker
Love the way it’s sounds but not the way it feels …it’s a dealbreaker