getting used to neck profiles....

[LukeFRC]

I've long been someone who's said that I can play anything and (providing a reasonable setup) can play most basses with no fuss.
For years I played a status shark (wide flat neck) then P basses (also wide flat necks)
I picked up a warwick (skinny deeper) and also have a jazz with a skinnier Pish neck on it but the trad wide P always felt like home.

years passed and I've ended up playing the warwick more.... then the nice fellas at alpher sorted my frets out and it almost exclusively the wick.


So I've a gig coming up, first one with a new band, had a couple of practices and took the warwick - sounded good despite the complex preamp and still trying to feel where tonally I fit in.
So for simplicities sake I thought I would take the P, got it out, get new strings on it and got practicing.... and it's good, great in fact.
then picked up the wick and suddenly it's an ease to play, effortless to think through and just more fun.
The jazz as well doesn't need much thinking about even though it's not as well set up, it's just rewarding.


This common with folk? and is it a playing thing and what you get used to a certain type/style or just one bass?

And what do you do with basses which arn't so instant to click with? Do you get used to them again with time, or do you play them differently as they aren't as natural to play?

[Lozz196]

I tend to find that a Precision is "home" for me, even though I do find my Jazz easier to play in many ways. I now use the Jazz as a way of working on new techniques, and then translate them to the Precision, which is what I bought it for. It seems I can learn/adapt to other styles better on the Jazz at first, and once I`ve got them nailed, then swap to the Precision and away I go.Strange, learn better on the Jazz, play it better on the Precision.

In all honesty, I`m yet to find a bass I really don`t get on with, although as said, any basses other than a Precision do feel like "other basses".

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I don't think I've ever played a neck I consciously found to be uncomfortable, but wafer thin necks - like my old Rick 4001 and Geddy Lee Jazz - tend to give me cramp after a short period of playing. That said, I'm with Lozz on this one - a good Precision just feels like 'home'.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Although saying that, I did once own a Rickenbacker 4004 that I returned after 3 days as the neck was seriously uncomfortable - it just felt fat and shapeless. I knew I wouldn't get on with it so back it went. That was the exception.

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1368133453' post='2073758']
I don't think I've ever played a neck I consciously found to be uncomfortable, but wafer thin necks - like my old Rick 4001 and Geddy Lee Jazz - tend to give me cramp after a short period of playing. That said, I'm with Lozz on this one - a good Precision just feels like 'home'.
[/quote]

not uncomfortable as such maybe - unfamiliar

[Lfalex v1.1]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1368132922' post='2073746']
In all honesty, I`m yet to find a bass I really don`t get on with...
[/quote]

Same for me, but it's a matter of degree.
Most are fine, but my least favourites from my collection are the Yamaha Attitude- modelled on a '51 "P", and the Warwick Infinity SN4. The Yamaha is wide at the nut and deep.
The Warwick is slim at the nut, but even deeper. Proper baseball bat territory! I tolerate it because it's not that much of an issue, an the tone is great.
Best necks? Vigier, Stingray 5, Fender Jazz, and (oddly) My NS CR5 EUB...

[Conan]

The differences in shape and profile between my Status and Geddy lee Jazz couldn't be greater - and yet both feel like slipping on an old pair of slippers!

[NJE]

I always thought I could play anything and I usually adjust very quickly to basses but that has changed recently. I moved to a Roscoe Beck 5 recently which has a very wide neck and now playing my quite narrow Squier CV Precision for any length of time gives me cramp. I keep trying but it still doesn't get any better. Its fine for about an hour but then gets uncomfortable.

I think I just naturally find wider necks more comfortable now, but part of that could be because I do have quite large hands and fat fingers. I really want a 50's Precision now, especially since I found out it has the same nut width as a MusicMan Stingray 5.

[Fat Rich]

I can go between the Fender Jazz 4s and Status 5 stringers without noticing, but the P bass always felt a bit too chunky and took a few minutes to adjust.

Then I found an "A" neck Precision that feels exactly like my Jazzes to that's that little problem sorted.

[brensabre79]

My Sabre neck is somewhere between a J and a P in width, I always find it slightly harder work to play than my J basses. But the Sabre is just so rewarding and lovely to play on I always come back to it and think "why did I stop playing this?" then I remember when I pick up the Jazz and its just easy peasy.

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='NJE' timestamp='1368173474' post='2073964']
I always thought I could play anything and I usually adjust very quickly to basses but that has changed recently. I moved to a Roscoe Beck 5 recently which has a very wide neck and now playing my quite narrow Squier CV Precision for any length of time gives me cramp. I keep trying but it still doesn't get any better. Its fine for about an hour but then gets uncomfortable.

I think I just naturally find wider necks more comfortable now, but part of that could be because I do have quite large hands and fat fingers. I really want a 50's Precision now, especially since I found out it has the same nut width as a MusicMan Stingray 5.
[/quote] see I think I'm the same as you but with short dumpy fingers. I always used flat wide necks but having got used to a thinner neck it's a lot harder to go back to the 57 spec precision width now - the strings are just slightly further than my natural reach.

[spongebob]

I love a good Jazz bass, but just can't play them. I've tried a few, and ended up selling them all, as they caused me really terrible discomfort in my forefinger. Persevered as I really wanted to be able to play them!

Now I just stick to the Rics - neck profiles suit me 100%, as does the tone and shapes (4003 and 4004).

There are other basses which I love (Precisions, for example), but when I played and gigged them, all I ever felt was 'it's not a Ric'!

[Painy]

Just changed my bass from a wide neck 5 string warwick to a 6 string Cort A6 and apart from the string spacing being narrower on the 6 string the neck profiles are very similar on paper but in your hands the difference is really noticable. Fortunately for me the Cort seems to suit me better. So I do think it makes a difference for me to a certain extent but on the other hand my trusty old Corvette 5 has a hugely different neck and is still always comfortable. Guess it just depends really!

[thisnameistaken]

Did you have to take time to get used to the Warwick neck? Maybe that sort of profile just suits you.

[TheGreek]

The only thing I couldn't get on with was a Wal Custom which, because of the neck profile, had to go.

Some of the more comfortable I've played include Jaydees and Status, my old Overwater Jazz had a neck to die for but my all time favourite (as many of those who have tried it will agree) is my Veillette Citron. I also tried Philw's fretless Veillette when I delivered a bass to him - also lovely, lovely, lovely...not sure whether it actually sold after having it on here for what seemed like forever..

[Painy]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1368220488' post='2074717']
Did you have to take time to get used to the Warwick neck? Maybe that sort of profile just suits you.
[/quote]

I think that in all fairness, all 3 basses I mentioned felt right for me in varying degrees when I first played them - which was of course a factor in my buying them.
Thinking back further to my first 5 string though (haven't really played a 4 now for about 15 years) the feel of the neck when picked it up for the 1st time, kinda made it all click for me that I was more comfortable with a more substantial neck - even though I'd always prefered Ibanez sr necks to a Fender P when it came to a 4!
These days my preference is for wide and flat (the main reason for now moving to a 6 rather than needing an extra string if I'm honest) but I'll still come back to the old Corvette with its narrow and deep neck and feel like I'm slipping on a comfy old pair of slippers.

[Painy]

Sorry to jump in again. Just remembered an old Eko 4 string acoustic I bought from a little curiosities shop many moons ago. Had a neck like half a telegraph pole and an action like a suspension bridge. Used it to learn anything I was struggling with so that when I picked up one of the Aria Magna series basses I had at the time it would feel much easier. That was a neck I wouldn't hurry back to.

[marcus bell]

Love the neck profile on a modern status bass, the thin, flat back feels lovely!

[4 Strings]

I'm a slim neck devotee. My Pre-EB 'Ray and Sabre have slim necks and I find them very comfortable. Rounder, thicker necks make my thumb ache as has occurred with my recently acquired HH 'Ray!

I'm going to experiment with an asymmetric neck on the HH 'Ray which is otherwise rather clubby. (The bare wood makes this easier for the expert luthier who will be carrying out this task.)

I will report back after I've used it for a while.

[megallica]

I went from Warwick Corvette Rockbass to Corvette Standard to Corvette $$ and they all had different necks that took me a while to adjust too. I tend to play fatter profile necks now and love the feel of the older Ibanez Roadstars. 40mm nut width and a fuller profile. My Aria SB has a 42mm nut and quite a flat profile which I have also gotten used to
The Yamaha RBX550M, RBX270 and BBN4 were nice to play and somewhere in the middle of Jazz and P territory, I'm guessing 40mm nut width with a full profile.

These were too slim for me but I bought them second hand before trying them out.

90's Mexican Jazz Bass
Yamaha RBX 800A
Warwick Fortress One
Schecter Stiletto Custom 4
Bass Collection SB310

I would like to try an Ibanez ATK and a Fender Roger Water Signature P bass as I read that they have chunky necks but I'd like to make sure I like their sounds before buying one.

[risingson]

I've recently gone from being almost exclusively a Jazz bass player to a P-Bass player once again, my 70's P has a chunky neck profile and whilst I found it a little 'slower speaking' than most other Jazzes I've played/owned, it hasn't taken too long to adapt to the change and now I really love the way it's making my hand stretch out that tiny bit more. I tried a mate of mine's Jazz out a month or two back, it was like playing a toothpick. I can play much faster on a slimmer neck profile but I don't necessarily consider that to be a good thing for me anymore, I'm very happy with a P style neck right now and the adjustment didn't take long.

[4 Strings]

I have tried with two Jazz basses, used one for a year, the other for 3-4 months, just couldn't be comfy.

I also have an '80 Stingray, its wide and slim, like playing butter. (in a good way!)

[neepheid]

For me the neck has to have bulk. I have a preference for wider (P-like) nuts, but I had a Warwick Rockbass Corvette for a while which had the Jazz nut width but was extremely chunky in the neck profile. That was also fine. Thin/skinny necks (Jazz etc.) feel wrong to me and I don't find them comfortable at all so I shun them. I'm getting a taste for the middle ground (G&L Tribute M-2000, Yamaha BB) - thinner/slimmer than P, wider/thicker than J.

It's probably all in my head, of course. Probably from the same part of my brain that tells me that £100 pickup must sound better than the one it's replacing - BECAUSE IT MUST.