SGs and LPs

[Jonny]

How many neck scales and neck shapes are there?

Is there more than one scale for a 21, 22, 24 fret neck?

[Dakine]

Shapes, You Name It! Apart from several by most makers many 'shape' their neck. Ex. Jimmy Page modified centre part of his necks.

Basically if you find an old worn or new 'perfect' neck to YOU a good luthier should be able to reproduce this on another neck (if taking away rather than adding is req. of course).

[sambo]

As for scale lengths for number of frets; look at this way, a les paul and a strat both have 22 frets, yet the les paul has a scale length of 24.75 whereas the strat is 25.5

On top of that you have shape as Nick mentioned (or 'profile') and nut width. You can mix up any and all of these factors.

[Jonny]

As for scale lengths for number of frets; look at this way, a les paul and a strat both have 22 frets, yet the les paul has a scale length of 24.75 whereas the strat is 25.5

On top of that you have shape as Nick mentioned (or 'profile') and nut width. You can mix up any and all of these factors.

So you can different thickness of neck, different scale of neck, different width at the nut.

Is nut width just if you have long fingers?

[Dakine]

As for scale lengths for number of frets; look at this way, a les paul and a strat both have 22 frets, yet the les paul has a scale length of 24.75 whereas the strat is 25.5

On top of that you have shape as Nick mentioned (or 'profile') and nut width. You can mix up any and all of these factors.

So you can different thickness of neck, different scale of neck, different width at the nut.

Is nut width just if you have long fingers?

there is only ONE way to tell 'whats for YOU', go and play ALL you can of different breeds  :lol:

[Jonny]

As for scale lengths for number of frets; look at this way, a les paul and a strat both have 22 frets, yet the les paul has a scale length of 24.75 whereas the strat is 25.5

On top of that you have shape as Nick mentioned (or 'profile') and nut width. You can mix up any and all of these factors.

So you can different thickness of neck, different scale of neck, different width at the nut.

Is nut width just if you have long fingers?

there is only ONE way to tell 'whats for YOU', go and play ALL you can of different breeds  :lol:

Holy cr@p. o_o

At least I'll have fun. LOL

[WezV]

Some people prefer a wider nut for wider string spacing, you can also muck about with bridge string spacing with an appropriate bridge.  It could be that there hands are bigger or it helps with the style of music they play.  

Shape/contour, thickness, taper, scale length, radius of fretboard, number of frets and size of frets can pretty much be whatever you want and are comfy with.  Its just finding a guitar that has a combo that works for you!!

[opprobrium_9]

man, i am wanting an LP so bad, and i know the next guitar i personally build will be an SG.  The problem i am having is trying out really shitety models at my local guitar stores.  It has left a bat taste in my mouth.  Maybe i am just not playing the right ones?  I dunno.  But LPs are fvcking gorgeous.  They just look so damn nice, especially those flame burst ones.


By the way, is anybody else getting this horrific error message every other time you try to click on a post topic?  It is bugging the shite out of me.

[sambo]

Ahhh I forgot fret size and fretboard radius as Wez says.


Opprobrium; maybe just try out a really high-end LP to at least get an idea of what they CAN be? Not sure beyond that. (and yup error message all the time)

[grrrpoop]

Opprobrium; maybe just try out a really high-end LP to at least get an idea of what they CAN be? Not sure beyond that. (and yup error message all the time)

Agree 100%.

I got into guitars and Les Pauls probably via Slash worship.  First electric was a pretty awful 70s black Les Paul copy by a company called Satellite but I didn't have anything better to compare to so suffered it until I could upgrade.  

Next up was a Hohner L59 Les Paul copy.  Cherry sunburst, flame veneer, gold hardware.  Looking back, pretty tacky but it was miles better than the first and sounded half decent.

And now I'm playing a 1996 Gibson Les Paul Classic, which made the Hohner look and feel shite.  It's a plain top in Honeyburst I think.  Nickel hardware is all worn now, looks at least a decade older than it really is.. beautiful! :D

You definitely need to try out some "real" Les Pauls that have been set up decently.

[blue]

 It has left a bat taste in my mouth.  m

Ozzy?  is that you?


 :lol:  :roll:  (sorry)

[Scotty477]

As for scale lengths for number of frets; look at this way, a les paul and a strat both have 22 frets, yet the les paul has a scale length of 24.75 whereas the strat is 25.5

On top of that you have shape as Nick mentioned (or 'profile') and nut width. You can mix up any and all of these factors.

So you can different thickness of neck, different scale of neck, different width at the nut.

Is nut width just if you have long fingers?

there is only ONE way to tell 'whats for YOU', go and play ALL you can of different breeds  :lol:

That's what I did basically.

I tried Gibson LP Standard, Studio, Custom and Classic ... and I mean a lot of them.

I think the sales guys in the stores thought I was taking the piss  :D

In the end the one that suited me best was the LP Classic - probably as I liked the 60's tapered neck.

What was interesting at the time (2000) was how different the exact same model of Gibson LP could feel like to play - particularly Standards. It was possibly all down to how the guitar was set up but some were just cr@p to play and sounded the same and others sounded great.

I wouldn't advise buying any new guitar before playing it - which can be a bit of a pain.

[Dakine]

As for scale lengths for number of frets; look at this way, a les paul and a strat both have 22 frets, yet the les paul has a scale length of 24.75 whereas the strat is 25.5

On top of that you have shape as Nick mentioned (or 'profile') and nut width. You can mix up any and all of these factors.

So you can different thickness of neck, different scale of neck, different width at the nut.

Is nut width just if you have long fingers?

there is only ONE way to tell 'whats for YOU', go and play ALL you can of different breeds  :lol:

That's what I did basically.

I tried Gibson LP Standard, Studio, Custom and Classic ... and I mean a lot of them.

I think the sales guys in the stores thought I was taking the piss  :D

In the end the one that suited me best was the LP Classic - probably as I liked the 60's tapered neck.

What was interesting at the time (2000) was how different the exact same model of Gibson LP could feel like to play - particularly Standards. It was possibly all down to how the guitar was set up but some were just cr@p to play and sounded the same and others sounded great.

I wouldn't advise buying any new guitar before playing it - which can be a bit of a pain.

Nah, I think you can still buy some good guitars sight unseen. Gibson IMO has forgotten the phrase 'quality control' and have lost their Pride.

Fender Custom Shop, Paul Reed Smith, just two names have bought sight unseen and have been PERFECT.

Personally I think Gibson are resting on their laurels WAAAAAY too much. Past glories do not gaurantee a companies current/future fortune.

TBH, it was VERY good PRS won their Singlecut lawsuit. You would think things like that would scare Gibson into stepping up their game. Least x-rays have seen of newer LP's have better weight relief than the older 'hack out the middle and lets go get a beer' they used to do.

[grrrpoop]

Nah, I think you can still buy some good guitars sight unseen. Gibson IMO has forgotten the phrase 'quality control' and have lost their Pride.

Fender Custom Shop, Paul Reed Smith, just two names have bought sight unseen and have been PERFECT.

I bought my Ibanez JS1000BTB sight unseen but will never again do so.  It's actually a great guitar and I love it but having played several Gibson's and Fenders in-store I realise just how variable quality can be even on supposedly professional grade instruments.  It can be a risk with any manufacturer.

The last big shock I had was actually a Fender custom shop Strat priced around £1900 that, to me, felt truly awful.  It was inherently "tight" to play and the sound lacked character.  I got to A-B it in-store with an old JV Strat costing a 3rd of the price and it was a no-brainer which was the better guitar.  If I'd bought the custom shop sight unseen I'd have been mortified!  :)  

Not that I'm saying Fender are as bad as Gibson (far from it); my own LP Classic has finishing issues that annoyed me so much at one point in the first year that I hated the guitar.  Now I don't give a cr@p about the finish and love it for the feel and the vibe.

If you test a handful of guitars of the same model, some will feel better than others.  If one stands out, you'll know you've found your guitar.

[Dakine]

I am sure I have been lucky. Although still attain some are better bets than others (although trying the breed first is ALWAYS suggested to see if ya even like).
I have NOT however heard a bad word (certainly of late) about a certain breed I mentioned, guess they CARE :)