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Who else prefers a P-neck to a J-neck?

B

bluesy_92

Aug 25, 2008
201
3
#1
Everyone I know prefers to use a Jazz bass or P-special if they play a Fender, and I read a lot about people who also prefer the jazz neck. Everyone likes the feel of that neck.

I'm 5'11" and have huge hands. Just to make it worse, my current bass is a P-bass, and my first 2 basses were a BC Rich and another P-bass.

Big hands, and I'm used to big necks.

I was playing a Jazz bass the other day.....it felt like I would break it :hiding:
 
#6
I love p-bass necks ... I take them and put 5 strings on them ... absolutely marvelous!

Bass5-0067.jpg
 
#7
I don't really get it. I feel like if you have proper technique and aren't baseball gripping the thing than it shouldn't matter if you have big hands.. Lots of people with big hands play a guitar neck and it is way smaller than a jazz.
 
#8
Well hmmm ... :hmm:

There were several P-Bass neck sizes and shapes the C being the most common but even those had several contours big and fat in the early 50s then wide but thinner late 50s early 60s, and then big 70s maples and so on. Then there were the B width (my favorite) I have two, and finally A width which is like a Jazz.

;) ... I think most players when they think of a P-bass neck refer to the 70s forward Cs which are pretty beefy.
 
#9
tranceFusion said:
I don't really get it. I feel like if you have proper technique and aren't baseball gripping the thing than it shouldn't matter if you have big hands.. Lots of people with big hands play a guitar neck and it is way smaller than a jazz.
Click to expand...

+1.

I have very small hands and am 5'7"....I have no problem switching between my '73 Jazz (same profile as a Geddy Lee), my 1977 and 2008 Ps and my 2008 P5 (or my Roscoe 6er).

I just seem to have a style that allows me to not worry about the neck width. Thumb along the back of the neck, I guess....

P.S. If I had to choose, I would go Jazz vs. P. Forgetting about the difference in size, a Jazz neck seems to be faster than a P.
 
#11
Baird6869 said:
+1.

I have very small hands and am 5'7"....I have no problem switching between my '73 Jazz (same profile as a Geddy Lee), my 1977 and 2008 Ps and my 2008 P5 (or my Roscoe 6er).

I just seem to have a style that allows me to not worry about the neck width. Thumb along the back of the neck, I guess....

P.S. If I had to choose, I would go Jazz vs. P. Forgetting about the difference in size, a Jazz neck seems to be faster than a P.
Click to expand...

I'm also pretty puny and play with my thumb down the side of the neck. As long as the bass is balanced, I don't mind a P style neck on a 4 or 5. Something thicker and/or unbalanced like a Thumb tends to really kill my left hand.

I tend to lean towards thinner because I don't need the thickness, so might as well trim away some of the weight.
 
#14
Up until I went fiver, I played P-style necks exclusively. If for some unknown reason I get back into my old buddy's 50's showband, I would definitely go P neck on a J body... actually I'd prefer a 5-string J, but they didn't have fivers in the 50's...
 
#16
it depends, I'm a jazz bass guy usually, but the neck of the Pino pbass is just one of the best that I played.
Sometimes, Iflip the neck of my jaco fretless on my mim pbass classic 50 and have the neck of the classic 50 on the jazz bass body (the result is a very good jazz bass fretted with a pbass neck)
But fender neck I love is the neck of marcus miller's jazz or 75 reissue (they are the same neck except for the binding).
 
#17
I play a C width fender P, A lotus bass with a one inch thick neck seriously and an sx jazz


I play with my thumb in different places, but I sometimes press my thumb against the back on the neck i dunno why its just the natural way i devolped.
 
#19
tranceFusion said:
I don't really get it. I feel like if you have proper technique and aren't baseball gripping the thing than it shouldn't matter if you have big hands.. Lots of people with big hands play a guitar neck and it is way smaller than a jazz.
Click to expand...

I know you didn't just compare us to guitar players :p but it's true that guitar players really curve their fingers, and I guess they can keep it curved that way because guitar strings have a lower tension and you don't really need a lot of pressure. The same position will be tiring really quick on a bass... I don't baseball grip the neck and I still like a wider and thicker neck than a J neck. Warmoth P necks have the profile I like.
 
#20
P necks all the way, the bigger the better for me, my most comfy neck is my sandberg PM5 it has the same shape as my status B2 just wider for the B, but i love the shape of my paisley P too...... real old school hand fillers rule :)

i get tangled up on my jaguar and thunderbird, they are just too narrow
 

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