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Why you prefer a wide neck?

#81
My favorite neck is a EBMM Ray Special neck (which admittedly could be the same as previous models)
It beats out Lakland 44-94 necks imho...but its a close race.
I like wide / flat necks because they just feel good in my hands. The spacing is nice...but not a big deal for me. Its mostly about how it feels for me.
 
#82
On 4 strings, I’m not very picky on necks. I don’t care for Ibanez Soundgear necks or Hofner style necks because I find those to be too narrow. On 5 strings, I get way pickier... I much prefer wider string spacing on a 5. That’s one of the reasons o gravitate toward Lakland.
 
#83
Brodizzle said:
Let’s hear your reasons why you prefer a wider neck?
Click to expand...

I used to, and the reason was that the wider P-ish neck just seemed to perfectly match the distance between fingertip and first knuckle in more positions on the neck, which let me bounce around on fourths between strings that much easier.

When I moved up to fivers, I thought I wanted the same kind of spacing. Then I bought my brother's Ibanez BTB off him and tried to get used to it, after about a decade of playing on my Yamaha TRB (which is narrower than a P for sure, but not Soundgear narrow). I just couldn't do it, the spacing was off by more than enough to completely throw off both fretting and plucking hands. So, while Jazz spacing is a little narrow in first position, it's consistent with my TRB, and I've just gotten accustomed to the spacing on both.
 
#84
slagheap said:
Currently loving my 1.75 wide and thin P neck, I find the extra room nice for playing chords. I like J necks, too. I'm adaptable.
Click to expand...

To be adaptable you need to be willing to be adaptable, and it can take time and and or effort. Give me about 10-15 minutes with quality instrument well set up and I can be pretty productive in short order.
 
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#85
PennyroyalWe said:
Have pretty short fingers, and what I’ve found to be more important than neck width is the neck thickness (fretboard to back of neck). The p bass width is hardly noticeable on my Defretted p bass because the neck is thinner without the frets. On jazz necks, I notice the tapering of the neck width more, and that throws me off more often than a p being too wide.
Click to expand...

I don’t think of myself as having short fingers, Left Social finger @ 3 1/4”. My reach from index to pinky from a playing perspective is 6”. That said, I found the 70s Jazz necks more weird than objectionable.

BTW, just how short are your fingers, and reach?
 
#86
dbsfgyd1 said:
I don’t think of myself as having short fingers, Left Social finger @ 3 1/4”. My reach from index to pinky from a playing perspective is 6”. That said, I found the 70s Jazz necks more weird than objectionable.

BTW, just how short are your fingers, and reach?
Click to expand...
Pretty much the same. Left middle finger: 3.25”, index to pinky max reach just under 6”
 
#91
For me, it seems to be the position of my thumb (not to be confused with thumb position on upright). On a neck like a traditional P-bass, my thumb rests on the back of the neck below the A string. On basses with a narrower nut, my thumb starts moving toward the e-string. In some basses, like my P-bass Lyte, my thumb naturally seems to fall off the E side of the neck. That creates a baseball bat like grip, which is harder for me to play accurately.

YMMV.
 
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