Neck Profile Sample Chunks.

I am talking about the feel of the neck in your hands with the different profile, so a nut isn't needed.

Sorry. I just fixed my typo that might have led you sideways. I wasn't talking about the nut being installed. I was talking about the difference in feel between neck profiles in relation to the various nut width offerings. And then there are all the different radii ... where does it end? I have three different Warmoth necks with standard thin profiles and they all feel unique due to different nut widths, scale lengths, radius, construction, frets, neck/fretboard wood choice, etc.

1/3 of the price of an unfinished neck?

Which "unfinished neck"? I just can't see anything like this ever happening.

Again, how are they supposed to manufacture small chunks of a neck? Or are you suggesting they cut out a chunk of a perfectly sellable neck just to give you a "sample"?
 
where does it end? I have three different Warmoth necks with standard thin profiles and they all feel unique due to different nut widths, scale lengths, radius, construction, frets, neck/fretboard wood choice, etc.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. I also feel the same way about the idea of ordering some necks and sending them around the country. There would have to be a neck for every single variant; nut width, scale length, profile, fretboard radius, etc, etc. How many necks is that? 100??? $25,000 on the cheap end!!!

Aaron might love that idea, not sure anyone else would be willing to pony up to make it happen. 😛 And the shipping, oh my god!!!

Neither idea is feasible or practical.

But the beautiful thing about building with Warmoth, is the interchangeability. I don’t plan to build a dozen Warmoth’s (I know, famous last words), so if I really hate the neck I ordered (and I can’t “fix” it), I can simply get a different one. Or ten different ones!!! I don’t have to make a whole new guitar.
 
That’s exactly what I was thinking. I also feel the same way about the idea of ordering some necks and sending them around the country. There would have to be a neck for every single variant; nut width, scale length, profile, fretboard radius, etc, etc. How many necks is that? 100??? $25,000 on the cheap end!!!

Aaron might love that idea, not sure anyone else would be willing to pony up to make it happen. 😛 And the shipping, oh my god!!!

Neither idea is feasible or practical.
My idea would a consortium would choose the specs they want to test. I don’t think scale length or radius would really be necessary as those are readily available in the market. (A baritone from Warmoth is what it is, everyone’s played a Gibson and Fender scale) I don’t think you’d need a 59 in 9.5, 10, 11, 12, 16, all the compounds, in 1-5/8, 1.650, 1-11-16, 1-3/4, etc.

It would be done “tourbox” style so each person that wants to participate antes up for a neck. It’s been done for effect pedals for years now, I don’t see necks being much different. If we could get a critical mass to participate, awesome! If not, I guess it doesn’t have legs.

A bigger question I have is for those that drop $700+ on a neck, how closely have you played an equivalent neck before ordering? On my expensive ones I think the only new spec was profile, trying an SRV. Everything else on the neck had played and like.
 
If you guys get the idea in motion, I would like to try a Rosewood neck, see how I like the feel. Also, isn't ebay sort of the try and swap place.
 
My idea would a consortium would choose the specs they want to test. I don’t think scale length or radius would really be necessary as those are readily available in the market. (A baritone from Warmoth is what it is, everyone’s played a Gibson and Fender scale) I don’t think you’d need a 59 in 9.5, 10, 11, 12, 16, all the compounds, in 1-5/8, 1.650, 1-11-16, 1-3/4, etc.
Not to be argumentative, but I think that’s exactly what your consortium concept needs. Nut width, profile, radius, and fret size are HUGE for me. If I need to interpret what a particular neck would feel like in a different nut width, that’s kinda pointless to me. If I need to compare a neck I’m holding in my hand with a guitar in a different scale length with big frets some dude let me play one afternoon back in 1999??? Impossible. And since I’m on a roll here; I’ve probably played at least 20 Official Fender Strats in my lifetime, and they’ve all felt different.

These are only necks for testing, right? It’s not like you’d keep them anyway. So people like me, that would order (and have ordered) a neck I literally can’t get anywhere else, can spend our $600+ and be happy.

But this is more hypothetical for me. For someone that hasn’t tried a lot of guitars of many years and doesn’t know what they really want, every single variation is what you need for the whole operation to be beneficial.

Perhaps the silliest thing about this entire thread, is that the OP hasn’t been seen since 2022!!! 🤣
 
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Yep, from the fly-over state of Illinois. There is a Guitar Center in Davenport,IA (about a 25 minute drive) and then probably the next closest place would be in Peoria,IL(1 hr drive). The were some closer medium sized music stores that folded during Covid. The last time I went into a music store was probably 5-6 yrs ago to have my recently purchased (direct from Fender) Fender Jeff Beck Strat looked at. The guy took the guitar and started taking pictures of it. I asked him what you are doing. He wanted to make sure it wasn't stolen. Right then there I decided I am done going to this place and will figure out the issue myself. I went to the Guitar Center in Davenport a few years ago to see if I could try a guitar w/ 7.25" radius. All I got from the them was that didn't have any. As far a some kind of blank guitar profile. It wouldn't have to be an expensive wood, maybe even scrap wood that leftover in the shop. I suppose I could just buy one @ Stratosphere parts that would be less expensive.
 
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I've never been to Chicago, but a long weekend haunting guitar stores could fun.
 
I like this idea (neck samples) but I don't think that anything less than a functional neck, bolted to a functional guitar is going to tell you much. A thicker neck isn't just going to move your thumb, it's going to move your whole arm (Remember your thumb is connected to your hand and so on).

Furthermore you really need to play a neck for some hours in a comfortable environment, to see if you like it or not.

I have a hard time judging a guitar in a guitar store without my favorite chair, hound-dog, beer stein and the like. Also most guitar stores want to you to wear shoes and pants. What's up with that ?

Really I think you have to designate a guitar body for experiments, and then start buying necks and trying them. When you're done experimenting you can sell the rejects on Reverb or something. You'll probably lose a $100 or $200 in the transaction but think of that as the rental fee.

This whole try it before you buy it thing, sounds good, but is really fraught with difficulties, as people have different conceptions of what trying is.

Some decades ago this mattress store in town, was advertising "...come down and try our mattress before you buy it." Well, my girl and I went down there, and Jeez, such shouting and complaining. Apparently our idea of a mattress test was more than the resident blue nose, thought reasonable.
Some People
 
I've never been to Chicago, but a long weekend haunting guitar stores could fun.
One of these days I'll try and make it to Chicago Music Exchange. The hard part is going without the wife tagging along and ruining the day.
 
Whenever I've gone traveling with my missus, sometimes she's interested in going to music stores, but usually isn't. She's only interested in percussion and singing. So when I'm checking out a new store (to me) she's at the museum, shopping, going to a lecture whatever, lounging by the pool etc. Then in the evening we link up and we describe our adventures over dinner. You know, as I write this she must be saint, as I tell her what I learned from the people at the store, like how's the business, what's popular the kinds of guitars I played, people I got to play with, what were the rare ones, and she's actually interested. At least pretends to be. Then I hear about her adventures, and they are usually pretty interesting. Usually, but I listen ... because I got to play a bunch of guitars in a new place!
 
The hard part is going without the wife tagging along and ruining the day.
oof, I can really feel the love 🙄

Whenever I've gone traveling with my missus, sometimes she's interested in going to music stores, but usually isn't. She's only interested in percussion and singing. So when I'm checking out a new store (to me) she's at the museum, shopping, going to a lecture whatever, lounging by the pool etc. Then in the evening we link up and we describe our adventures over dinner. You know, as I write this she must be saint, as I tell her what I learned from the people at the store, like how's the business, what's popular the kinds of guitars I played, people I got to play with, what were the rare ones, and she's actually interested. At least pretends to be. Then I hear about her adventures, and they are usually pretty interesting. Usually, but I listen ... because I got to play a bunch of guitars in a new place!
see this is at least not embarassing and far more on the wholesome side of the spectrum, its all about honesty and being open

and if I'm being honest and open right now, this whole neck profile Sample idea is a disaster of immpracticalities for like a million reasons

see, i met my partner when i had to substitute DM a DnD game (long story, & btw i no longer support the wizards of the coast corporation, but we can get into that another time) and got in an arguement with her, she said a barbarian's bite power should be d8 +strength modifier and i was like, "Imao human bites literally can't be that powerful and she was getting d4+strength mod and even that is being generous." she was like, "bet" and i said "pfff, then bite me as strong as 19 attack roll would be (the goblin had 15 AC btw)" and we had to stop the game because i needed to go get stitches

anyway we compromised on a d6+strength mod, that i would never DM her group again, and that we would go see Limitless in theaters starring Brad Cooper and make out a little. now when i'm like "honey, i'm going to guitar center" she says something like "why do we call them olives when we could call them Greece's Pieces?" and i'm like "lol, love you, have fun at roller derby" (she's a ref)

anyway, since the Big W posts the thickness of necks at the first and 12th frets, why wouldn't you want a sample that is at least that long? and then it's almost a full neck anyway, so it's not really saving much

which nut width and radius and fretwire? i have a hard time imaging i can tell what i think about a neck if a bunch of the variables are out of my control. like, the 59 Rback is always too big to me at 1-11/16 but good at 1-5/8, however the inverse is true for me of the standard thin and gandolf's repose (wizard profile)

and u also probably want these sanded smooth as a regular neck, which based on AA's videos is done by humans who could be working on actual orders. look, i could go on and on about this well-intentioned but misguided effort, but let's nip it here
 
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oof, I can really feel the love


see this is at least not embarassing and far more on the wholesome side of the spectrum, its all about honesty and being open

and if I'm being honest and open right now, this whole neck profile Sample idea is a disaster of immpacticalities for like a million reasons

see, i met my partner when i had to substitute DM a DnD game (long story, & btw i no longer support the wizards of the coast corporation, but we can get into that another time) and got in an arguement with her, she said a barbarian's bite power should be d8 +strength modifier and i was like, "Imao human bites literally can't be that powerful and she was getting d4+strength mod and even that is being generous." she was like, "bet" and i said "pfff, then bite me as strong as 19 attack roll would be (the goblin had 15 AC btw)" and we had to stop the game because i needed to go get stitches

anyway we compromised on a d6+strength mod, i would never DM her group again, and we would go see Limitless in theaters starring Brad Cooper and make out a little. now when i'm like "honey, i'm going to guitar center" she says something like "why do we call them olives when we could call them Greece's Pieces?" and i'm like "lol, love you, have fun at roller derby" (she's a ref)

anyway, since the Big W posts the thickness of necks at the first and 12th frets, why wouldn't you want a sample that is at least that long? and then it's almost a full neck anyway, so it's not really saving much

which nut width and radius and fretwire? i have a hard time imaging i can tell what i think about a neck if a bunch of the variables are out of my control. like, the 59 Rback is always too big to me at 1-11/16 but good at 1-5/8, however the inverse is true for me of the standard thin and gandolf's repose (wizard profile), and u also probably want these sanded as smooth a regular neck, which based on AA's videos is done by humans who could be working on actual orders. look, i could go on and on about this well-intentioned but misguided effort, but let's nip it here
Greece's pieces!
 
oof, I can really feel the love 🙄


see this is at least not embarassing and far more on the wholesome side of the spectrum, its all about honesty and being open

and if I'm being honest and open right now, this whole neck profile Sample idea is a disaster of immpracticalities for like a million reasons

see, i met my partner when i had to substitute DM a DnD game (long story, & btw i no longer support the wizards of the coast corporation, but we can get into that another time) and got in an arguement with her, she said a barbarian's bite power should be d8 +strength modifier and i was like, "Imao human bites literally can't be that powerful and she was getting d4+strength mod and even that is being generous." she was like, "bet" and i said "pfff, then bite me as strong as 19 attack roll would be (the goblin had 15 AC btw)" and we had to stop the game because i needed to go get stitches

anyway we compromised on a d6+strength mod, that i would never DM her group again, and that we would go see Limitless in theaters starring Brad Cooper and make out a little. now when i'm like "honey, i'm going to guitar center" she says something like "why do we call them olives when we could call them Greece's Pieces?" and i'm like "lol, love you, have fun at roller derby" (she's a ref)

anyway, since the Big W posts the thickness of necks at the first and 12th frets, why wouldn't you want a sample that is at least that long? and then it's almost a full neck anyway, so it's not really saving much

which nut width and radius and fretwire? i have a hard time imaging i can tell what i think about a neck if a bunch of the variables are out of my control. like, the 59 Rback is always too big to me at 1-11/16 but good at 1-5/8, however the inverse is true for me of the standard thin and gandolf's repose (wizard profile)

and u also probably want these sanded smooth as a regular neck, which based on AA's videos is done by humans who could be working on actual orders. look, i could go on and on about this well-intentioned but misguided effort, but let's nip it here
Preach I *loathe* the "my wife ruins the fun/gotta hide the money from her" trope. It kills marriages.
 
+1

Can't stand the "hide the new guitar from the wife" thing. Guitar culture is soooo overwhelmingly dudely already, stuff like that just makes it worse.

While I'm at it: dudes referring to their guitars as "she". Yuck, no, never.
 
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