Educate me on Wizard III Necks (and guitar necks in general)

[kartikg3]

Would like to hear the subject-matter-experts' views on guitar necks here.

1. What are the different kinds / types of guitar necks out there?
2. Which factors, in your opinion, affect and/or favour different styles of playing, and why? (ex. I heard thin + wide necks with Jumbo frets are great for "shredding". Why is that?)

For Context:

Styles of Music I play:
Blues, Rock, Metal (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple (Blackmore), Metallica, Mark Knopfler, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai)

What got me looking into this:
I am specifically looking into an Ibanez RG450DXB / Jem Junior as a "shred"-upgrade, because ever since I started playing guitar, I have always wanted to dive bomb and other whammy-bar antics (whether they are in fashion now or not, I don't care, I love that stuff). And I have always struggled with certain kinds of speed techniques, for which I am thinking, apart from practice, a Wizard neck may help.

My guitar-owning background:
In my 2 decades of Guitar playing, I have played and owned 2 acoustic guitars, a classical guitar, 2 electric guitars (both strat-style). My current main guitar is a Godin SD22 Maple neck H/S/S electric. It has a shorter scale (24 3/4) and a radius of 12" I believe.

Edit: I have a regular sized palm, but with shorter digits, and inwards bent pinkies, further stifling my reach.

 

[Devin]

I like the Wizard III; it's thicker than an original Wizard neck


The original Wizard is cool for single note stuff but for me personally if I have to play a song with barre chords on an original Wizard neck my hand and forearm will be cramping up bad halfway through it; the Wizard just doesn't have the thickness to properly fill your hand

 

[DrewJD82]

First, I love the Wizard III neck, it’s not far off from a 90’s JEM neck at all. Maybe a little more rounded on the shoulders/back, but not by much. It’s like a Wizard neck that doesn’t feel like a twig.

Personally, I don’t play any faster on my JEM than I do my Old Man Strat with a 1” neck (at the nut). If anything, I feel the extra meat of the neck provides more support for my fingers.

Seems most of the guitars Ibanez is putting out here days have fairly similar necks. Outside of picking up the 7-strings, I’m not seeing a whole ton of difference across the Premiums and I don’t even see MIJ’s in stores anymore.

 

[Iron1]

I’ve actually had multiple Wizards and Wizard IIIs and none felt exactly the same. Had two MIJ Sabers with Wizard necks and one was nearly a centimeter smaller in diameter than the other. All that to say, the old adage applies: play what feels good in YOUR hands and what makes you want to keep playing.

My hands are normal sized, but my fingers are a little shorter than average, so I tend to prefer the Wizard/Soloist/Solar style necks. And, I don’t enjoy highly pronounced volutes, either. Thankfully, none of the above mentioned necks have those.

 

[kartikg3]

Edit: I have a regular sized palm, but with shorter digits, and inwards bent pinkies, further stifling my reach.

Update for more context

 

[laxu]

The original Wizard is cool for single note stuff but for me personally if I have to play a song with barre chords on an original Wizard neck my hand and forearm will be cramping up bad halfway through it; the Wizard just doesn't have the thickness to properly fill your hand

Same experience.

I'm pretty much done with very thin necks. You can go too far the other way too - the Strandberg 8-string I had was very thick at the first few frets...I don't know if it was intentional or just because that guitar was one of the worst built guitars I've ever had, but it made my hand cramp at the first few frets but then it slimmed down further down which was alright.

The other thing that I don't like is vintage 7.25" fretboard radius. It's just too rounded and I don't like how it feels to play. 9.5" and up is fine.

Neck profiles and thickness are hugely personal. My favorite 6-string neck is the one on my Fender American Original '60s Jazzmaster. The moment I tried it, it just felt right. It's a relatively chunky U profile neck. I don't know why that feels so good to me, but it just does. It's just some right combination of thickness and profile for my hands.

 

[FuzzyAce]

My current main guitar is a Godin SD22 Maple neck H/S/S electric. It has a shorter scale (24 3/4) and a radius of 12" I believe.

I owned a Godin SD24 for a while, but ended up giving it to my nephew. Mine had a thin, all-maple neck. More so thin than I would normally like, but it was easy to play. A wizard neck would have a wider nut than it does. I'm no connoisseur of wizard necks and it's been a long time since I've played one. I do remember really liking the prestige necks though.

 

[kartikg3]

I like the Wizard III; it's thicker than an original Wizard neck


The original Wizard is cool for single note stuff but for me personally if I have to play a song with barre chords on an original Wizard neck my hand and forearm will be cramping up bad halfway through it; the Wizard just doesn't have the thickness to properly fill your hand

This is great input. Didn't realize that necks can contribute to barre chord cramping. I suffer from that quite a bit for gigs with more rhythm playing. I suffer less on my Godin SD22 than my acoustic though. Thanks for the insight.

I hear this a lot on the internet that Wizard III necks (and thin necks in general) are great for fast playing and shredding. I am wondering the science / reason behind that? How does this thinness help with what I am assuming to be legato runs, tapping runs, arpeggios and sweeps and 3 note per strong runs? Also do the width of the neck help with anything at all as a factor? Right hand picking motions perhaps?

 

[DrewJD82]

This is great input. Didn't realize that necks can contribute to barre chord cramping. I suffer from that quite a bit for gigs with more rhythm playing. I suffer less on my Godin SD22 than my acoustic though. Thanks for the insight.

I hear this a lot on the internet that Wizard III necks (and thin necks in general) are great for fast playing and shredding. I am wondering the science / reason behind that? How does this thinness help with what I am assuming to be legato runs, tapping runs, arpeggios and sweeps and 3 note per strong runs? Also do the width of the neck help with anything at all as a factor? Right hand picking motions perhaps?

All those things are far too player-dependent to say “This will work better in this situation than this”. Vai does some crazy legato runs with a wide, flat neck, Satch does crazy legato runs with a slimmer, C-shaped neck. EJ can tear it up on a 50’s style baseball bat neck Strat, Jim Root can tear it up on a slimmer C-shape Strat neck.

Try as many as you can and for as long as you can. When I got my 1” Strat neck I got it thinking I’d be shaving it own to ‘customize’ to my own liking, that was WAY bigger than I ever felt comfortable with and always thought bigger necks worked against me, 30 minutes in I was starting to dig it and by 60 minutes I was in love with it.

 

[the-trooper]

I hear this a lot on the internet that Wizard III necks (and thin necks in general) are great for fast playing and shredding. I am wondering the science / reason behind that?

No idea. I'd like to hear some science behind it as well because I can play as fast as I play on any neck thickens. Playing speed is much more depended on picking hand than on fretting one anyway. I'm guessing it's just another guitar myth that gets perpetuated without any real reason. Probably because one very fast player liked thin necks better than thick ones so thin = fast was born.

Btw. I love Wizard III. For me it's not about thickness but the shape. Wizard II, for example, has a "flat spot", while III is nice and I like it more.
You might hate it.

 

[kartikg3]

Try as many as you can and for as long as you can.

Thanks! That's great advice. Can't wait to get to the local music stores and bore people to death with my doodling! They have an RG450DXB which I have been eyeing. Curious to try some teles too just for S&G

 

[kartikg3]

Btw. I love Wizard III. For me it's not about thickness but the shape. Wizard II, for example, has a "flat spot", while III is nice and I like it more.
You might hate it.

Could expound more on what aspects of the Wizard III you enjoy (compared to anything else you have played)

 

[kartikg3]

My hands are normal sized, but my fingers are a little shorter than average, so I tend to prefer the Wizard/Soloist/Solar style necks.

Thanks, my hands are quite similar and I am hugely envious of folks with long straight digits, which seems to be everyone but me!

 

[the-trooper]

Could expound more on what aspects of the Wizard III you enjoy (compared to anything else you have played)

Oh man, I really don't know how to put it into words. First of all I really don't care about neck shape at all, I play several different string instruments and I'll play on anything. With that said there's something about how my thumb rests on the back of Wizard III, it's the comfiest one. When I first played it, it felt like it was soft

 

[kartikg3]

Oh man, I really don't know how to put it into words. First of all I really don't care about neck shape at all, I play several different string instruments and I'll play on anything. With that said there's something about how my thumb rests on the back of Wizard III, it's the comfiest one. When I first played it, it felt like it was soft

Can't wait to try some of these out. Will report back my thoughts here

 

[Achilles]

Edit: I have a regular sized palm, but with shorter digits, and inwards bent pinkies, further stifling my reach.

You should look into 24.75" scale also then. The shape of the neck factors less into reach than the scale length. You can always adjust your palm/thumb position on the back of a neck to compensate for thickness variations.

I'm 5'-9" and have relative sized hands/fingers and I've played everything from Wizard all the way up to a tele that was 1" - at the first fret!

A shorter scale might be a quicker ticket to better playing comfort.

P.S. The older I got (and more tasteful with my playing) the more I HATED ultra-thin necks.
These days I consider them basically guitarist training wheels.

Good thing you didn't start on classical guitar! Thems some thick necks!

Talk to a luthier about the affect of super thin necks on tone.....

Zak Wylde, John Sykes, Doug Rappaport, Eric Steckle, Adam Jones, Doug Aldrich, Slash, Buckethead, Gary Moore,.... all 24.75" scale players.

 

[DrewJD82]

You should look into 24.75" scale also then. The shape of the neck factors less into reach than the scale length. You can always adjust your palm/thumb position on the back of a neck to compensate for thickness variations.

I'm 5'-9" and have relative sized hands/fingers and I've played everything from Wizard all the way up to a tele that was 1" - at the first fret!

A shorter scale might be a quicker ticket to better playing comfort.

P.S. The older I got (and more tasteful with my playing) the more I HATED ultra-thin necks.
These days I consider them basically guitarist training wheels.

Good thing you didn't start on classical guitar! Thems some thick necks!

Talk to a luthier about the affect of super thin necks on tone.....

Zak Wylde, John Sykes, Doug Rappaport, Eric Steckle, Adam Jones, Doug Aldrich, Slash, Buckethead, Gary Moore,.... all 24.75" scale players.

Those are all Les Paul players, this dude’s lookin’ at Ibanez stuff.

 

[hemmelight]

I used to play Ibanez RGs because my heroes did, so I assumed I would like the thin shreddy necks too.
I didn’t know any better because I never bothered to try anything else in guitar shops, but once I tried a few Les Pauls and Strats it was kind of a revelation!

I'm with Satriani on this one; I much prefer a Strat-style neck. Not crazy thin and not flat on the back. A round C-shape is more comfortable for chords, and my hand doesn't cramp up anymore. I've also found that I'm not really a fan of super-flat radius fretboards. Anything flatter than 12" feels like too much. My #1 is a compound radius of 9"-12" that is just about perfect for my taste.

You just gotta try a bunch of guitars until you identify what feels best to you! It takes time but it's worth the effort when you find what speaks to you and your physiology.

 

[Iron1]

Thanks, my hands are quite similar and I am hugely envious of folks with long straight digits, which seems to be everyone but me!

I hear that.

You should look into 24.75" scale also then. The shape of the neck factors less into reach than the scale length. You can always adjust your palm/thumb position on the back of a neck to compensate for thickness variations.

I'm 5'-9" and have relative sized hands/fingers and I've played everything from Wizard all the way up to a tele that was 1" - at the first fret!

A shorter scale might be a quicker ticket to better playing comfort.

P.S. The older I got (and more tasteful with my playing) the more I HATED ultra-thin necks.
These days I consider them basically guitarist training wheels.

Good thing you didn't start on classical guitar! Thems some thick necks!

Talk to a luthier about the affect of super thin necks on tone.....

Zak Wylde, John Sykes, Doug Rappaport, Eric Steckle, Adam Jones, Doug Aldrich, Slash, Buckethead, Gary Moore,.... all 24.75" scale players.

Zak Wylde? I picked up one of his sig models once and thought I was grabbing a sawed in half Louisville Slugger. I think my hand had to take a pit stop on the way from the back of the neck to the low E near the nut…

If there’s such a thing as an Anti-Wizard it’s a Zach Wylde LP neck.

 

[Achilles]

Those are all Les Paul players, this dude’s lookin’ at Ibanez stuff.

Ooops. Alrighty then.
24.75" scale with a Floyd.

Some by Jackson, ESP, Kramer, Vigier, Yamaha, and a number of others.