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

[TSJMajesty]

Right hand picking motions perhaps?

I'd say no, not at all.

 

[TSJMajesty]

I am hugely envious of folks with long straight digits, which seems to be everyone but me!

I really don't think that matters. The only trouble I have, and it shows up a lot, is that my pinky is 1- 1/8" shorter than my ring finger, as measured when I lay my hand flat on a flat surface, fingers straight out.

 

[Eagle]

The original jem neck was a copy of the Charvel green meanie in most regards. The jem was a cross between the Pink Soloist and Green Meanie. Some Jem models have wizard necks and most are now closer to this than the 777.

 

[kartikg3]

I really don't think that matters. The only trouble I have, and it shows up a lot, is that my pinky is 1- 1/8" shorter than my ring finger, as measured when I lay my hand flat on a flat surface, fingers straight out.

Mine too!

 

[kartikg3]

No science here, just my own thoughts:

When it comes to width, I want a neck that allows me to play something like this, @ 138 bpm:View attachment 17246

without too much repeated practice to land each note without choking out the other notes that need to continue ringing.

So, not too narrow/tightly-spaced strings.

Then, for soloing, I want the string spacing close enough together, so that every time I switch to a different string, the tip of whatever finger (usually the 1st) can fret the note, while at the same time, mute the string next to it. This is very important in keeping the string changes clean, and not have 2 strings sound at the same time, even if it's only for a millisecond. Cuz with high gain, that sounds like shit.

So it's kind of a happy medium between the 2. Which of course depends on how fat your fingertips are.

These are great insights! Thanks!

 

[DrewJD82]

I'm definitely serious. I've never seen a convincing argument for somehow magically needing a long scale length just to add another string, aside from intonation, which of course is mega amplified in ukuleles, yet you don't see Jake Shimabokuro playing a 20" ukulele

String tension is the biggest reason I can think of, before intonation. I use a .59 for my low B string on a 25.5", I have to baby it with my right hand or that thing will be flopping, but if you go up in tension, you start losing attack and top end, which is pretty crucial when trying to get a guitar sounding balanced. You end up getting this muddy low end, then to compensate you cut the low end in your amp and everything else takes a hit.

I went through this same shit with basses and trying to tune down 34" basses, I blew through so much money in bass strings trying different things that I gave up when I knew I crossed the $500 mark in strings alone and bought a new bass.

If thick ass strings work for ya, I can totally see it, they just don't work with the way I dial stuff in or my hands or both.

 

[pipelineaudio]

As you say, string tension is a factor of three things: scale length, tuning and string gauge.

Given how many of those early 90's drop D, iconic albums were done on gibsons with sized 42 strings, which comes out to 11.8 pounds of tension, a 50 would get you there on a 7 string 24.75" scale tuned to B. I'm on with that

 

[unix-guy]

That DK-24 neck is



Too bad it wouldn’t stay in tune consistently.

Locking saddles, staggered tuners, no string tree(s).

It made a major difference for me.

 

[Eagle]

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.

Buckethead’s Les Paul is 27” scale.

 

[Achilles]

Buckethead’s Les Paul is 27” scale.

Does he use standard tuning? Man, that would be TIGHT action.