onewilyfool Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 Of all my guitars, the Gibson L-1 from 1923 is by far the biggest. AND, it is also the Biggest and thickest neck on any guitar I've ever played. Much chunkier than my friends Roy Smeck from '33. Much bigger than ANY guitar! BUT, I actually like it. JT, how are those necks on your later 20's L's? At what year did they down size the necks? My second biggest neck, chunk wise, is the '33 Martin R-18 I have....another great sounding guitar, and the neck is no problem playing for me!!!??? It is much less than the Gibson, but still pretty chunky. WAY chunkier than Martin's modern "modified V" neck. I know guys like Zomby have a lot of old guitars, and many have chunky necks, some chunky enough to put off some players from some of these earlier vintage guitars. What is it for you, chunky or modern slim line necks??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 I will take a Louisville Slugger any day of the week. Those old guitars without truss rods had to have big old beefy necks to survive. Add to that the fact that many had 1 7/8" nuts and you have a monster on your hands. The biggest though is a 1930s Kay Kraft with the Zorzi adjustable neck. The V neck is so thick you have to slide your hand up the side to be able to get your fingers on the strings. Even to me this neck seems fat and that is saying something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 JT, how are those necks on your later 20's L's? At what year did they down size the necks? The late 1920s/early 1930s L necks are shallow, "modern" Cs. Think a 1950s Les Paul, but with 1 3/4 nut and 2 3/8 string spacing at the saddle. My favorite Gibson necks. By 1932 the "C" shape got a bit chunkier and then in subsequent years the "V" appeared and by 1936 until around 1940 the big Vs became the rule of the day. Then, of course, the Banner baseball bat necks appeared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 I will take a Louisville Slugger any day of the week. I'm also in the Hillerich & Bradsby camp. The biggest/fattest neck on any of my guitars is on my '47 L-7, and it feels soooo good in my hand. Sometimes I just rub it for fun. I've told many young guitar players that the "myth" of guitars with thin nuts, thin necks, thin strings and using thin picks, does not necessarily make for the best sounding and playing guitars. I think most of us bought into this as young and/or inexperienced beginners, but it is my theory that as you develop in experience and proficiency, everything will tend to thicken up. I've also had a couple of "youngsters" come back and tell me, "yeah, you were right." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampa Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 My Gibson F-25 from '66 has a big Smeck-like neck, 12 fret, 2" at the nut and as big as a baseball bat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayyj Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 My 1910 L-1 had a neck so huge only one of my capos fit it - there were scars all along the back from previous owners forcing one into place. I had an earlier one as well with the slotted headstock, that was similar. My remaining L-1 is a flat top from 1926 and, as JT says, is a fairly modern (if wide) feeling C profile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 My Gibson F-25 from '66 has a big Smeck-like neck, 12 fret, 2" at the nut and as big as a baseball bat. These are the same necks that are on the Gibson Classic 12 fret guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 My 1910 L-1 had a neck so huge only one of my capos fit it - there were scars all along the back from previous owners forcing one into place. I had an earlier one as well with the slotted headstock, that was similar. My remaining L-1 is a flat top from 1926 and, as JT says, is a fairly modern (if wide) feeling C profile. I was surprised as to how modern the neck on the 1936 L-12 I played felt. Not near as beefy as I was expecting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 Anyone have experience with a Gibson pre-truss rod neck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dchristo Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 Anyone have experience with a Gibson pre-truss rod neck? my 1937 L-50 does not have a truss rod, but it does have a big fat neck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 I posted my Black '35 L50 track on ZW's archtop thread the other day, but the guitar has the most wonderful chunky V neck, that was really hard to play until I got it set up (superbly, by the way), and excuse me if you have heard this track, but I am whizzing merrily around the 'board and it is 'perfect' to play: https://soundcloud.c...777/4tillate99b A question for OWF: You said once that you had a newish National Tricone - mine has a 1.825 nut and large neck. Does your Nat have this neck and if so, how does it compare to your L1 neck? BluesKing777. I forgot to mention that the frets on my 35 L50 are the skinniest I have ever seen - is this common in guitars from that era? BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 I posted my Black '35 L50 track on ZW's archtop thread the other day, but the guitar has the most wonderful chunky V neck, that was really hard to play until I got it set up (superbly, by the way), and excuse me if you have heard this track, but I am whizzing merrily around the 'board and it is 'perfect' to play: https://soundcloud.com/bluesking777/4tillate99b A question for OWF: You said once that you had a newish National Tricone - mine has a 1.825 nut and large neck. Does your Nat have this neck and if so, how does it compare to your L1 neck? BluesKing777. The national is wider 1 7/8", the L-1 is 1 3/4" BUT...the L-1 is sooo deep and especially the spanish heel, it is very pronounced!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerohead Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 I still find myself trying to get use to the thin neck on my J-200. It just seems like nothing but air between the palm of my hand and my fingers on the fretboard. I'm sure eventually it will become the new norm but as of yet it still feels a little strange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Anyone have experience with a Gibson pre-truss rod neck? My '23 L-1 has a truss rod....when did they come in, and when did they go out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 My '23 L-1 has a truss rod....when did they come in, and when did they go out? They came and went as supplies varied and war measures acts changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Gibson introduced the truss rod in 1921. I've only played a few pre-truss rod Gibsons. The teens guitars had huge necks. The Orville-built pre-Gibson company had a large, but not unmanageable neck. As for the disappearance of the truss rod during the darkest hours of WWII, I'm pretty sure a book on the topic was recently published. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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