ES-137 neck - is it fat?

[SteveBW]

I have as ES-339-fat neck (not the 30/60 slimmer neck), want another guitar with this type fat neck, am thinking of getting an ES-137, but not sure if the 137 neck is as fat, Gibson em explanation was not clear, does anyone know?

[uyasgali]

It seems to be about the same thickness as my other Gibsons and they are fat necks I guess...

 

All Gibson necks are different but I have never been able to tell the difference because it is so miniscule. My ES-137 feels good and plays better.

[brundaddy]

No, it's not fat. It's a 60s 'slim taper' neck, not a round 50s neck. However my es 135 has the 50s neck (specs went out the window on the 135s so they may not all have that sweet 50s neck). Happy hunting.

[SteveBW]

I just got an ES137Classic

The neck is not as fat as my ES339-round neck

Here's the way I measure relative thickness of necks of my guitars:

- put capo on at 2nd fret, use caliper to measure across end of grip handles of capo

- repeat for 12th fret

- total the two measurements (in mm) to get relative neck thickness

Note that the smaller the measuremnt, the fatter the neck

 

Here are the thickness values of some of my guitars, in order of fattest to thinnest:

 

Gibsson ES339-fat neck 67 (my thickest neck guitar)

Rickenbacker Dakota 68

Gibson ES339- 30/60 neck 71

Ibanez JSM100 71

ES137 73

Epiphone LP Ultra 74

Epi Casino 75

Fender Tele HH 77

Gibson LP Classic 78

Ibanez RGA121 80 (my thinnest neck guitar)

 

I wish Gibson and all guitar makers would have some kind of published neck thickness info like this

[uyasgali]

I dug up my calipers this afternoon. My LP Studio (2007), SG Classic (2008) and My ES-137 Custom (2009) are within a hairs thickness of each other at the 12th fret. The ES-137 may have a Pleked neck because it seem to be somewhat asymetrical.

 

The LP Studio for sure has the '50s style neck not the slim '60s style. In my book, my guitars have fat necks. Maybe some other years have different necks but what I got is what I got.