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Correct Guitar Neck

//Correct Guitar Neck

Correct Guitar Neck

What is the best and most correct guitar neck back shape for me?

Haywire Custom Guitars Neck Replacement and Guitar Back Contours-You Can Choose

Haywire Custom Guitars Neck Replacement and Guitar Back Contours-You Can Choose from Super Wide and Fat Guitar Necks to Thin and Slim

Haywire Custom Shop Guitar Neck Replacement and Guitar Back Contours Options 

The following three paragraphs are also in the “neck shaving” section as well guitar neck shapes explained.

First of all, neck thickness should be chosen for what best fits your hands, not the “tone” it has.  That should be the major consideration in the choice of your correct guitar neck back shape.  The timbre of a fat neck is noticeable however, most of the tone comes from your playing technique-not the wood.  Electric guitar tones are affected by everything from the pickups and amplification to pedals, picks, string gauge and speaker enclosures.

In a live playing situation “wood tones” in an electric guitar will become even less noticeable.  The overall sound of your guitar may be noticeably affected by a fatter/ thicker neck but generally only when you are playing without the guitar plugged in to an amp.  So, remember high gain electric guitar tone is very much dependent on a player’s technique, control and comfort with his instrument and not the thickness of a neck. The most common guitar neck shapes are: American Standard StratVintage TeleStevie Ray Vaughn signature StratEric Clapton signature StratWolfgangWizard II neck and the 1959 Gibson® Les Paul back profile. We can duplicate any of these on the back of your guitar neck assuming enough wood is there to accomplish the task.

https://haywirecustomguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/134.png, Haywire Custom Guitars Neck Radius area

Haywire Custom Guitars Neck Shapes diagramed to Find the correct guitar neck back shape for you.

Standard Back Contours1st fret12th fretSimilar back contours

First number indicates thickness at 1st fret. The second number indicates thickness at the 12th fret.

Haywire Custom Shop-Guitar neck Back Contours Standard Thin

0.800″0.850″Fender® American Standard Strat or Tele

First number indicates thickness at 1st fret. The second number indicates thickness at the 12th fret.

image of Haywire Custom Guitars Standard Thin Neck Back Profile
Standard Thin Neck Back Profile

Haywire Custom Shop-Guitar neck Back Contours
1.0″1.0″Vintage Tele® (52 Reissue)

First number indicates thickness at 1st fret. The second number indicates thickness at the 12th fret.

image of Haywire Custom Guitars Fat Back Neck profile "Deep "U"
Fat or “Deep “U” Profile

Haywire Custom Shop-Guitar neck Back Contours-SRV
0.835″0.970″
Asymmetric contour
Early Fender® Stevie Ray Vaughn signature Strat

First number indicates thickness at 1st fret. The second number indicates thickness at the 12th fret.

image of Haywire Custom Guitars SRV custom neck contour
SRV custom neck contour is asymmetrical.

Haywire Custom Shop-Guitar neck Back Contours-Clapton
0.850″0.940″Early Fender® Eric Clapton signature Strat

First number indicates thickness at 1st fret. The second number indicates thickness at the 12th fret.

image of Haywire Custom Guitars Clapton Neck Back Profile
Clapton Neck Back Profile

Haywire Custom Shop-Guitar neck Back Contours-Wolfgang
0.815″0.940″
Asymmetric contour
Peavey® Wolfgang®

First number indicates thickness at 1st fret. The second number indicates thickness at the 12th fret.

image of Haywire Custom guitar back contours and profiles
Asymmetric contour Peavey® Wolfgang®

Haywire Custom Shop-Guitar neck Back Contours-Wizard
0.750″0.820″Ibanez® Wizard II neck

First number indicates thickness at 1st fret. The second number indicates thickness at the 12th fret.

image of Haywire Custom Guitars Wizard Neck profile
Wizard Neck profile

Haywire Custom Shop-Guitar neck Back Contours-’59 Roundback
0.860″0.960″1959 Gibson® Les Paul

First number indicates thickness at 1st fret. The second number indicates thickness at the 12th fret.

image of Haywire Custom Guitars Gibson style '59 Round back Neck profile
Gibson style ’59 Round back Neck profile

 We match modern technology with world class craftsmanship.

Since, comfort affects your guitar playing ability, which is an important factor for your technique.  Therefore, neck tone is an issue that no empirical evidence has ever put to rest. So simply find the correct guitar neck back for your comfort.

Start with finding a guitar you love to play with a neck that makes playing a joy.  Then, either send us the specs or simply send your neck to us at the Haywire Custom Shop and we’ll duplicate it for you.

At Haywire, we are experienced builders of custom electric guitar and bass and have a large selection of standard classic and customized replacement parts for whatever your special guitar playing need may require.  We match modern technology with world class craftsmanship to create great playing and sounding instruments.

In some cases, it may be better to replace or shave a guitar neck to get the correct guitar neck back rather than replacing the entire guitar. Cracking finishes, worn frets and warping fret boards are common ailments of guitar necks and replacing a bolt-on or bolt-in guitar neck is often a considerably less expensive option than repairing the damage or replacing the whole guitar.

neck profile for your technique, comfortable frets, finish and nut for your style

Most noteworthy, when the time comes, Haywire Custom Shop can replace your neck for you.

We listen-we hear you!

In addition, we’ll help you with the following:

1-Help you decide on the best materials, neck profile for your technique, comfortable frets, finish and nut for your style. We can use your existing tuners or replace and upgrade them as necessary.

2- In performing a 4-axis alignment of the guitar neck your new guitar neck will be checked and adjusted to be true and straight to ensure proper alignment on all 4 axis.  This step ensures proper action and allows for more accurate and easier guitar tuning and playing.  A full set-up will then be performed in the following steps.

level and polish the frets

3- We level and polish the frets to ensure that all of the guitar frets are even. We are eliminating any possibility of fret buzz due to unevenness.

4- Because we radius the guitar strings.  Most guitar necks have a curved contour over the top of the neck called the radius. We adjust the strings to make sure the height of each string perfectly follows the contour of your guitar neck.  Once we determine the contour and then we set the radius of the guitar strings   Next, it’s time to adjust the overall height of the strings from the top of the frets to the bottom of the guitar strings accurately.

5- At this point we can re-check the overall guitar string height and the action all while maintaining the radius just created.  The truss rod adjustment is then able to be made here.  Furthermore, the strings will be parallel all the way down the fret board and neck straight.

6- Finally, we set the guitar intonation.  This step is done twice.   In conclusion, the intonation is set two times with a 24 hour “seat-in” period in between to allow the guitar to properly re-seat and hence, settle in with the new adjustments. Most of all, we want you to be comfortable with it.

Ordering From Haywire Custom Guitars

If you would like to order this or any other custom guitar, please contact us and we will be happy to discuss your guitar needs.

The total Neck Replacement Option cost is only $75 plus return shipping and the cost of your neck.

image profile of a guitar neck.  Haywire Custom Guitars Neck back shapes explained
Haywire Custom Guitars Neck back shapes explained for a correct guitar neck back selection (cross-section)
By | 2023-02-22T18:35:27-05:00 January 14th, 2023|Guitar Education|0 Comments

About the Author:

Mr. Rick Mariner Owner and Founder and CEO of Haywire Custom Guitars Inc. He is a member of The Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans (A.S.I.A.) as well as a guitar player. Rick holds a bachelors degree from University of Md. and a Masters degree from George Washington University. Rick developed his exclusive 8 – Point “Gig- Ready” guitar process that allows for Custom Guitars that are “GIG-READY”. With Rick’s many years of development and guitar set-up experience, Haywire Guitar shop “Builds satisfied players… one Haywire guitar at a time”.

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