Gibson neck thicknesses

[djlogan33]

Gibson neck thicknesses, at different locations on the neck, vary a lot.
The older Gibson guitars from the 50’s and early 60’s were all hand shaped and sanded.
The newer Gibson guitars necks are produced using CNC machines and their sizes are more consistent.
I have very large hands and I have more control of my left hand, when the guitar neck is thicker.
I have a miniature 2-foot tape measure that I have used to measure different Gibson necks at specific locations on the neck (fret 12, 7 and 3).
I have found that the ’58 VOS and Reissues have the thickest neck, especially closer to the headstock (3rd fret).
The ’59 VOS & Reissues are the next thickest, and then the 50’s neck models and the thinnest necks are the 60’s neck models.
I entered all my measurements in an Excel spreadsheet and created graphs.

 

[DrewG]

How many have you measured, out of interest ? MLP user River has some data acquired from many users on this forum, including myself, and there's a thread started by him around here someplace.

 

[ctkarslake]

Nice work dj, but I wonder how all the other reissues would stack up. R2-4-5-6-7s. All of those are supposed to have beefier necks than R8s. Just wondering why those models aren't part of your research. I'd be interested in how the "60s" USA neck stacks up to an R0 neck as well.

Maybe this is just a comparison between Gibson Custom Shop reissue necks and Gibson USA necks that say "50s neck" and "60s neck"?

 

[djlogan33]

How many have you measured, out of interest ? MLP user River has some data acquired from many users on this forum, including myself, and there's a thread started by him around here someplace.

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I visit Nashville several times a year. Before the flood this May, there was a Gibson Showcase Store in the mall behind Opryland Hotel.
It had the largest selection of Gibson guitars I have ever seen anywhere.

Before I bought my first ’58 VOS model, I played and measured the necks on several ’58, ’59 and ‘60 VOS/Reissue models as well as several Les Paul Standard models with the 50’s and 60’s necks.
I also played and measured the necks on several ES-335 and B.B.King “Lucille” guitars which according to their specs had the “fat”/50’s necks.
Again, with my larger than normal hands, the thicker the neck, the more control I feel I have with my left hand, plus I understand, the thicker the neck, better the tone.
I found by checking multiple guitars of each of the models mentioned above, the dimensions/thickness of the neck at the 3rd, 7th and 12th frets were consistent with a millimeter.
Both of my 2006-model “Lucille” guitars and my 2005-model Les Paul Studio have the 50’s neck.
All three of their dimensions/thickness of the neck at the 3rd, 7th and 12th frets is exactly the same.
Without measuring, it’s easy to tell my 2002-model Les Paul ’58 Reissue’s neck is much thicker, especially toward the headstock.

Again, these measurements are from the newer Gibson guitars that had their necks manufactured consistently by CNC machines.
I was lucky enough to be allowed to see and hold several original 1959 and 1958 Les Paul guitars at Gruhn Guitars in Nashville.
I noticed that the original 1950’s neck vary in thickness, because they were hand made.
Trivia for da day....

I'd like to see MLP user River's data that was acquired from many users on this forum, including yourself.

 

[djlogan33]

Nice work dj, but I wonder how all the other reissues would stack up. R2-4-5-6-7s. All of those are supposed to have beefier necks than R8s. Just wondering why those models aren't part of your research. I'd be interested in how the "60s" USA neck stacks up to an R0 neck as well.

Maybe this is just a comparison between Gibson Custom Shop reissue necks and Gibson USA necks that say "50s neck" and "60s neck"?

=======================================================

What I have noticed is the main difference between the modern 50’s & 60’s necks compared to the VOS/Reissue ’58, ’59 & ’60 necks are this:
• All the necks are very close in dimensions/thickness closer to the body @ the 12th fret
• The 50’s & 60’s necks become much thinner toward the headstock (7th and especially @ the 3rd fret)
• The VOS/Reissues necks remain thicker toward the headstock (7th and especially @ the 3rd fret)

Since I was more interested in either a ’58 or ’59 Reissue, I did not measure the R2-4-5-6-7s models.
I have a good friend that has a ’57 Reissue Goldtop, which has a neck that “feels” similar to my R8 .

 

[b3john]

There used to be a really great graphic posted in a thread here on MLP that compared the common Gibson neck profiles. Unfortunately, it appears that it was hosted on one of the free image hosting websites and got lost in an automated purge of older files...

 

[DrewG]

I'd like to see MLP user River's data that was acquired from many users on this forum, including yourself.

Have a look here...

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/historics-reissues/65839-measuring-neck-feel.html

 

[KenG]

River's post indicates that it isn't just the dimensions of the neck from top of FB to back of neck. The profile or shape of the neck IMO makes the most noticeable difference to how a neck feels. Anyone with experience with Fender's 'V', 'U', 'C' and 'D' necks I think would understand this concept. I read somewhere that for Gibson necks the amount of shoulder (how quickly the side to side dimensions change as the you drop below the binding on the neck sides) affects the impression of neck size. This shoulder is one of the things that varies quite a bit during the hand shaping/sanding of the neck during manufacturing.

 

[92Standard]

I always wondered how much larger an R8 neck is compared to my 2008 SG Standard with 50's neck....I'm guessing it's a lot thicker.

 

[djlogan33]

I always wondered how much larger an R8 neck is compared to my 2008 SG Standard with 50's neck....I'm guessing it's a lot thicker.

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I own three Gibson guitars with the 50's neck size and a R8.

As my graph shows the R8 neck thickness is

• close to the same thickness @ the 12th fret,
• somewhat thicker @ the 7th fret and
• much thicker @ the 3rd fret.

The Gibson necks are the thinnest between the 1st fret and nut.
As a result, this is the area most vunerable to cracking/breaking if the guitar is dropped or falls over.
So, not only does a thicker neck add better tone, but the thicker the wood in this area, a lesser chance of a crack or break.