Why are less new guitars 7.25?

[mashastrat]

This thread is definitely telling me that other things about the neck probably determine the feel way more than radius.

I’ve had 3 cobain mustang necks over the years & I thought it was the radius that made them super comfy. Now that I think about the 7.25 on my avri Tele vs the 9.5 on my Jag, there’s little difference. So something like rounded edges on the mustang neck must be what I was feeling.

My squier CV tele feels almost flat to me, I’ve never enjoyed it. As it’s 9.5”, there’s obviously something else going on as I have two Les Paul’s that are a dream to fret with.

Is its Cobain signature Jaguar with its 9.5 you’re referring to? Did you have all 3 colours of the Cobain mustang, was there much difference between them? The bound edge of sig Cobain jaguar makes its seem flatter.

Yeah the lightly rolled edges & 7.25 neck of my mg69 makes feel all the rounder as well 40mm my hands can Hendrix grasp.

[welshywelsh]

after reading this thread I checked my guitars, two of which are 7.25 and two are 9.5. Can't say I've ever noticed a difference in playing

I fall into this camp and, after that beautiful graphic was posted, I realized that my preferences were as much the overall neck shape and not necessarily the actual radius. I have a wonderful AmPro I Jag that, since I got it, I’ve played more than any other, but my only complaint is that I wish the neck was as lean as my 62 Jag. I burned a bunch of money on a CS, heavy relic, limited edition Strat (7.25) that has virtually the same neck shape as the 62 Jag and I love it—although I miss that 22nd fret. I just bought a Squier Sonic Esquire while they were on sale for $159, and it has a wonderful neck shape, even though pretty much nothing is vintage spec. So… I’ve clung to 7.25” as my go-to, without realizing I have a specific neck shape that I prefer—regardless of radius.

Yeah that's a fair point. 3 of the guitars I have are all C shape necks and then I have the Marr Jag which is a custom profile. I guess the short scale of the Marr negates the bigger neck, in terms of how my hand fits, so again I'm not hugely feeling a difference

[sal paradise]

Is its Cobain signature Jaguar with its 9.5 you’re referring to? Did you have all 3 colours of the Cobain mustang, was there much difference between them? The bound edge of sig Cobain jaguar makes its seem flatter.

Yeah the lightly rolled edges & 7.25 neck of my mg69 makes feel all the rounder as well 40mm my hands can Hendrix grasp.

I had a cobain Jag for a short time, did not like the neck at all. I’m referring to a CS Jag with a chunky neck.

I’ve had both blue colours of the cobain mustang, and a third neck that I used on a Jag build. The necks seemed pretty much identical from memory: really comfortable

[mashastrat]

Is its Cobain signature Jaguar with its 9.5 you’re referring to? Did you have all 3 colours of the Cobain mustang, was there much difference between them? The bound edge of sig Cobain jaguar makes its seem flatter.

Yeah the lightly rolled edges & 7.25 neck of my mg69 makes feel all the rounder as well 40mm my hands can Hendrix grasp.

I had a cobain Jag for a short time, did not like the neck at all. I’m referring to a CS Jag with a chunky neck.

I’ve had both blue colours of the cobain mustang, and a third neck that I used on a Jag build. The necks seemed pretty much identical from memory: really comfortable

Okay thanks for letting me know. The sig Cobain mustang is much like a MG65 MIJ mustang neck is not?

What was it about the Cobain Jaguar neck you didn’t like?

[ThePearDream]

This thread is definitely telling me that other things about the neck probably determine the feel way more than radius.

I’ve had 3 cobain mustang necks over the years & I thought it was the radius that made them super comfy. Now that I think about the 7.25 on my avri Tele vs the 9.5 on my Jag, there’s little difference. So something like rounded edges on the mustang neck must be what I was feeling.

My squier CV tele feels almost flat to me, I’ve never enjoyed it. As it’s 9.5”, there’s obviously something else going on as I have two Les Paul’s that are a dream to fret with.

Yeah, compare my radius comparison to these graphics. The radius isn't a non-factor, it is a piece of the puzzle, but there are bigger factors determining how the neck feels to play. A vintage soft V, 7.25", 1.625" nut, Strat, with 12s is going to play different then an American Pro Strat, with a modern C, 9.5", 1.6875" nut and 9s.




I'm way more picky about fret size myself. I can't stand jumbo frets. There are a bunch of guitars out there, that I would consider trying, if only they didn't all have huge frets (and thin profiles).

[Salfaromeab]

I don't know if I'm something of an anomaly, but the fretboard radius has never really made all that much difference to me personally. My favourite necks (that I own at least) are my Gretsch 6119, Mosrite Ventures, and 64 Jag. Two of those are 12" and the Jag is 7.25", and while the difference in feel is noticeable, it doesn't really effect how I play the guitars. My JM is 9.5" and I'd be hard pressed to feel much difference between it and a 7.25" neck tbh. I think the actual neck profile has a much bigger impact than the fretboard radius, personally.

[Salfaromeab]

I don't know if I'm something of an anomaly, but the fretboard radius has never really made all that much difference to me personally. My favourite necks (that I own at least) are my Gretsch 6119, Mosrite Ventures, and 64 Jag. Two of those are 12" and the Jag is 7.25", and while the difference in feel is noticeable, it doesn't really effect how I play the guitars. My JM is 9.5" and I'd be hard pressed to feel much difference between it and a 7.25" neck tbh. I think the actual neck profile has a much bigger impact than the fretboard radius, personally.

I'm now finding out that my Mosrite actually probably has a 14" radius lol

[Jaguar018]

There are so many elements like this that some people take really seriously. I have guitars with various radii and profiles. My hands aren't very big at all, but I manage to get by. I think the biggest neck issue I had was with on that was really U shaped-- the 'baseball bat' neck that has a small, but very vocal, group of supporters. I didn't like that thing at all.

I had one vintage refin Jaguar that had a V-shape. That was cool. I sorta wish I could try that again, but all of my guitar's necks are somewhere in the C shape range. I'm not really sure about each one's radius, but most of them are 7.25 I think?

As far as I can tell, I have never played a style of music where it suffered due to neck specs.

[panoramic]

There are so many elements like this that some people take really seriously. I have guitars with various radii and profiles. My hands aren't very big at all, but I manage to get by. I think the biggest neck issue I had was with on that was really U shaped-- the 'baseball bat' neck that has a small, but very vocal, group of supporters. I didn't like that thing at all.

I had one vintage refin Jaguar that had a V-shape. That was cool. I sorta wish I could try that again, but all of my guitar's necks are somewhere in the C shape range. I'm not really sure about each one's radius, but most of them are 7.25 I think?

As far as I can tell, I have never played a style of music where it suffered due to neck specs.

I can play anything on anything at this point. I have had one guitar hurt my hands to play and it was a first year AVRI JM i got off of here in like 2010. It was a beautiful guitar but it was a serious baseball bat neck. All of my other Fenders have had skinny necks including the Strats i have owned. I prefer the smaller C profile but can get along with the U types etc. My current favorite necks are on a CIJ jag and an MIJ Jag, one is slightly flatter than the other but it's not notable to anyone else.

[mashastrat]

There are so many elements like this that some people take really seriously. I have guitars with various radii and profiles. My hands aren't very big at all, but I manage to get by. I think the biggest neck issue I had was with on that was really U shaped-- the 'baseball bat' neck that has a small, but very vocal, group of supporters. I didn't like that thing at all.

I had one vintage refin Jaguar that had a V-shape. That was cool. I sorta wish I could try that again, but all of my guitar's necks are somewhere in the C shape range. I'm not really sure about each one's radius, but most of them are 7.25 I think?

As far as I can tell, I have never played a style of music where it suffered due to neck specs.

I can play anything on anything at this point. I have had one guitar hurt my hands to play and it was a first year AVRI JM i got off of here in like 2010. It was a beautiful guitar but it was a serious baseball bat neck. All of my other Fenders have had skinny necks including the Strats i have owned. I prefer the smaller C profile but can get along with the U types etc. My current favorite necks are on a CIJ jag and an MIJ Jag, one is slightly flatter than the other but it's not notable to anyone else.

I’m not keen on deep U MIJ necks either, prefer shallow narrow.
I’m intrigued by this flatter Jaguar neck you speak of.. what CIJ/MIJ model year period?

Shallow soft V’s with 7.25 or C for thumb over.

The trend seems towards thick & flat, with the MIJ ‘Thick C’ is it really thick?

How does a MIJ slim C compare with a modern MIJ C?

[panoramic]

There are so many elements like this that some people take really seriously. I have guitars with various radii and profiles. My hands aren't very big at all, but I manage to get by. I think the biggest neck issue I had was with on that was really U shaped-- the 'baseball bat' neck that has a small, but very vocal, group of supporters. I didn't like that thing at all.

I had one vintage refin Jaguar that had a V-shape. That was cool. I sorta wish I could try that again, but all of my guitar's necks are somewhere in the C shape range. I'm not really sure about each one's radius, but most of them are 7.25 I think?

As far as I can tell, I have never played a style of music where it suffered due to neck specs.

I can play anything on anything at this point. I have had one guitar hurt my hands to play and it was a first year AVRI JM i got off of here in like 2010. It was a beautiful guitar but it was a serious baseball bat neck. All of my other Fenders have had skinny necks including the Strats i have owned. I prefer the smaller C profile but can get along with the U types etc. My current favorite necks are on a CIJ jag and an MIJ Jag, one is slightly flatter than the other but it's not notable to anyone else.

I’m not keen on deep U MIJ necks either, prefer shallow narrow.
I’m intrigued by this flatter Jaguar neck you speak of.. what CIJ/MIJ model year period?

Shallow soft V’s with 7.25 or C for thumb over.

The trend seems towards thick & flat, with the MIJ ‘Thick C’ is it really thick?

How does a MIJ slim C compare with a modern MIJ C?

Well the ones i have are a 94 and and a 97, they are both on the slimmer side. the 94 feels like a really shallow u and i can get my thumb over that shit no problem at all. I have small hands as I am only 5'7. I had years where i could barely play full scale guitars but seem to have gotten past that with a slimmer c strat I have now and after having played my Squier VI a lot.

BUT I have owned a pile of MIJ / CIJ mustangs and 4 CIJ/MIJ Jazzmasters and here's what I know for sure:
the original run of MIJ stuff until the first cij's seem to have slimmer necks. Early CIJs stay similar to those and then the few years before the Q series of CIJ's have fatter necks. This was really evident on the JM's and Mustangs I have had. I had a CIJ Jag with the BnB neck that was really fat necked as well. I have owned 4 q series CIJS and all of them were great. I actually look for them on reverb sometimes as they were the best feeling and the quality was spot on.

[mashastrat]

I can play anything on anything at this point. I have had one guitar hurt my hands to play and it was a first year AVRI JM i got off of here in like 2010. It was a beautiful guitar but it was a serious baseball bat neck. All of my other Fenders have had skinny necks including the Strats i have owned. I prefer the smaller C profile but can get along with the U types etc. My current favorite necks are on a CIJ jag and an MIJ Jag, one is slightly flatter than the other but it's not notable to anyone else.

I’m not keen on deep U MIJ necks either, prefer shallow narrow.
I’m intrigued by this flatter Jaguar neck you speak of.. what CIJ/MIJ model year period?

Shallow soft V’s with 7.25 or C for thumb over.

The trend seems towards thick & flat, with the MIJ ‘Thick C’ is it really thick?

How does a MIJ slim C compare with a modern MIJ C?

Well the ones i have are a 94 and and a 97, they are both on the slimmer side. the 94 feels like a really shallow u and i can get my thumb over that shit no problem at all. I have small hands as I am only 5'7. I had years where i could barely play full scale guitars but seem to have gotten past that with a slimmer c strat I have now and after having played my Squier VI a lot.

BUT I have owned a pile of MIJ / CIJ mustangs and 4 CIJ/MIJ Jazzmasters and here's what I know for sure:
the original run of MIJ stuff until the first cij's seem to have slimmer necks. Early CIJs stay similar to those and then the few years before the Q series of CIJ's have fatter necks. This was really evident on the JM's and Mustangs I have had. I had a CIJ Jag with the BnB neck that was really fat necked as well. I have owned 4 q series CIJS and all of them were great. I actually look for them on reverb sometimes as they were the best feeling and the quality was spot on.

Q as in 2002-2003 Mustangs? CIJ

The measurements of Kurt Cobains ‘Skystang I’ were added to the auction listing.

O serial 1993 MG69: A 24” scale length maple neck with a 7.25” radius rosewood fretboard and 22 vintage-style frets. Nut measures 1.58” (40.2 mm) with a first fret neck depth of .82” (20.9 mm) increasing to .91” (23 mm) at the twelfth.

Its neck is pretty much the same specs as my 2014 MG69 late model Mustang.

[MattK]

I have a 1996 MG69 and the neck is *tiny* - both narrow and quite shallow. The opposite of what I usually like but somehow it's great.

[Fiddy]

The only things i demand from a neck are:

Straight as possible.
Frets leveled
Properly cut nut
Working truss rod
Not a baseball bat


Im ok with whatever radius the neck is, as long as the criteria above is mostly met.

[mashastrat]

The only things i demand from a neck are:

Straight as possible.
Frets leveled
Properly cut nut
Working truss rod
Not a baseball bat


Im ok with whatever radius the neck is, as long as the criteria above is mostly met.

Are these not what everyone looks for in a guitar, a not broken one.