Necks, Sustain, & Comfort

Hey guys just wondering if anyone could answer this really quick - I finally ordered my custom G&L and the guy said if I wanna make any changes, to call him ASAP.

Anyway, it's about the neck. I picked a 'Slim C' (cuz my fingers aren't that ginormous) It has a 1st fret depth of 0.820" and 12th fret depth of 0.870"

I don't use that much distortion or compression when I play, so I need as much sustain from the guitar as I can get (without sacrificing too much comfort and speed)

Will switching the 'Slim C' out for the 'Classic C' neck (1st fret depth 0.830 and 12th fret depth 0.960) be a wise decision???

Yikes, now there is a tough question. What makes a guitar sustain? And how does a difference in neck carve influence sustain? I'll give it a try and I hope to be corrected by other forum members if I go wrong anywhere.

In a technical sense, sustain is entirely determined by the coupling of the string vibrations to the body and vice versa. In that respect, having a properly slotted nut, properly set saddles, and a good coupling between bridge and body are the most important parts. Any rattle, buzz, slop and what not will suck away energy from the vibration and dampen it. You don't mention what kind of model you bought, but as a general rule guitars with fixed bridges sustain longer than those with tremolo systems when measuring the time it takes for notes to ring out without any amplification involved. But all of this is ignoring the human factor. How are you picking? Where is your picking hand resting if at all? How do you fret your notes (this is where fret wire and the anatomy of digits enters the equation)? What is your vibrato like since that adds some energy back to the string excitations?

You'll notice that none of these involve neck thickness explicitly, except that a particular neck carve may influence how your fingers move across the board which has all to do with comfort. Technically, the mass of your neck and how tight it fits in the pocket will have an influence on the aforementioned coupling of string vibrations to body vibrations. But still, if a sustaining guitar has a neck carve that just doesn't feel comfortable, what's the point? (This is where I am reminded of my struggles in 2002 with a brand spanking new Gibson '57 Goldtop Reissue where the baseball bat neck just didn't suit my hands whereas a second-hand 2000 PRS Goldtop SC did. Guess which guitar I purchased.)

From that, and how you describe your manual anatomy, I think that the 'Slim C' will suffice just fine. Unless you really want to get the oscilloscope out, with timers and the lot to do the measurements in an A/B sustain comparisons.

My 2¢.

- Jos

Yikes, now there is a tough question. What makes a guitar sustain? And how does a difference in neck carve influence sustain? I'll give it a try and I hope to be corrected by other forum members if I go wrong anywhere.

In a technical sense, sustain is entirely determined by the coupling of the string vibrations to the body and vice versa. In that respect, having a properly slotted nut, properly set saddles, and a good coupling between bridge and body are the most important parts. Any rattle, buzz, slop and what not will suck away energy from the vibration and dampen it. You don't mention what kind of model you bought, but as a general rule guitars with fixed bridges sustain longer than those with tremolo systems when measuring the time it takes for notes to ring out without any amplification involved. But all of this is ignoring the human factor. How are you picking? Where is your picking hand resting if at all? How do you fret your notes (this is where fret wire and the anatomy of digits enters the equation)? What is your vibrato like since that adds some energy back to the string excitations?

You'll notice that none of these involve neck thickness explicitly, except that a particular neck carve may influence how your fingers move across the board which has all to do with comfort. Technically, the mass of your neck and how tight it fits in the pocket will have an influence on the aforementioned coupling of string vibrations to body vibrations. But still, if a sustaining guitar has a neck carve that just doesn't feel comfortable, what's the point? (This is where I am reminded of my struggles in 2002 with a brand spanking new Gibson '57 Goldtop Reissue where the baseball bat neck just didn't suit my hands whereas a second-hand 2000 PRS Goldtop SC did. Guess which guitar I purchased.)

From that, and how you describe your manual anatomy, I think that the 'Slim C' will suffice just fine. Unless you really want to get the oscilloscope out, with timers and the lot to do the measurements in an A/B sustain comparisons.

My 2¢.

- Jos

yowhatsshakin! Your 2 cents is appreciated very much! Unless "other forum members" come and put 4 cents in, I'm definitely comfortable with just taking your advice on this matter! - And I don't really wanna break out the oscilloscope haha!

But I agree now - If the neck doesn't feel comfy, what's the point? I started laughin' my tail off when u compared the Giby neck to a baseball bat

But here's all the answers, for the record - I'm getting an ASAT Classic S. The neck radius will be 12". Fretwire = Med. Jumbo 6100. Nut = 1 5/8". On my LP Ultra II (my guitar at the moment) I rest my palm on 1/2 of the pickup and 1/2 of the low E string... and sometimes, I kind of 'latch on to' the high E with my pinky without resting my palm anywhere - odd? But as far as fretting and vibrato, I haven't a clue

Hi Cameron,
Thanks for your answers, but just to be clear, the questions in my post were merely examples of factors influencing how long a note can be sustained. For example, the way one picks influences string vibration amplitudes and what harmonics will be present. Where one rests ones palm may influence whether there is (unintentional) muting due to contact of the palm of the hand and the strings running over the bridge.

I can recall only one article where the sustain of 2 guitars was being compared: a gear face-off between a Gibson Historic '59 Les Paul Aged VOS and a PRS SC 245 in Guitar Player. And whenever sustain is discussed, I just cannot get Nigel Tufnel out my mind

Good luck and I'm pretty sure you'll like your guitar.

- Jos