Thicker necks / neck joints = thicker tone? WTF?

[Crazy_Guitar]

Originally Posted by AmazinAzian12

Thats when you go get yourself a carvin guitar. those things have awesome tone!!!

Now you've said it all!!!
Carvin guitars are 10 out of 10 in playability. I'd say RGs and Ss are 9,5 out of 10.
Tonewise, Carvin would be 9,5 out of 10 and RGs and Ss would be between 8 and 9 out of 10.

I wish I had one...

[540s]

I watched the PG Iceman video yesterday & I would tend to agree. I'm more comfortable with the AANJ but I dont see myself getting rid of the square heels any time soon.


I spent a few hours with some of these last night:



All but one of these are AANJ, but I do also have another 89' 570 & a 90' 550 square heel I pulled out for the sake of comparison. I spent a couple hours playing & switching guitars every 5-15 minutes or so. (the 7 strings excluded) Basically two 00' AANJ RG 570's, two square 89' 570's a 90' square 550. 98 520QS & 98 3120

The three with the square heel did all seem to have something in common with themselves but not the AANJ's .... hard to describe.. I don't know I'd say "more" or "better" tone but definately different.

The exception were the two Mahogany RG's (520QS & 3120) both of those also have something unique when comparing to the non-mahogany RGs... which is to be expected I guess


"More" or "better" I would classify as personal opinions but I think
"different" could be considered fact. ....... IMO of course ......

[Drew]

Originally Posted by varador

So if I'm in the market for a second guitar I should try finding something with at least a block joint (hahaha that sounds like something you could smoke... blunt ... That's good to know, thanks guys.

Does a thicker neck / joint add sustain, too? Or is that more dependent on the body?

Well, more mass = more vibrational mass, so I could see it being a slight sustain boost. I also suspect this is part of the reason why sustain from frets 22-24 on an old school neck joint is so bad - that there's just nothing vibrating under the fretboard for those frets.

As a seven string nut, I'll of course take this opportunity to point out that the wider neck of a seven has significantly more vibrational mass than the narrower neck of a six...

[540s]

Originally Posted by Drew

A: I also suspect this is part of the reason why sustain from frets 22-24 on an old school neck joint is so bad - that there's just nothing vibrating under the fretboard for those frets.

B: I'll of course take this opportunity to point out that the wider neck of a seven has significantly more vibrational mass than the narrower neck of a six...

A: VERY good observation!!

B: Another good point there. I use my 7's fairly often but almost never use the low string... I just like the beefy sound I get with them.

[screamndemon69]

540s, you need more RG's!

[ken_r152]

I noticed this before. Guitars with thicker necks have a slightly mellower, darker sound. Guitars with thinner necks have a slightly more treble-y sound. You can hear it when you play similar electric guitars acoustically and compare them. I still prefer the thinner necks for playing.

[varador]

Yeah 540s, that's a ****ing sweet collection you have there... Makes me wonder why I ever wanted a non-Strat body type...

[horstausmforst]

What is he trying to say, that Ibanez should start fretting baseball bats like those guys over at Gibson in order to get thicker tones out of their guitars?

So if I'm in the market for a second guitar I should try finding something with at least a block joint

He doesn't say ibanez should do anything. He also doesn't say that you have to get a block joint next time. He's just stating that more wood mass brings him closer to the sound he wants.

I don't know what sound you are looking for, and you don't seem to know it either. But if you really want a "tone monster", your top priority should be getting a fixed bridge. Compared to that, the neck joint impact on tone will be minor.

[varador]

Very good, thanks for clearing that up

[C.Thep]

square joints are nice, but still prefer AANJ. It is going to be saturated in distortion anyway...

[speedy mcfeely]

If you want a great combination of tone and playability, then get a tremol-no on a AANJ and you will have more sustain.

In my case I have a '98 rg 570, I used some mahogany to block the trem (original edge) altogether. Essentially this makes it a stop tail, but the tone was so drastically improved, i have no regrets.

[nightofthelivingshred]

i love my rg550, but the tone on my painted neck, neck through, string through jackson v is just quality...makes the 550 sound like ass breath.

but if you want that rg tone to sustain longer? clamp a heavy wrench on the headstock. just put a cloth over the headstock first so you don't scratch up all of your paint

[shotgunlew]

I had a buddy block his trem with soe bowling ball material, ya it was pretty heavy but it sustained for ever, that combined with a custom graphite nut ( he hated locking nuts , no clue why ) and a good set of locking tuners and he was set.

[540s]

Originally Posted by screamndemon69

540s, you need more RG's!

I'm working on it

Originally Posted by varador

Yeah 540s, that's a ****ing sweet collection you have there...

Thanks! The RG's were purely accidental. I picked up the blue 7620 while waiting around a guitar store to buy a S2120x & in about 10 seconds decided it killed my S7420's & fell in love.

[varador]

**** Ibanez RG's and their bolt-ons, I'm getting me a B.C. Rich maple neck- through, OFR, mahogany, 24 frets, ebony fretboard guitar for 600 Euros