Tele neck shapes and hand pain

[JoeyV]

Some of you pickers with small hands and short fingers...do smaller or necks with certain shapes cause you hand pain ? Some necks do a number on my hands and fingers causing some pain...the necks that seem to the most comfortable seem to be the bigger C shaped necks and the U shape on like the 68....the new American series are not too bad shape wise either but some guitar necks just kill me...some V necks hurt like on some of the 50's tele necks however one of the most comfortable was this 53 with like an egg or oval shaped neck...the thin ones kill me like on some of the early 60's necks....What are you thoughts on comfortable , fast playing necks ? :? I do alot of circle picking and play alot of swinging type single not lines....like B Bop lines and chicken pickin rolled into one ...and my right thumb has been aching for 3 days now and this happens about once a year...on my left hand the first knuckle on the first finger feels terrible...

[frogger]

I also have small hands and have owned bizzilions of guitars with different neck profiles over the years. What I discovered is that coming back to the Fender U shape or a softer C shape that isn't to clubby feeling is the ticket for me. Also I noticed going back to playing a 7.5 radius with a pro setup does not impede bending and facilitates very fast chord and lead changes. American Standard profile and fret size just doesn't feel right and the fret size they are now using is like driving on a Mexican highway in the Yucatan in a rusty Yugo. The true measure of a great neck profile is how your hand feels after some 3-4 hours of non-stop playing. Your tactile instincts will also tell you if it has that " Just Right" feel to it and your brain spells out the word " Keeper". Overall any neck that has a nice rounded feel without feeling like a ballbat and isn't too wide at the nut should work great. This type of profile keeps my hand more relaxed and provides great finger angle when contacting the frets.

[bluesy]

I have relatively small fingers and hands and had issues with the neck shape of a Nashville Tele. I have arthritis in the first knuckle of my left hand index finger that's caused me to periodically wear a brace in the past. I've since found that a little wider and deeper neck with more shoulder provides the support I need to minimize the problem. I haven't had to wear the brace since purchasing my Ibanez AFS75T.

[bluz]

I'll try this one for you Joey,might not work for you though.When younger we would play anything we could get or grubby lil' fingers on and what has helped the most is throwing my elbow away from me towards the headstock,more behind and inline with my wrist,which in turns gives me more options on where I can place my thumb.Opens chords I can line up my thumb so its somewhat inline with skunk stripe or put it around back and lip-it over top.All the while you can slide the guitar forward and back for even more leverage.As you move up n down the neck its elbow,wrist,thumb,of course theres going to be situations where you'll just have to clamp in and do the spider climbing the ladder trick(fingerings),but after you find comfortable positions for chords and stuff it'll give your hand a small break.Another small tip(a bit weird) is to play when your skin(fingertips) is softer,like after a shower,with softer skin you'll naturally find a more comfortable position.Theres guys here that can probably play the scales off a snake,maybe they can help a bit more,give it a try......g\l Joey

[Brad]

Having owned and played many, many guitars in my 48 years, I finally found the right shape / radius for me. While my hand are quite large, I have had a problem with my left hand for 25 years. I damaged something in that big pad below the thumb after a nasty fall while playing basketball. The injury causes my left hand to cramp up while playing. My strat has a 7 1/4 vitnage radius with a soft V profile and one tele has a 7 1/4 with a U profile. Both of these guitars ( while easy to play ) cause my hand to cramp after a 1/2 hour or so of playing. After much research and Tommy at USACG letting me handle about 60 necks, I had him make me a new tele neck with a 12" radius, rolled edges, 6105 frets and a soft V profile. This is by far the most comfortable, easiest playing, fastest neck I've ever had the pleasure of putting my hands on. This neck is fabulous for blues bends, finger style, comp chording, chicken picking, pedal steel bends...whatever! I play a multitude of styles and I can't heap enough praises on how good this neck feels. I know many here feel the 12" radius is more of a shredder type neck. I would just ask that you try one and see if it works for you. I've had a considerable decrease in my hand pain and find I play more ofter and for longer periods of time.

[JoeyV]

I know with a 12 radius you can get the strings down nice and low too without much buzzing...I wonder what a C shape with some shoulder and a 12" radius would feel like....Thanks for the advice

[esquire_player52]

my fav neck is on my squier tele. i'm makin one like it for my project tele.