What is the difference between a v neck and a c neck

The new American Deluxe with the V neck is really one of my favorites. It has a sharper v at the nut and smooths out a little going up. Combined with the compound radius the thing is pretty killer. I also have a soft V on my Baja Tele and I really like the little extra thickness it gives. I would almost say it's closer to the U on my 52 than any C I own. Skyler P , Sep 12, You must log in or sign up to reply here. Show Ignored Content. Your name or email address: Do you already have an account?

No, create an account now. Yes, my password is: Forgot your password? I feel like the V-neck gives me a greater connection to the neck and the guitar. I like feeling a chunk of wood in my hand while I play. I do feel like the V-neck is more cumbersome while playing fast phrases. I can honestly say that the difference in feel between the C-neck and the V-neck is very minor to me. If I was looking to buy a new Stratocaster, the shape of the current V-neck and C-neck Strats is so subtly different that having one neck or the other on my Strat would not be a deal breaker when purchasing.

In my opinion the color of the guitar is more important to my purchasing decision than the shape of neck with how subtly different the two necks are. Which brings me to the fact that there are different color options available on the V-neck American Deluxe Stratocaster as opposed to the C-neck American Deluxe Stratocaster.

I guess another question would be which neck would fit better for shorter fingers? Really like the American Deluxe Strats but not sure which way to go on neck profile. I going to try to play them both before buying one but was looking for any opinions. While they are both a similar shape, they both have a very different feel. The soft V-shape was created by a complete accident in the Fender factories back in the s. As the name implies, the V-shape does come to a hard point.

It has a more rounded shape and feels, these are great for players who feel comfortable with their thumb hanging over the fretboard while they play. That brings us to the hard V-shape. This shape has hard curves straight to the V-shape.

The V-shape is very uncommon today and usually only found on reissue models but is regarded as the more comfortable V-shape of the two. This shape neck is still used and loved by Eric Clapton, and Fender even made a replica model based on his Stratocaster that uses this neck shape. The D-shaped neck, also known as the modern flat oval, is a modern neck for electric guitars. This neck shape got its start on classical string guitars due to the almost flat feel on the back of the neck, making it feel very comfortable in your hands as the neck itself is flatter than the rest of the neck shapes.

The shoulders of these guitars often protrude vertically and then go over the radius of the neck. The shape of this neck is often mistaken for a C-shape. As previously mentioned, it has flatter edges than the C. This neck is excellent if you love playing fast-moving passages and using techniques that involve rapid movement between strings. The D-Shaped Neck is the latest neck to be used by guitar companies to this day, and it is prevalent on more modern guitars with brands like Ibanez and Epiphone.

The D-shape is definitely one of of the most common guitar neck shapes. The A-symmetrical neck is a bit of a weird style neck which gets bulkier on one end of the neck and thinner going to the bottom of the neck.

Imagine, if you will, if you start at the low E side of the neck, it gets thinner as it moves to the high e side, positioning the bulk of the neck in the hollow of your hand, reducing the thickness under your fingers. Having less wood under your fingers gives you a fuller shaped neck with easy playability; in a way, it gives you the best of multiple worlds from the previously mentioned neck profiles.

This style of necks is used mostly on signature models of guitars such as the Brad Paisley signature Telecaster. Early A-symmetrical necks were usually the result of a mistake when the luthiers were building these guitars; little did they know those mistakes would make for a very comfortable guitar.

When choosing a neck shape, you might want to look into the fretboard radius of your guitar, and just like the neck shape, there are several different sizes you should know about when doing your research.

The fretboard radius is the measure of the arc of its width. If you take a closer look at a guitar neck, you will notice that very few of these necks are ever genuinely flat and are slightly convex across the width. That is what the fingerboard radius measures. Other stringed instruments, such as the classical guitar, banjo, and some steel-string guitars, have flat fingerboards, which means you will not see that same curvature on their fretboards.

While Fender originally started with a 7. While I mentioned a couple of radius sizes, there are a few more that vary to model these include:. These letters were stamped on the butt-end of the necks, and have nothing to do with neck profile. Shop All Fender necks here. Skip to main content. Tech Talk.