Neck profile - playability

[MandoChop]

I've been very complimentary of my Kentucky mando - it came setup fairly well, and has since, been setup to play well. And the tone, I'm more than pleased with. However, I notice that the neck is thinner profile than many, which I find requires greater flexion at the joints for certain chords, than many mandos. I find I'm more comfortable, especially on the 1st few frets on a mando with a thicker neck, but as I go up the neck, I seem to like my mandos neck just fine. Is having a thinner neck an expectation of a cheaper mando? Do F-style mandos have thicker necks or is there no corelation between style and neck profile? With time, would the thin neck bow under pressure from medium gauge strings (vs. light gauge) or is the truss rod able to compensate? Any flamers out there? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[Chris Biorkman]

Necks differ from brand to brand. I have a Phoenix with a wide fingerboard, but thin slightly v-shaped neck which I find very comfortable. I have a Collings that has a hard v. I don't really think it has anything to do with price.

[8STRINGR]

I should hear sometime next week that my Davis F-5L mandolin is finished. The neck on my existing F5 is pretty thick along with the fretboard just under an 1-1/4 at the first fret. Buddy had to make the neck on the Davis exactly like my existing mandolin due to my years of being so use to playing a neck of that thickness. His other mandolins were fine but just a little small for my personal preference. #

Both my existing F5 and Davis F5L have a more "rounded" neck... no V profiles. I don't think I've ever owned a mandolin (A or F model) that had a V profile. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

[Kevin Briggs]

I have wrestled with neck prfile in the past. My last mandolin has a very thick neck, and the luthier offered to shaveit down for me. It helped, but the mandolin was still very tight by nature, so it was still kind of difficult to play sometimes. It sounded great though.

I had a Pomeroy and that was very easy to play, despite having a pretty thick neck profile. It just never barked liked I wanted.

My Weber Fern has a nice rounded V neck profile that seemed a little big at first, but now it feels like it fits perfectly with the tone and overall action of the mandolin.

Neck profile is just one aspect. I also used to have a Kentucky that had a nice thin neck. I liked it.