Chunky neck!

**jaycat** · Jun-13-2012, 12:29pm

I love the big old chunky neck on my '16 Gibson A. Seems like most of the other mandolins I've tried out have those skinny necks, no meat on the bones.

What other mandos have a good ole chunky neck, something you can really wrap your hand around?

**JEStanek** · Jun-13-2012, 12:31pm

Weber and Breedlove come to mind.

Jamie

**Stephen Cagle** · Jun-13-2012, 1:09pm

Try the new Loars. My goodness compared to what I like these are like tree trunks.

**Mike Bunting** · Jun-13-2012, 1:10pm

My Stanley has a fairly substantial neck on it.

**Mike Bunting** · Jun-13-2012, 1:10pm

Originally Posted by Stephen Cagle

Try the new Loars. My goodness compared to what I like these are like tree trunks.

Yeas, the one I've looked at have necks like fenceposts.

**jaycat** · Jun-13-2012, 3:03pm

Those Stanleys are beautiful. But I strictly go for the oval holes . . .

**stonefingers** · Jun-13-2012, 3:37pm

The Healey mandolins that I have played have a rather large neck.

http://www.healeymandolins.com/page04.html
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

**mandroid** · Jun-13-2012, 5:13pm

Mix A pattern came out chunky necked, Peter had the pattern compensate for that better,
He says, .. when they made the pattern the F mold was made over..

**NG53** · Jun-13-2012, 10:08pm

I have a Loar LM600 and a LM700. The former is second hand made about two years ago and the latter was made earlier this year. The neck profiles have changed in the meantime - the LM-700 mandolin has a much sleaker neck. Both have the nut width set at 1 3/16". The profile of the neck on the older LM600 mandolin is much like the old Gibson As. I would not describe the neck as a fence post but it is definitely chunkier. I find it easier to play on the LM600 because your hand has something to grip onto - it seems to let the fingers do their job more independently. I would not be put off by the chunkier necks. IMHO they are both easy mandolins to play. Also see the post by Joe Vest today on Herschel Sizemore's new The Loar mandolin. He will be posting photos of it soon.

**Ivan Kelsall** · Jun-13-2012, 11:58pm

Jamie - There may be some variation in neck dimensions in the Weber range.The neck on my Weber Fern is skinny compared to the neck on my Lebeda,which isn't 'chunky' itself,
Ivan

**JEStanek** · Jun-14-2012, 8:22am

I had a Weber Beartooth and a Breedlove Quartz KF each for several months. Both were far more substantial than my narrow V necked Eastman mandolins. I guess chunky is relative. Both the Weber and the Breedlove were more D or C shaped than the V I prefer. Your hands and experience will certainly vary. If someone were to ask me about getting a mandolin with a more substantial, wider, chunkier neck, my experience points more towards the Weber and Breedlove than Eastman brands.

Lots of folks dislike the narrower skinny Eastman V neck. I find it comfortable.

Jamie

**lenf12** · Jun-15-2012, 9:05am

Originally Posted by mandroid

Mix A pattern came out chunky necked, Peter had the pattern compensate for that better,
He says, .. when they made the pattern the F mold was made over..

Speaking of Mix mandolins reminds me that Rigel mandolins have a rather substantial neck as well, not unlike a teens Gibson. My '16 F-4 was my first good mandolin and I still play it fairly often although it was supplanted by my '56 F-12 about 10 or 12 years ago. The F-12 has a slimmer neck profile than the F-4 which I immediately got used to. A couple of years ago, I picked up a used Kentucky KM-340S (made in China) as a "beater" mandolin. It has the slimmest neck profile (~ 1.0") of my 3 mandos and truth be told, I am finding it very comfortable and perhaps a bit faster to play since the string spacing is marginally closer together. That said, it doesn't take much time to get used to playing any of my mandolins whether slim or chunky. After the first verse of the tune, the size of the neck is hardly even a consideration. YMMV

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

**tkdboyd** · Jun-15-2012, 9:13am

Originally Posted by JEStanek

I had a Weber Beartooth and a Breedlove Quartz KF each for several months. Both were far more substantial than my narrow V necked Eastman mandolins. I guess chunky is relative. Both the Weber and the Breedlove were more D or C shaped than the V I prefer. Your hands and experience will certainly vary. If someone were to ask me about getting a mandolin with a more substantial, wider, chunkier neck, my experience points more towards the Weber and Breedlove than Eastman brands. ...

Jamie

Interesting--My Eastman DG1's neck is much more D/C shaped than my Weber, which has a thinner V neck.

**mando.player** · Jun-15-2012, 9:20am

My Clark and Rigel mandolins have C shaped chunky necks (nearly identical profiles). The Breedlove Quartz I used to own had a chunky neck, but was slightly more V shaped.

**ColdBeerGoCubs** · Jun-15-2012, 9:36am

Originally Posted by JEStanek

I had a Weber Beartooth and a Breedlove Quartz KF each for several months. Both were far more substantial than my narrow V necked Eastman mandolins. I guess chunky is relative. Both the Weber and the Breedlove were more D or C shaped than the V I prefer. Your hands and experience will certainly vary. If someone were to ask me about getting a mandolin with a more substantial, wider, chunkier neck, my experience points more towards the Weber and Breedlove than Eastman brands.

Lots of folks dislike the narrower skinny Eastman V neck. I find it comfortable.

Jamie

I've got an Eastman and a Weber sitting here, the Eastman is definitely narrower, but the Weber has a nice rounded-V thats definitely not chunky, not when compared to a Breedlove anyway. Was your Weber a wide neck model, because those are more C-shaped and definitely chunkier.

**greg_tsam** · Jun-15-2012, 9:43am

And here I was wishing my BreedLove had a chunkier neck. I thought it was small.

**JEStanek** · Jun-15-2012, 10:20am

I got the Beartooth in 2006 used. So it was probably a 2004 or older model. My Eastman 814 and now 805D both have necks that were essentially the same, narrower and not as deep with pronounced V shapes. The Weber was not a wide nut, IIRC, and it felt big in my hands. The Breedlove similarly felt large which is why I moved both of them on.

My Spira has a compound neck profile with D like on treble and V on the bass side with a facet just below the fingerboard for my thumb. It is the most comfortable neck I have ever played.

I've never played the Dawg series of Eastman mandolins but I doubt they use the stock Eastman profiles as they are built on other designs.

Others have called the Rigel neck the most comfortable they've ever held. YMMV. I'm not making any judgements on the good/bad of any of these just my experience with relative neck feel/chunkyness.

Jamie

**AlanN** · Jun-15-2012, 11:16am

Originally Posted by Mike Bunting

Yeas, the one I've looked at have necks like fenceposts.

As did the couple of Sam Bush Gibsons I have picked on. Louisville Slugger comes to mind.

**tkdboyd** · Jun-15-2012, 11:22am

This is crazy cool to have so many variations (no wonder there is such a debate about the "Gibson Sound") regarding neck profiles...My Weber is a wide nut, pronounced V and pretty thin!

Would be interesting to hear from retailers and manufacturers as to variations over the last decade in regards to the neck profiles.

Best feeling necks so far, in no particular order, have been a Ludwig, Kimble, Bentrup, and a particular Kentucky Dawg, (can't imagine how nice the Montelone Grand Artist must be!) Interestingly enough what can seem to be comfortable at first can become painful after playing for a while. I like to alternate between sessions to make my hand and self more aware of wrist angles...or this could just be me trying to justify my MAS!