A Manouche Guitar for Starters: GJ-15 or D-500?

AndrewUlle

Are you most interested in rhythm or lead playing? If it's rhythm, don't be afraid of the thick necked guitars. Coming from a rock-n-roll background myself, I thought a fat neck was something I'd just have to get used to. However, I've come to love it, and now slim-necked guitars feel uncomfortable and tiring to play rhythm on.

Remember, the chords you'll be mostly using are NOT the same as rock/ folk / blues types (open chords and barre chords), and to me, a slim neck is a DISadvantage for GJ rhythm.

Now, if you're going mainly for lead playing, you might want to throw out everything I just said. My two pfennig's worth...

Jojo

Hi @Andrew Ulle . I don't have a GJ guitar (its an acoustic with a slim neck, I think) but could you explain in what way a slim necked guitar (is this the width of guitar i.e from E string to E string or the thickness of the neck?) tires your hand (s?) when playing? Is it a pressure thing or something else? Thanks

AndrewUlle

I mean the depth, not nut width. My DiMauro is a 12 fret-to-body short scale (~644 mm), nut width is 44 mm, 54 mm wide at the 12th fret, and the neck is a C-shape, approximately 28 mm deep at the 5th fret. In comparison, my Fender Strat neck is only 20mm at the 5th fret (as is my 73 Gibson J-45, unbelievably).

I find that my hand is more relaxed and does not have to squeeze or close up as tightly to fret the typical GJ chords. When I go back to my electric guitars, I notice my left hand cramps up very quickly compared to the thick-necked DiMaro.

As I said, for lead playing (which I don't), maybe a fat neck is more of a hindrance, but for rhythm, I'd never go back to a slim neck.