Collings neck shape?

[Trebor Renkluaf]

Is what you get what you get or can you get different neck shapes on the Collings electrics?

 

[jads57]

The neck shapes are all great on all of the Collings electrics and acoustics I've ever played, and I prefer larger full shapes. But that said, they vary and are not huge, but very well thought out medium/large shapes.

 

[Trebor Renkluaf]

The neck shapes are all great on all of the Collings electrics and acoustics I've ever played, and I prefer larger full shapes. But that said, they vary and are not huge, but very well thought out medium/large shapes.

The electrics I've played have all had too much taper and/or too broad of shoulders up the neck.

 

[loud-acoustic]

I know when I've talked to them about acoustic builds they were willing to sand off a little here or there to make a shape more to my liking. I'd say just ask the guys at Collings they have always been amazing to work with.. they just are not a "one off" kind of shop. but they will tweak existing models quite happily in my experience.

 

[Cobra]

I emailed CS at Collings about this & they replied that they would make a custom neck profile on their electrics for no extra charge, but they need the customer to be very specific on the dimensions & shape, & even better to provide a neck for them to copy dimensionally.
They want to get it right the first time on any custom neck sizes...

 

[Rex Anderson]

Just for reference, I found this in some notes I made when doing research on neck shapes a few years ago.

The stock shape on Collings electrics is: .860 1st fret .960 9th fret 1.01 12th fret

Don Grosh offers these specs: med (.830 1st fret .930 12th fret), med/large (.850 to .950), large (.870 to .970)

If you look at the Grosh website and download his pricing and option list, you will see there are several other neck shapes he now offers as well. I find this to be a good descriptive reference.
If you have a guitar with a neck shape you like, you can measure it with a good set of calipers and have some reference points, but I think shape descriptions in words would be hard to translate into a neck.

If you have a neck you love, you should send the guitar to Collings and have them match it as well as possible.

I read Jon Herrington did that when he ordered his Hamer Talledaga Pro.

Nice to know Collings is willing to do this level of custom build.

 

[Trebor Renkluaf]

Thanks Rex, that make sense. I have a Don Grosh set neck with the med/large neck and love it, but it's about as large as I would go. What I was feeling was the greater taper in the Collings neck - it just gets to big up the neck for my hands.

 

[Chops]

The electrics I've played have all had too much taper and/or too broad of shoulders up the neck.

Yes, this is my observation as well. The shoulders on the neck make the electrics, as nice as they are, undoable for me. I have a Collings OM, however, that has a perfect neck.

 

[Rex Anderson]

Hey Trebor,

We are on the same page. I also settled on Grosh med/large neck profile as my favorite and have a set neck, retro classic and retro classic vintage T all with the same med/large shape. Perfect neck for me.

However, once I got used to that profile (I had been using guitars with thinner necks), I did not have any problem with Collings I-35 necks which seem to be, not quite as beefy as the City Limits.

I think a call to Collings to get current information might shed more light on the situation.

Good luck with your quest.