Necks!! Drop your 2 cents here..

kerneltime

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I have come to like the big round neck that is on my Compass Rose and after playing that I have started to pay more attention to varying necks and my grip.
On some necks (typically narrower or with a flatter back side), the flesh on my palms some time reaches and mutes the A string and avoiding that is a bit uncomfortable.
On the other end of the spectrum is the neck on my Cocobolo Super Soprano. It is really nicely finished (fret ends, radius neck, smoothness of the neck) but it is a bit too narrow for me.
I have 2 ukes in the pipeline and I will surely be specifying the neck I want..
How has your experience been?
Here is a pic from the ukulele site
compass_rose_super_concert-2.jpg.jpg
 
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I like the neck on my concert Flea.

Feels "perfect" in my hand :)
 
I prefer 1 7/16 - 1 1/2 inch nut size. I prefer medium sized necks, in a more rounded shape rounded. Flat, squared off necks like Magic Fluke or Famous (Kiwaya) aren't comfortable to me. The shape of the neck on my Loprinzi was fine, but the thiness of the neck was bothersome. My favorite for comfort is my KoAloha.
 
Kerneltime, just like you I prefer a deeper neck, .750" with a round profile, no flat spot on the back. Early on I got a Pono pro classic and loved the neck. All my commissions for custom build ukes specified that same neck profile, with radius, a must for me. I have bought and sold many used high quality ukes, culling the ones with slim necks.

By the way I love the glamour shot of your Compass Rose, nice neck and backside :p Can we see the front. I had a Compass Rose 5 string, that had a FAT neck
 
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I haven’t really figured out exactly what geometry makes a neck comfortable. Several combinations work for me.
I’ve got thin, thick, wide, and narrow necks on my ukes. All seem feel right on the specific instruments I have. The specific neck profile, rounder or flatter seems to help with the other parameters. Go figure?

Oh... Beautiful Compass Rose!
 
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My KoAloha concert is the favorite neck I've played so far. If all the ukes, I bought had that I would be very happy.
 
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I prefer a round neck profile over a flat and square profiled neck. My ideal nut width is between 35 and 37mm, whereas 38mm (1.5") on Kanilea and Islander feels a bit to wide. Instead, a radius fretboard makes playing more comfortable for me. As someone else has mentioned, there should be enough outside spacing from the A string to the edge of the fretboard so the string is not muted by the palm of the fretting hand.

I like the neck profile of Pono and my KoAloha Opio tenor, both feeling very similar to other ukes I own, some of which were made by highly praised custom builders such as Luis Feu de Mesquita (LFdM), Jerry Hoffmann, Beau Hannam, Jay Lichty or Noa Bonk (Ko'olau). All of which are not thin, but perfectly rounded.
 
Something I've never thought about much. Threads like these come out and I have to go down to the ukulele corner in the basement and see. I do know that I thought that I would like a wider neck and I didn't in practice. But I'll admit that I came to that conclusion by playing my friend's ukulele. I've not had to live with one. I tend though to just get used to things, so if I had a wide neck ukulele I would probably play it and get used to it after a while and it would be good.
 
Kerneltime, just like you I prefer a deeper neck, .750" with a round profile, no flat spot on the back. Early on I got a Pono pro classic and loved the neck. All my commissions for custom build ukes specified that same neck profile, with radius, a must for me. I have bought and sold many used high quality ukes, culling the ones with slim necks.

By the way I love the glamour shot of your Compass Rose, nice neck and backside :p Can we see the front. I had a Compass Rose 5 string, that had a FAT neck

They are pretty! Here is the actual one I got.. had posted that image after google image search..
https://shop.gryphonstrings.com/pro...lele-compass-rose-luxo-c-flamed-koa-new-48340
483404.jpg

483407.jpg
 
I like slim, fast-playing necks with wide fretboards. My Kanilea Islander MST-4 and Cordoba 24T are both very comfortable tenor necks for me, and my Kiwaya KTC-1 has the nicest neck I have ever played on any uke, ever.
 
I like rounded and full, but not too wide necks, like Pono makes, the best.

bratsche
 
Favorite neck: Kinnard concert. My fingers, which have been through some serious injuries, have had me selling some great ukuleles that caused pain.

It's impressive that there is so much variety in necks out there, and we're fortunate to have choices, since we might be needing/wanting different things.
 
So far I seem to like more rounded beefier necks.
Even though I love my Kala Elite soprano, the super shallow neck profile makes it harder for me to play.
 
I congratulate this thread. I didn't even realize that this was a thing. I just pick up the ukulele and play. Even with my bespoke ukulele I didn't customize my neck. However I have really enjoyed vicariously living through other people's passion for necks in this thread. I don't think I understand the varieties of necks and what I would like in a neck, but I am enjoying learning
 
I congratulate this thread. I didn't even realize that this was a thing. I just pick up the ukulele and play. Even with my bespoke ukulele I didn't customize my neck. However I have really enjoyed vicariously living through other people's passion for necks in this thread. I don't think I understand the varieties of necks and what I would like in a neck, but I am enjoying learning

for me, the neck profile is one of the main reasons I will like or dislike playing an ukulele. Maybe it's more important for me because I have a very long scar from a bad cut I got when I was 14 that runs along the pad of my thumb from near the first knuckle of my left thumb to the nail. It took 14 stitches to close it and nearly 50 years later it still hurts.
Slimmer, wider profile necks allow me to hold the ukulele more painlessly.
 
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I congratulate this thread. I didn't even realize that this was a thing. I just pick up the ukulele and play. Even with my bespoke ukulele I didn't customize my neck. However I have really enjoyed vicariously living through other people's passion for necks in this thread. I don't think I understand the varieties of necks and what I would like in a neck, but I am enjoying learning

I did not think much (I did not like some necks but did not know what I liked) till I owned the Compass Rose. It is unfortunate Rick Tuner is no longer active in these forums, I would congratulate him on an awesome ukulele!! I should do a NUD with sound samples.
 
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