Gibson lespaul neck being thick

[dex41]

Hi guys once again im here for help lol

i was wondering if its possible in anyway that i can make the neck of my black beauty thinner. the reason i bought the guitar despite the fact that im unable to fully grip the neck its becos i really love the sound of les pauls. is there anything i can do to solve this issue to help me play better due to my hands are slighty smaller than some average guitar players.

i noticed that my fingers cant even reach the 20th fret due to the fat neck of the les paul.

Please advice !!!

GREATLY APPRECIATED !!!

 

[LadyInTears]

epic facepalm.
bangs head on table

 

[dudelove]

do what jimmy page did. file it down.

take a file and start shaving it away. if u dare do it to a gibson.

if i were you, just sell it.

 

[khaos11]

hmmmm... need to approach a guitar customizer.... maybe they can help. not too sure how much it'll cost thou. PLUS if i'm not mistaken... it might affect the stability of the tuning.... MAYBE!!...

custom GURUS!!!.... need advise on this matter... cuz i too would love to have a thinner neck les paul... hahaha

 

[LadyInTears]

come on la, a lp is not an lp without its fatass neck.
its good for its own reason.

 

[PAF]

The best advice is to just sell it off and get another LP with a 60's profile neck. Don't do anything to it cause when you're selling it off, which you probably will, no one will want to touch it.

 

[Breen]

Don't pussy out and just use the guitar.

Or get the Les Paul made for ladies smaller hands in mind.

I have pathetic small hands. I couldn't fret with my pinky for my entire first and a half years of guitar playing. Not because I didn't try but I couldn't. So I did guitar exercises daily for hours and although I cant stretch even as modest as Satriani, not even thinking about Gilbert, I can use my pinky now, I fret bass notes with my thumb if I have to. Or I just adapt my playing to use less notes or easier to handle chords. What to do. Work with what you got.

Now I prefer thick chunky 50s Fender necks. Weird huh after all that suffering in the beginning.

Gibson? Really?

 

[Breen]

One more thing to add, I have a Epiphone Les Paul which was what I used learning to play. When I was still using it for stage use, and I need to grab notes high up the neck, sometimes I would move my fretting hand over the guitar body and fret the note as though I was tapping, and pull the note up to bend. It's a cool stage trick, not to be cool, but because I can't reach the 22th fret and bend up in tune.

How about you try and variate between sliding up with a finger with your hand over the guitar or fretting with a couple of fingers in the same manner. You could do better and use all 4 why not =]

 

[Ex14]

the faat neck is the speciaal thing about a gibby ._. if u don't like it might as well get another guitar with thinner neck? i wouldn't recomend filling it's neck, who knows what will happen.

 

[backagain]

Sell it and get an Edwards

I suggest you sell it and get an Edwards Les paul which comes with a thinner neck or get the ESP. Not everyone can play the Les Paul which has a thick neck. The thick neck contributes to the thick and long sustain of the Gibson Les Paul.

 

[Breen]

The thick neck contributes to the thick and long sustain of the Gibson Les Paul.

Hmm I'm sure it's a ingredient, but then again the late 50's Les Pauls have thinner then the usual or Les Paul neck. And those guitars sing.

 

[Phil]

Hi there,

in light of the situation, you've a few options.

1.) to just get used to it. As mentioned previously by some other members, you can just keep practising with that neck and eventually get used to it. Just keep working at it, and make the most of what you already have.

2.) replace it with another guitar that has a slimmer neck profile.

3.) if you just cannot adapt, then you might consider shaving down the neck. Here are some very good articles which I referred to when I was sanding down my neck. FYI, I just sanded it down to make it feel smooth. What you'll be looking to do is to reshape the neck. If your's is a genuine Gibby LP Custom, you might want to think twice before embarking on this because it'll lower the resale value. But it's your guitar, so at the end of the day it's your decision. Again, if you're not confident of doing this yourself, then send it to a reputable tech or don't do it at all.

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/cus...-going-sand-re-shape-neck-my-traditional.html

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/cus...-going-sand-re-shape-neck-my-traditional.html

 

[wahx]

That it totally correct. The neck gives that creamy sustain of the les paul which other guitars will not have. The 50's and 60's neck are only different in the thickness in the few frets from the nut with the 60s neck being slimmer. In the 12th fret both necks have the same thickness. The 50s neck of a les paul standard is NOT very thick. The thick necks are on the R8 models, these necks are what they call baseball bat neck.

 

[Whitestrat]

Whoa... A Les Paul's neck must be fat? You guys haven't really played a lot of Les Pauls have you?

 

[XLayaR]

Sell and buy Ibanez. Either that or practice more.

 

[ciki]

if you really like the tone its giving out, i would say stay with it, practise hard and get used to it. you might get to appreciate the usefulness of playing on a thick neck in the future. lol...and shaving it wil lower down its value.

 

[Whitestrat]

cuz i too would love to have a thinner neck les paul... hahaha

Very simple. Go buy a discontinued Les Paul Classic or a Slash Signature. Or better yet. go hunt for a 70s Gibson Les Paul custom. The Norlin period ones.

Necks are as thin as Fender American Standards and in the Norlin cases, even thinner.

 

[hifi_killer]

if you're gonna buy a guitar that costs >$3k, shouldn't you have taken all those issues into consideration?

 

[doggieshaman]

hahaha file down the neck.

CLASSIC.

aiya just continue playing with it. it's all in the mind. One day your fingers will reach those impossible to reach parts :mrgreen:

 

[eclipze]

if ur not planning to sell it forever ... sand it down to the bare wood ... and keep sanding it down till u got a nice grip on your palm
use sandpaper grit #80 to shape it, then #100 #220 #360#400 #600 and then use #800 #1000 for smoothing it

after that bath the bare wood in oil
u have to give it oil frequently .. preventing it from drying out... because the wood can cracks if its been dried out too much