How fat is fat on a vintage Fender neck?

Is a fatter neck better?

It can be.

If "where you live" on the guitar neck is at the first 5 frets (as in the cowboy chord area), fatter is better because that's where you feel the extra thickness most. Rounder and fatter allows for better grip.

Gripping, to be clear, is not the same as pinching. Pinching is when only your thumb and some of your index finger is touching the back of the neck most of the time during play. Gripping is when you're actually using the palm of your hand. A thicker neck with physically more wood to grab will be more comfortable for players that use the palm to help hold the neck with while playing.

It should also be noted that ergonomically speaking, gripping is better than pinching. Using more of your palm results in less wear and tear on the hand.

Is it difficult to find a fat-necked electric guitar?

How difficult it is to find neck taper information literally depends whether the manufacturer states this information or not. Unfortunately, most guitar companies don't.

Schecter and Ibanez do state tapers for 1st and 12th fret neck depth/thickness.

Neither Fender nor Gibson state their neck tapers on guitar product pages. But at least for Fender in particular I could find that info from the "parts" section of their site. And no, it does not follow suit for Squier as they use different neck shapes and tapers, among other things.

ESP/LTD does not state the neck tapers. G&L also does not state the neck tapers.

Music Man, who does have very detailed product info pages for their guitars, does not state the neck tapers, ironically enough. Every other single thing you'd ever want to know about their models is there except that one rather important bit of info.

Guitar Fetish's Xaviere brand does state the neck tapers.

Rondo's SX and Agile brands state the neck tapers for some of their guitars but not all.

Again, whether you can find out the neck taper info or not depends on whether the manufacturer actually bothers to mention it...

...but it's totally worth looking into, because sometimes a fat-necked guitar feels really nice.

Published 2020 Apr 21