Fender necks - am I going mad?

I had a Fender P and hated it, my hands are probably a bit larger than the average female, but I traded it for an Ernie Ball Stingray and is so much better for me. It’s all about what works for you!! Nice basses btw :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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A lot of people dig the wider nut the P-bass and Stingray have, yeah. 41mm for the P-bass and 43mm for the 'ray.

I definitely like chonkier necks than the 38mm J-bass (and modern Ibanez, etc) but have landed on 40mm as my jam.

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Interesting. I have one J and 2 P’s (first P is a modern player series and the second P is an older made in Japan Sting with the old tele style pickup. The J is an Aerodyne - very light). The J definitely has a nicer neck for my small hands but most of the time I find myself playing a mid 80’s Greco which is a take off on a Les Paul Gibson bass. Short scale, nice narrow neck and pickups that are completely off the scale.

Your basses look fabulous … enjoy :slight_smile:

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I have smallish hands (and starting with arthritis) and generally prefer Jazz style necks, my P-Bass is a squire with a jazz size neck. I have fender Aerodyne Japan Export bass with a 7.5" fretboard radius and I hate the neck, I find it hard to play, which is a shame because the tones it produces are fantastic (it is going in for surgery soon, down to a 12" radius). I recently bought a 2021 Rickenbacker 4003, and that has a neck like a baseball bat on steroids, much thicker than my 2025 Rickenbacker, yet of all my basses I find it my favourite to play, for some reason it just feels right in my hands. Which I thought would be the opposite considering my hand size. I have also noticed this with my Ibanez necks, I prefer the thicker SRD-900 to the thinner SR-370, yet both have the same nut width. Worrying about nut width was what has stopped me getting some basses, but my experience with my Rickenbacker is making me question my decision.

Love the purple Jazz and painted headstock, a nice looking bass.

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Maybe it’s not just the neck then but perhaps it he whole feel of the instrument. My jazz bass is bigger and heavier in its body and I guess the neck feel out of proportion in its slenderness. Maybe that’s what’s going on with your Rick, as the whole thing is more substantial the whole package ‘fits’ well.

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It is strange, but it does feel right and after I have played it for a while the thinner neck basses feel strange. I do try and alternate every day so I get use to all the necks and my hands get a slightly different workout. I thought I would struggle more with a thicker neck, but like you say, it is a complete fit. I think the flatter fretboard helps as well.

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