Neck Profiles

US Model Neck Shapes

PATTERN NECK SHAPES - CURRENT

Neck shapes have always been a high priority for PRS and a hallmark of our quality. A guitar should feel comfortable, like "home," as soon as you pick it up, and the neck is paramount to that connection. These new neck shapes reflect modern tooling and programming that allows us to even more preciously shape and consistently reproduce our necks.

Perfected after years of prototyping, the new "Pattern" neck is an updated Wide Fat PRS neck style based on Paul’s pre-factory design. These necks were found on the instruments built for Carlos Santana, Peter Frampton and Howard Leese from the late 70’s to the mid 80’s.

The new "Pattern Regular" neck shape is similar to the traditional PRS regular neck found on guitars made in the late 80’s at PRS’s former Virginia Avenue location.

The "Pattern Thin" neck is an updated version of PRS’s traditional Wide Thin neck.


FORMER NECK SHAPES

The Regular (sometimes called Standard) neck is a round neck shape that is 1/32 narrower and not quite as thick front to back as our Wide Fat neck.

The Wide Fat neck has the same nut width as the Wide Thin neck, but it has a deeper profile. Because of its strength and longer "heel", the Wide Fat neck produces warm tones with lots of sustain.

The Wide Thin neck has a thinner profile front to back than the Wide Fat. It is a favorite of fast players and lead guitar players.

Neck Measurements

WIDTH OF THE FRETBOARD AT THE NUT:

  • Pattern, Wide Fat - 1 11/16"
  • Pattern Thin, Wide Thin - 1 11/16"
  • Pattern Regular, Regular - 1 21/32"
  • 12 String - 1 47/64"

WIDTH AT THE BODY

  • Pattern, Wide Fat - 2 1/4"
  • Pattern Thin, Wide Thin - 2 1/4"
  • Pattern Regular, Regular - 2 1/4"
  • 12 String - 2 19/64"

NECK DEPTH AT THE NUT

  • Pattern, Wide Fat - 27/32"
  • Pattern Thin, Wide Thin - 25/32"
  • Pattern Regular, Regular - 27/32"
  • 12 String - 27/32"

FINGERBOARD RADIUS

  • 10" on all guitars except when otherwise stated
  • 11 1/2" on the Santana models and 12 strings

SCALE LENGTH

  • 25" on most models except when otherwise specified
  • 24 1/2" on the SC 58, Santana, Starla, Starla X, Mira X and 245 models
  • 25 1/4" on 513, DC3, and NF3
  • 25 1/2" on 305

SE Neck Measurements

WIDTH OF THE FRETBOARD AT THE NUT:

  • Wide Fat - 1 11/16"
  • Wide Thin - 1 11/16"

WIDTH AT THE BODY

  • Wide Fat - 2 1/4"
  • Wide Thin - 2 1/4"

NECK DEPTH AT THE NUT

  • Wide Fat - 27/32"
  • Wide Thin - 25/32"

FINGERBOARD RADIUS

  • 10" on all guitars except when otherwise stated
  • Torero: 14"

SCALE LENGTH

  • 25" on most models except when otherwise specified
  • Torero: 25.5"
  • Mike Mushok Baritone: 27.7"

Acoustic Neck Measurements

Width of the fretboard at the nut:

  • Wide - 1 3/4"
  • Standard - 1 11/16"
  • Martin Simpson - 1/53/64"

WIDTH AT THE BODY

  • Wide - 2 3/16"
  • Standard - 2 1/8"

NECK DEPTH AT THE NUT

  • Wide and Standard - 55/64"

FINGERBOARD RADIUS

  • 12"

SCALE LENGTH

  • 25 1/4"