Speed neck

[leevan_lee]

Does the speed neck on king v's (D shaped Flat fretboard and medium frets) make soloing harder? because im thinking mustaine may have done this to allow him to riff much better while singing. because i dont know if this guitar can be used for lead better than an rr1.

[Musician78]

I'm don't have the technical knowledge that some of the members here have, but out of all my guitars, my KV2 allows me to solo the easiest.

[Sinistas]

...It's not like Mustaine doesn't play lead.

[Spivonious]

Mustaine plays at least 50% of the solos, so your theory doesn't seem to have much merit.

[toejam]

"Speed neck" doesn't really have anything to do with speed. Some people think just because a neck is a little thinner that you can play faster. Playing faster is a technique you have to work on, regardless of what size the neck is.

[MartinBarre]

Doesn't matter what sixe neck I play on, I play at the same speed.
Not very fast.

[Axewielder]

I overplay past the limits of my abilities equally badly on both speed and non-speed (slow?) necks.

EDIT: (making an effort to be helpful...) I think the "speed neck" is really just marketing. They make necks in different configurations to cast a wider marketing net over more players. It's totally subjective.

[tanpsi]

The names of neck shapes could be marketing but there are some real differences in comfort, which combined with other setup variables, could lead to playing better and even a little faster.

Think of a baseball bat tele neck, add in heavier gauge strings, higher action and it's going to be harder to play and harder to play fast especially legato stuff.

Although I can't hear differences in tone that people say the neck thickness effects, which I guess is why Teles and SGs still have the thick necks.

[Grahf]

it depends on your style. it made it a bit harder for me, because i come from the school of southern lead playing with huge wide bends and holding multiple notes, but now that im used to it i wont play any other neck

[Larz]

While fast players can probably do it well on any guitar, the KV2 neck is certainly wicked pissa compared to some of the necks you'll find prowling around at guitar center on various models, even higher end stuff IMO. Comparing to an RR1 is probably just personal preference.

But when I switch to my tele, its just different, not worse.