It has been said that a big fat neck is necessary for sustain. I have some thoughts about this I’d like to share. When we look at physics, I look at the guitar as a damper of string energy. The string is plucked, energy is transferred to it, and then this energy is transferred to the guitar body as it begins to resonate (or not) and diminishes over time. The length of time we call sustain.
Various factors affect how long the guitar naturally sustains. They include quality of construction, type(s) of wood used, it’s character and density, and type of body, whether hollow or solid or type of chambering. I contend that a lighter guitar with any neck profile can have excellent sustain. This would be due to the overall quality of the instrument. A lighter guitar, with less mass, will take less energy to get it to resonate and the quality of the build, (i.e. does the guitar ‘sing’?) will cause the guitar to dissipate the energy more slowly. This all contributes to a superior instrument.
‘World-class tone is no accident’