Single-neck, or double-wide with loafer, Poll

David Doggett · Posted 6 Jan 2008 11:20 am

Over on the "Pad or no Pad" discussion, someone suggested we needed a poll on this. So here it is.

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

I prefer the 1 and 1/2-wide body with no pad, but that's not one of the choices. Can you add it?

David Doggett · Posted 6 Jan 2008 12:24 pm

Lee, apparently I can't add an option now. But most modern single-neck bodies have a back ledge that is 1/4 to 1/2 neck width. The manufacturers like to have that space for knee levers. So I would consider the choice of 1 1/2-wide without a pad to be pretty much the same as option #1.

On the other hand, student models tend to have no back ledge, or to be very skimpy with it. When I made the original poll, I tried to have an option "I play a student single-neck and don't know what my preference would be." But for some reason that 4th option didn't make it into the poll (maybe because it ran outside the box), and I was unable to add it. The reason I wanted that option is I don't want people to just vote for what they currently have, if it is their first student model, and they don't really have enough experience to know what they might want on a pro model. On the other hand, if someone with a student single-neck has tried various pro-models and has an educated preference, they should go ahead and vote.

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

Agreed. Thanks.

Larry Strawn · From: Golden Valley, Arizona, R.I.P.

I think I'm beginging to get a complex about the term "loafer pad".

I'm begining to feel as if all of us that play the S/D's are being looked upon as loafers, or slackers, and are breeding bad habits by resting our arm on the pad. Sad

JMO

Larry
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Carter SD/10, 4&5 Hilton Pedal, Peavey Sessions 400, Peavey Renown 400, Home Grown Eff/Rack
"ROCKIN COUNTRY"

Dennis Graves · From: Maryville, Tennessee

Larry,

Don't worry about it. Some folks could play no matter what, and others can't, no matter what. I don't care if you rest your feet or anything else on it. If it's comfortable and you can play, who gives a ratsa**

Dennis

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

Hmm. Slacker Pad. Nice ring to it.

Dennis - b0b doesn't like seeing the word a** on the Forum. He prefers a$$. Wink

Calvin Walley · From: colorado city colorado, USA

Larry

until today i never heard the term "loafer"
call it whatever you want, i still like it
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Mullen SD-10 /nashville 400
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Guitars that i have owned in order are :
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Sho-Bud Mavrick

Bent Romnes · From: London,Ontario, Canada

Calvin, Like you said in the other thread: It all boils down to personal preference.
It is interesting to note that the pad is winning so far

David Doggett · Posted 6 Jan 2008 3:13 pm

Didn't mean to use a prejudicial term. Maybe it's an older, out-of-fashion term. I think if you do a search on the old Forum using "loafer" there will be some hits.

As a keyboard player, I can't help but think strict teachers would consider a padded armrest something that belonged on a piece of furniture rather than a musical instrument. On the other hand, I've heard plenty of players with a "loafer" who didn't seem hendered by it in any way, starting with it's inventor, Lloyd Green.

David Doggett · Posted 6 Jan 2008 3:21 pm

Yes it is a matter of preference and what one gets use to. It is a common preference for people who have played a D10 and are use to resting their arms on the inside neck, and are use to the distance. I would be interested in hearing from those who never played a D10, and who have tried both a single-neck and a double-wide with a pad, especially if they switched from one to the other. They would seem to be the most impartial, and the ones least influenced by habit. In fact, now that I think about it, I wish I had made a separate option for former D10 players. That way we could eliminate the force of habit and look at what those with a fresh slate thought. Man, this poll taking ain't so simple.

Skip Edwards · From: LA,CA

The term loafer here doesn't come from being lazy... it was the model name for the Emmons SD, when they first started making them in the mid-'70's.
But I wonder how an "Emmons Slacker" would've sold.

Papa Joe Pollick · From: Swanton, Ohio

This question got me to thinking,my PSG is a SD with pad.My Stringmaster is a D8,no pad ,of course.I've never missed not having a pad on the Stringmaster so I doubt if I use the PSG pad to "loaf on".To be honest I don't realy know if I would miss it or not.I do know it looks good.Hand tooled cow hide.So I voted pad..PJ Very Happy

Larry Strawn · From: Golden Valley, Arizona, R.I.P.

I've owned and played both single and S/D 10's, and as I've stated in other threads I believe it comes down to personal preference and choice.
I've never been able to tell any difference in sound or stability between an S10, and a S/D10. I just like the extra room underneath the guitar and the comfortable arm reach.

After my first S10 I went to a double 10 for several years, this may be one reason I prefer the S/D over the single body, I was already used to the reach and the size of the guitar body. Very Happy

I agree with David, some one who has never played a Double neck would be a lot more impartial in thier oppinion of 'pad, or no pad'.

Larry Very Happy

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Carter SD/10, 4&5 Hilton Pedal, Peavey Sessions 400, Peavey Renown 400, Home Grown Eff/Rack
"ROCKIN COUNTRY"

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

I have always been a loafer, musically.
I used to rest the heels of my hands on the piano keyslip. Bad form.

On pedal steel, it gives me a place to rest while I think 'Now what did I just do...?'
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Howard Tate · From: Leesville, Louisiana, USA, R.I.P.

I tried a single at one of the shows last year, it was very uncomfortable to me. Tried the same brand with a pad and it felt good.

Pete Macomber · From: San Francisco, California

I have a sd-10 which I often consider selling. The extra poundage "weighs heavily upon my mind". Now I've got my eye on the bad form habits from being a lazy loaferboy.

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

I'm a former D-10 player who migrated to a U-12 in 1993 after 20 years on various D-10s. To me - after the integration of the 2 tunings,the main other advantage of a single tuning guitar is the potential to have a smaller,lighter ax. As a D-10 player,I played mostly E9 on a typical gig while reaching across the back neck and it came to feel normal but I played enough C6 while not having to reach over another neck that that felt normal also.So when I switched to a U-12, I just took all the possible advantages I could see in that transition and went for a fully loaded keyless single wide body and I'm here to tell ya,life suddenly got real easy.I made the adjustment in about 2 weeks.Having a double body w/a loafer pad seems like a ridiculous idea to me.It's like pulling an empty trailor behind your car.The beginnings of all this just seems like Lloyd Green wanted to keep the guitar he had but wanted to get rid of the C6 neck because he never played it - then steel players being a rather cultish bunch,just mindlessly followed suit and the marketplace provided instruments which - lets face it - were real easy to build from existing toolings.I think it also appealed to guys who never got around to learning C6 and who didn't want that neck on their guitar for fear they might be asked to play it.I'd venture a bet that Lloyd is probably pretty amused by all that.Another thing I keep hearing is that you need that space if you want to have a lot of levers but I have 9 levers on my single wide keless Excel and that's about the smallest U-12 I'm aware of.

The only real reason I can see for a loafer is that big fat guys can get themselves under it easier and I'm coming to understand that argument myself a little more each year..... In fact if present trends continue I may find I can live with a quarter pad in a few years but for now I still vote for a single neck/no pad.

Ronnie Boettcher · From: Brunswick Ohio, USA

I'm not a loafer, but while recording in Nashville, in the late 60's, Lloyd was doing the steel work. I wanted to buy a new PSG, and after talking to him , and his views, He sold me on his model. Still play it today.
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Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

S-12 with somewhat wider than normal body, but no pad. Closest in the list is 1-1/2 body, so that's what I voted for.

I'm tall enough that a narrow single body is problematic - my knees about run into the pedal rods of some narrow bodies I've played. But if I wasn't tall, I'd definitely go single - I want no extra weight.

Jeremy Threlfall · From: now in Western Australia

I voted for single body.

occasionally I like to see my feet.

I started on a Starter (single body) now I have a Pro-1 with a small ledge.

Thats all I know, and all I want to know.

I'm a strong guy, but 55lbs in the case is quite enough for me.

James Collett · From: San Dimas, CA

Undecided. Only other guitar I've played has no pad, but 1 1/2 body- liked placement of levers better.
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James Collett

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

As an aside, what is the origin of the term "loafer"? Everybody in this thread, and the other current thread on this topic, has been making references suggesting that the pad is something you loaf on, playing or in between playing. Phrases like "a double-wide with a loafer". I've been under the impression, perhaps only an erroneous assumption, that the term "loafer" applied to the guitar, not the pad itself, and came from a facetious description of the pad looking like a loaf.

b0b wrote:

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