Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob56R
I own a Gallagher Doc Watson. The factory spec on this guitar is a 1.75 nut. This model was created as per Doc's request. Prior to Doc becoming famous, he played electric guitar in a band, and played fiddle tunes on it. After playing one of Don Gallagher's first guitars for several years, at some point he requested a neck which matched that of his old electric. He liked the wider neck. It's been mentioned here that the closer string spacing is better for flat picking fiddle tunes. Nobody played fiddle tunes faster than Doc. The wider neck didn't bother him. I want to add that my Doc Watson guitar's finger spacing is actually wider than 1.75. The string spacing at the nut is 40mm. I have a couple other guitars with 1.75 nuts and they are noticeably not as wide as my Gallagher. At the saddle my Gallagher is 56mm. It's really no wider at that end of the guitar. My hands are big and I like the spacing. I've actually widened the spacing at the saddle to 58mm by notching my saddle, but that's a whole another story.
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I mentioned that I preferred the narrower width for fiddle tunes. Others may prefer a wider one… both are valid. Billy Strings has smallish hands like me and his signature models have the 1 11/16. Bryan Sutton plays vintage Martins, too.