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Old 05-15-2009, 12:54 PM
Howard Klepper Howard Klepper is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by terrapin View Post
I recently read an interesting post to another thread about nut width that said something I had never thought about..............

So, the difference between a 1 3/4 and 1 11/16 or a 1 7/8 is ONLY 1/16 difference either way at the nut..............

My question......... How does that 1/16 change relative to string spacing as you move up the neck?
Let's start with good arithmetic. The difference between 1-3/4" and 1-11/16" is 1/16". the difference between 1-3/4" and 1-7/8" is 1/8". So you are talking about 1/16" in one direction and 1/8" in the other, for a total variation of 3/16".

OK, the strings spread out as you go up the neck. The amount by which they spread varies among builders, and also with the purpose of the guitar. The Martin standard for OM style guitars is for the string spacing (center of the two E strings) at the bridge to be 1/2" more than the width of the nut, and for the width of the fretboard at the 12th fret also to be 1/2" more than the width of the nut. So the board's width at the 12th fret is the same as the string spacing at the bridge (which is what people usually mean when they just say "string spacing"). For dreadnoughts, the Martin standard is 1-11/16" nut, 2-1/8" 12th fret and string spacing. So the taper of the dreadnought board is less; it's 7/16" from nut to 12th fret, instead of the OM's 1/2".

There is a little room to play with that 1/2" flare in the board, and also room to play a bit independently with the string spacing. This depends on how wide the player wants the board to be up the neck, how wide the player wants the strings to be spaced apart up the neck, and also how close to the edges of the board the strings are to sit. For example, a flatpicker tends to want the strings closer together over the body than a fingerpicker. That's why the Martin standard is for closer spacing on the dreds, which are intended more as a flatpicking guitar. A jazz player is usually a flatpicker, and often will want even less flare on the board, so, for example, Bob Benedetto's standard board is 1-3/4" at the nut, and 2-1/8" 12th fret (probably also 2-1/8" string spacing, I'm not certain). The 12th fret and bridge spacing don't have to be identical--it depends on how close to the edges of the board the strings are to go as well as the spacing the player likes. I have found that a 1-3/4" nut and 2-1/4" string spacing can be comfortably used with the board only flaring to 2-3/16 at the 12th fret; I put the strings just a bit closer to the edges (an average of 1/32" on each side, but I'll usually give the high E more room than the low E).

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