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  #46  
Old 11-20-2015, 01:26 PM
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Originally Posted by paulzoom View Post
…I'm with you in the fact that I would never buy a guitar with 1 11/16 nut width. But the reason for me is that they all have too narrow a string spacing. But conversely I would not automatically buy one with 1 3/4 nut width because the spacing can differ so much.
Hi pz…

I don't buy guitars un-played. Totally solved it for me…



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  #47  
Old 11-20-2015, 01:29 PM
Rosewood99 Rosewood99 is offline
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Originally Posted by ljguitar View Post
Hi pz…

I don't buy guitars un-played. Totally solved it for me…



You must live at or near a city with a good guitar selection. If so, I'm envious. Where I live it's mid-level Taylor and Martin and that's it. I would have to drive 7 hours just to get to a store with boutique guitars.
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  #48  
Old 11-20-2015, 01:34 PM
dhalbert dhalbert is offline
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Originally Posted by ljguitar View Post
[size=2]There was a lot of discussion about widening the nut on the alleged 1.8" Seagull fingerboards, and what people discovered is the 1.8" is actually 46mm, and that calculates to 1.75" not 1.8".

French speaking Canada (where they were built) is on the metric system - as was the factory. Whomever maintained the website was converting the actual measurement of 46mm to 1.8" instead of 1.75, and there really was no extra fingerboard width.
I respectfully disagree with the math above: 46mm * (1in/25.4mm) = 1.811in (rounded), not 1.75".

The 1.8" nut used on Seagulls is the GraphTech TUSQ PQ-1801-00. The spec'd width is given as 1.8" and 45.9mm. GraphTech told me that's the OEM nut they supply to Godin.

It is true that the E-to-e distance on this nut is 1.5", which is the same distance as on GraphTech's (and most other) 1.75" nuts. I am grateful for you pointing this out in the past, Larry.

It does appear to me Yamaha uses metric nut widths and rounds to the nearest traditional English measurement. For instance, FG guitars are spec'd with 43mm nuts on the Japanese websites, and given as 1-11/16" on the US website. L series are 44m and given as 1-3/4". 43mm is a little wider than 1-11/16 (1.693", not 1.6875"), and 44mm is a little bit narrower than 1-3/4" (1.72" vs 1.75"). The E-to-e spacing of these nuts is not given.
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  #49  
Old 11-20-2015, 01:34 PM
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Originally Posted by paulzoom View Post
For me personally I look for string spacing at the saddle.
That is quite different than how I read your first post. It appeared to me that you meant string spacing at the nut. Your title references nut width, then the first sentence references string spacing. The word "saddle" never appeared in the first post.

And now back to something else.....
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  #50  
Old 11-20-2015, 01:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Todd Yates View Post
If nut width and string spacing are so closely tied, then why isn't knowing one just as good as knowing the other?

I think the real point is that I should just stick to technical discussions of vintage guitars, but being a glutton for punishment....

To help me understand exactly what you're looking for, what is your preferred string spacing? Is that with equal spacing between the strings, spaced on center, or something else?
See posts #7 and #13 in thread below.

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=408636

It's getting to be a bit much.
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  #51  
Old 11-20-2015, 01:58 PM
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Originally Posted by paulzoom View Post
You must live at or near a city with a good guitar selection. If so, I'm envious. Where I live it's mid-level Taylor and Martin and that's it. I would have to drive 7 hours just to get to a store with boutique guitars.
Hi paul


I live 100 miles from Denver's stores, and 40 miles from the luthier who built my last guitar. I spent 5-6 years choosing my last one and played guitars from coast to coast in the process.

It has nothing to do with distance for me.



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  #52  
Old 11-20-2015, 02:01 PM
Rosewood99 Rosewood99 is offline
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Originally Posted by ljguitar View Post
Hi paul


I live 100 miles from Denver's stores, and 40 miles from the luthier who built my last guitar. I spent 5-6 years choosing my last one and played guitars from coast to coast in the process.

It has nothing to do with distance for me.



Maybe so but I wish I lived as close as you do. I'll be waiting a long time if I only buy guitars I've actually played. Traveling isn't that easy for my situation. Fortunately I have gotten lucky on enough of my purchases.
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  #53  
Old 11-20-2015, 02:06 PM
DanPanther DanPanther is offline
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Originally Posted by Todd Yates View Post
Not to be a contrarian, but I think string spacing at the nut as a spec is largely irrelevant. I agree that it absolutely changes the feel, but I need to know how much real estate is available. If I like a guitar, but not the spacing at the nut, I can recut it or make a new nut to customize string spacing. The bridge spacing matters much more since changing that is substantially more invasive.
I agree, but it can be an issue if you choose to make it one.
When i first started playing I didn't have a clue about that, so now it's a NON issue.

Dan
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  #54  
Old 11-20-2015, 02:10 PM
Tone Gopher Tone Gopher is offline
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Originally Posted by ljguitar View Post
There was a lot of discussion about widening the nut on the alleged 1.8" Seagull fingerboards, and what people discovered is the 1.8" is actually 46mm, and that calculates to 1.75" not 1.8".
Math matters. How many digits are truly significant?

That's actually a 2" nut.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry Pattis View Post
If you're going to take an approach other than "if it feels good, play it", and try to understand *why* it feels good you need the following...and understanding what works well for any given individual, measurement-wise, can be quite valuable, IMO:

1) Overall nut width

2) E-to-E string spacing at the nut

3) Overall width of fingerboard at 12th fret

4) E-to-E spacing at the bridge

5) Scale length

6) Fingerboard radius

7) Some idea about back of neck profile (shape), thickness of neck, etc.


"Say something once, why say it again?" - David Byrne.

Why? Because people weren't paying attention the first 50 times.
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  #55  
Old 11-20-2015, 02:15 PM
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This is my experience: plenty of guitars, included some Martins and some less expensive Taylors, have a 43mm nut width. BUT... Martins and Taylors have a 37mm strings spacing, while most other brands (Yamaha, Takamine, Ibanez, Washburn etc...) have a 35 mm strings spacing. These 2mm of difference make a HUGE difference if, for example, you play fingerstyle. I have a couple of parlors, one from Fender and on from Ibanez, that have a 43mm nut width, they both had a 35mm strings spacing. I replaced the nuts with two nuts with 37mm string spacing and I can play fingesrtyle much better. And, even with a strings spacing of 37mm, there is still room at the edges in order not to "slip" with the E strings.
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  #56  
Old 11-20-2015, 02:29 PM
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Originally Posted by dhalbert View Post
I respectfully disagree with the math above: 46mm * (1in/25.4mm) = 1.811in (rounded), not 1.75".
Hi dh…

I stand corrected.

An issue comes with people believing what they read compared to actual spacing.

Seagull's have traditionally been spaced identically to their USA American guitar Counterparts. The 1¹¹/₁₆" (44mm), 1¾", (46mm), and 1⅞" (48mm on 12 strings). Confusion happens because the French side of the site lists the mm and the English side the conversions.

The 48mm is in reality spaced like a 1⅞", but if converted the neck would mathematically converted as 1.889"

I'm not sure how the Artist Pepping CW model Seagull is spaced since it is a 6 string with the same neck width as a 12 string.


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  #57  
Old 11-20-2015, 02:41 PM
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Originally Posted by PTC Bernie View Post
For me it's a combination of nut width, string spacing and neck profile. There are too many variable to make a blanket statement about a guitar based on just one of those criteria.

Exactly my sentiment.
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  #58  
Old 11-21-2015, 08:26 AM
rmyAddison rmyAddison is offline
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Originally Posted by paulzoom View Post
The operative word is "to some extent." Again, if you get the correct string spacing from the git go you probably will be happy with the nut width.
No, and I don't know any players who would agree with you. Nut width and neck profile are not adjustable in any real sense.

I have arthritis, 1-11/16" nuts cramp my fingers, 1-3/4" nuts seem to be my sweet spot, 1-7/8" nuts are to wide and cause wrist pain.

String spacing to me is fine tuning, if a nut is too thin or wide, or neck profile too meaty or thin, you already have a problem before you even get to playing the first notes.
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  #59  
Old 11-21-2015, 08:42 AM
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Originally Posted by paulzoom View Post
You must live at or near a city with a good guitar selection. If so, I'm envious. Where I live it's mid-level Taylor and Martin and that's it. I would have to drive 7 hours just to get to a store with boutique guitars.
This is my predicament, too. The choice is either to be satisfied with the best of Taylor, Gibson and Martin (and maybe a few others) that GC or Sam Ash offers or take some chances and risk losing a hundred bucks or so in shipping if an instrument doesn't satisfy.

As far as nut width goes, though, I find that neck dimensions count for more with regard to playability than nut width.
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