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#1
11-12-2014, 04:03 PM
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Flat picker's delight?
Having tried several guitars to accommodate my playing style I'm curious which neckscales/widths people find most comfortable for this.
My own experience is that: FINGERBOARD WIDTH AT NUT: 1-3/4'' FINGERBOARD WIDTH AT 12TH FRET: 2-1/4'' BRIDGE STRING SPACING: 2-5/16'' seems to be most comfortable for me personally. Anything wider seems to be more suitable for finger picking and anything less seems to suit strumming better. I just am unable to adapt my picking hand to anything wider, the stroke is just too wide to play arpeggios or chordmelodies. Even holding the pick higher up and allowing for a wider stroke with the same input simply isn't accurate enough to hit the string with wider spacing and obtain the same dynamics. I'm curious as to what you guys prefer and why, maybe some additional picking tips may help overcome this problem. Ludwig Last edited by Von Beerhofen; 11-12-2014 at 04:09 PM. 
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#3
11-12-2014, 05:05 PM
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Hi Ludwig,
I am also primarily a flat-picker and have played in bluegrass bands as well as solo and in duos/trios for many years. From '75 until about '96 I had a very good D35, until for some insane reason I sold it to buy a new J40. Whilst both seemed to have the same neck dimensions, I just could not do pull-offs and hammer-on cleanly. I was fortunate to find myself opening for a gent called Isaac Guillory an expat American Singer-songwriter and an outstanding musician. Before the concert I was whining to hm about my new Martin. He told me that for many, as they develop their left hand style they find a need for wider necks and gave me his D35-S (1 &7/8" nut) to try - it was a revelation and I commenced a search for such an instrument. Long story short , my search finally ended in '99 when a kind and diligent guitar salesman in London found me a Collings DS2h -a 12 fret dread with a 1 &13/16" nut and string spacing of 2 & 3/8" at the saddle, with a modified V neck profile. The scale is 25.5". I do not have large hand or long fingers but I do have rather fat/flat fingertips. When one looks at the history and development of the steel string guitar, one sees that most all guitars had 1 & 13/16" or 1 & 7/8" nut widths until jazz/dance band music evolved and plectrum banjo players sought larger guitars (OMs and dreads) as rhythm section instruments - closed chording esp. for banjo player was why the 1 & 11/16" nut width came about. Flat-picking evolved shortly after and dreads had the power to match string bands and so guitarists put up with skinny necks. Of course many/most guitarists have never used anything but the skinny necks and some are scared by wider ones. Nowadays more and more makers are making wider necked guitars - usually 12 fret designs as typified by the Martin d28vs (1 & 3/4") , the 111 and the latest d28 '31 authentic. (1 & 7/8"). I believe that the ideal nut-width that you need is dependent on your fingertips, but the neck profile is more important when considering your hand size, and the string spacing at the saddle is more about your right hand technique. I hope this is of interest - it's one of my "things". Best,
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#4
11-12-2014, 05:43 PM
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Quote:
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#5
11-13-2014, 07:31 PM
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Quote:
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#6
11-13-2014, 10:06 PM
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I'm not much of a hybrid picker really, it's either or and when I try the or always make my pick fly into some direction or my fingers hit an airy substance. Although I'd love to be able to play this way I think I just learned too late about it's possabillaties. I'll keep trying though.
Thx for your insight anyway. Ludwig
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