Help me understand nut width....

[Digits_Only]

Ignore the "nut width" doesn't matter posts. If you have large hands/fingers, nut width makes a huge difference. Especially if you play fingerstyle.

As far as electric guitars go, you can easily find guitars with 1-3/4" or wider nut widths. You can also buy a Strat or Tele (or others) and slap a wider Warmouth neck on it with zero problems.

[broken thumb]

Nut width matters to me, but string spacing matters as much, if not more. For years, my Takamine was my favorite guitar. I played it for everything, and it kept me out of financial trouble and marital trouble because it sounded good to me and I didn't feel the need for something else/more expensive. I started playing more demanding music in a duo, and started to feel eventually that some things about it might be holding me back. Nut width was one of those things, because it felt like the strings might be too close together.

Then I heard a guy playing a really nice Martin, played one myself, and found the string spacing was more comfortable. After I bought mine, imagine my surprise when I took the time to measure and found that the nut widths are identical at 1 11/16", but the *string spacing* on the Martin is 1/8" wider.

That isn't much when you look at a ruler, but it feels HUGE on a guitar neck. My Taylor's nut is 1 3/4", but its string spacing is only 1/32" more than the Martin. I can't even tell the difference in string spacing, really, but I can feel that the neck is wider and has a different profile. Both are easier for me to play than the Takamine, and both sound better (in their own unique ways).

I grew up playing a classical, so that may have something to do with it, but I like the wider neck.

[TBman]

I have hands on the short side and a touch meaty. I have guitar nuts that are 1 11/16, 1 3/4, 1.8" and a classical that is 2 miles wide (lol)

Playing a B7 is a little cramped on the 1 11/16 but flows easier on the wider nuts. Go to a guitar store and try out some different neck widths. The neck profile does make a difference also. All of my guitars have a low C oval, more or less.

[Brad13122]

Where can I find string spacing on the Taylor's. I don't see it on the website specs. Martin is on the website.

[dhalbert]

It's not on the website. I wrote to Taylor last month about the string spacing at the saddle and got this reply:

String spacing on all of our steel string acoustic guitars is 2 3/16”; there is no option for changing that spec.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Brad13122

I have bigger hands and fat fingers so I'm wondering would a 1 3/4 nut be better for me. I've just been playing a few months and doing fine but sometimes i feel like an extra 1/8th " of space would help me on some chords. Should I just roll with my 1 11/16th or try out a 1 3/4? Does it really make that much difference? I've noticed most guitars are 1 11/16th now.

Hi Brad...

While you are trying out guitars, try to find a 12 fret Martin Slope Shoulder Dreadnought which has a 1¾" nut. Martin also built some 1⅞" nut widths (12 string guitars often have that measurement)

If that doesn't provide enough space, then a full sized classical guitar would have a 2" nut.

Trying out different guitars is fun and educational. You don't have to buy one to try it out. Just visit a well stocked Guitar Center, Sam Ash etc. and play some of the different brands with different nut widths and with different neck profiles.

It's hard to predict how it will affect your playing, but it's easy to check out.

Have fun growing musically...

[scottishrogue]

Different style guitars have different width fretboards. The most common nut widths are 1-11/16", 1-3/4", 1-13/16", 1-7/8", and 2" for most classical style guitars. The string spacing is different, and makes each style easier to play different types of music. Nylon string guitars play easier with wider string spacing.

Glen

[Pheof]

If I had a preference, I'd take wider. But it certainly wouldn't be a deal breaker. I own Martins, Fenders, Gibsons and a couple other names - why limit yourself over a sixteenth of an inch? I've played so many guitars it doesn't matter. The only thing I find I really can't use is a hard V-profile because it messes with my thumb position and gets in the way.

[Twilo123]

Originally Posted by Brad13122

I have bigger hands and fat fingers so I'm wondering would a 1 3/4 nut be better for me. I've just been playing a few months and doing fine but sometimes i feel like an extra 1/8th " of space would help me on some chords. Should I just roll with my 1 11/16th or try out a 1 3/4? Does it really make that much difference? I've noticed most guitars are 1 11/16th now.

what i found to initially show the difference was exaggerate and try classical or 'hybrid' types. for me i immediately knew the different as it was harder for me to chord. i had to actually stop and think about it like what the f just happened to me. i've been playing X amount of years and all of a sudden nothing works lol. Then i went back and started seeing the more minute differences. the nylon classical tends to have easier runs on the fretboard but the spacing is immediately felt and i find bends on nylon a joke.

[Silly Moustache]

The OP asked to understand nut widths. This is my answer copied from much the same question in a thread a few hours ago.

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 and of course archtops) 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 do not have large hand or long fingers but I do have rather fat/flat fingertips and have found that for everything including flat-picking a 1 & 13/16" to 2 &3/8" string spacing on a standard scale over a modified V profile is best for me - but not necessarily for you.

I hope this is of interest - it's one of my "things".

[MBE]

I'm guilty of having a preference, but I developed it over a decade and a half of playing. I have very small hands for a man, but started out on a 2" classical (studying classical seriously) and the classical culture emphasizes training your fingers over fitting a guitar to cover holes in technique.

I play everything from concert ukulele to bass. I do think this board encourages the idea of nut width being overly important - there are men with very big hands who absolutely tear it up on mandolin. Have you ever felt the string spacing on one of those? And I have met some women of rather small stature who dance across a 2" classical with more precision than I ever have.

Unless you have a medical condition impacting wrist and finger range of motion (such as rheumatoid arthritis), I don't personally feel that nut width makes or breaks the ability to comfortably and cleanly play the guitar - technique does.

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by broken thumb

Nut width matters to me, but string spacing matters as much, if not more.

Could not agree with you more. I think it's an overlooked spec. Learned the hard way when after my first Breedlove (with a 1.75 nut width) I purchased an Eastman online (also a 1.75 nutwidth) and when I got it I was like "hey, this feels cramped, what's going on?" So began my education on string spacing.

[ADK]

I recently bought my first 1 3/4" nut. I've only played 1 11/16" until now. It is a very noticeable difference with my large hands and fat fingers. I love it. Though, as others have said, neck shape is an important consideration, too. I've felt 'cramped' on many electric guitars, but the chunkier D-shape neck of my Epiphone 335 helps, despite having the standard 1 11/16" nut.

When I was shopping around, I just asked the sales people to point out guitars with different size nuts. Most of them were helpful and knowledgeable.

[kmcmichael]

Try them. 1 7/8 is my preference. I have two Strats and four acoustics with that size. My National is 1 13/16 and I notice it.

[DesertTwang]

I have very slender fingers and 11/16 vs. 1 3/4 makes a huge difference to me. I prefer the wider nut by a long shot, and I'm a flatpicker, mind you, not a fingerpicker.