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| String Spacing - Nut Too Wide? http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=50587 |
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| Author: | Spyder [ Tue May 01, 2018 8:56 pm ] |
| Post subject: | String Spacing - Nut Too Wide? |
Getting started putting the strings on my #1. Unfortunately, I made the fretboard wider than I intended, by .100". Right now I am getting the strings laid out, but they are still way high so I have room to bring them in if necessary. The problem is, my nut is 1.910" wide. Oops. I had intended it to be 1.800, which is the same width as the second fret on my old guitar, which I played detuned one whole step with the kapo on the second fret due to a bent neck. But it ended up too wide. Essentially this is the same width at the nut as my old guitar at the 5th fret. Maybe not so bad? Just wondering if anyone else has ever done this. The string spacing is pretty wide, but is this excessive? Should I place them closer together, even if it looks a little off with extra fretboard showing on the bass side? Or just leave it as-is and learn to play it this way? Feedback welcome! |
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| Author: | DanKirkland [ Tue May 01, 2018 9:43 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: String Spacing - Nut Too Wide? |
Try this. Make a nut with the wide spacing. Make another nut with the narrower spacing. Try them both, see which one you like best. Whatever one that is is the one you go with for this guitar. |
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| Author: | Chris Pile [ Tue May 01, 2018 11:31 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: String Spacing - Nut Too Wide? |
Personally, Spyder - I like wide necks. Not everybody does. If it's going to be your player - by all means make it wide. |
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| Author: | Joe Beaver [ Wed May 02, 2018 12:43 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: String Spacing - Nut Too Wide? |
My only advice is, first, do as Dan suggest. That will help you pick a neck profile, and try not to consider how much work is involved when picking. Maybe the 1.9" nut will work, or maybe you will really want to go to the 1.8" profile you planned for. Whichever you choose just do it. If you do have to re-profile and re-finish the neck, then so be it. You will not regret it once all is said and done. |
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| Author: | Haans [ Wed May 02, 2018 7:44 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: String Spacing - Nut Too Wide? |
So, no one has asked...are the P/H and F/B bound? |
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| Author: | Spyder [ Wed May 02, 2018 9:29 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: String Spacing - Nut Too Wide? |
Haans wrote: So, no one has asked...are the P/H and F/B bound? No, but at this point I don't want to do anything that involves finish work. For various reasons, all chalked up to the learning curve and what NOT to do, the finish on this guitar has been a nightmare. So whenever possible I am avoiding anything that requires removing any finish. Besides, #2 is not that far behind, and I did make the neck narrower on it. |
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| Author: | Freeman [ Wed May 02, 2018 10:58 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: String Spacing - Nut Too Wide? |
I have built two guitars that after completion I decided that I hated the necks (not too wide, just too thick and chunky). Both were bolt on, after trying to force myself to play them I finally bit the bullet, pulled them off and reshaped them. They are regular players now, a friend played one of them the other day and wanted to buy it. Stripping and refinishing may not be as bad as you think. |
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| Author: | Haans [ Wed May 02, 2018 11:36 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: String Spacing - Nut Too Wide? |
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| Author: | Clay S. [ Wed May 02, 2018 11:40 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: String Spacing - Nut Too Wide? |
If you play fingerstyle or classical you may find the wider neck an advantage. And you don't have to use the whole neck - as you mentioned you can keep the strings at the originally intended spacing which would only add an additional 50 thousands (the width of the low E string) on either side of the fretboard. Splitting the difference (1.85) would make it barely noticeable. Personally I like a bit more space between the edge of the board and the string. |
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| Author: | Spyder [ Wed May 02, 2018 11:56 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: String Spacing - Nut Too Wide? |
Freeman wrote: I have built two guitars that after completion I decided that I hated the necks (not too wide, just too thick and chunky). Both were bolt on, after trying to force myself to play them I finally bit the bullet, pulled them off and reshaped them. They are regular players now, a friend played one of them the other day and wanted to buy it. Stripping and refinishing may not be as bad as you think. In this case, stripping the finish was far worse than I would have believed. Yes, I'll admit up front that I messed up big time with the finish on this guitar. I wanted to try locally sourced lacquer, in the end I got so frustrated I put the guitar down for a couple of years. Just could not get the stuff to work. to begin with, it had to cure for 6 months, and it never got chemically stable. It checked in little squares like a dried up mud hole, and too many things dissolved it, even after two years of cure time. Once it was sitting against a plastic bag, which ate into the finish and had to be peeled off. Same for the vinyl gig bag it came in contact with. When I finally decided it had to go, I figured I'd just strip it to bare wood and start over. Nope, no way was this stuff coming off. Never did get dust off of it by sanding, just rubber-like shavings more like eraser dust. Tried everything I knew - lacquer thinner, acetone, chemical strippers, sandpaper, scraper, nothing would take that stuff off. The chemicals would dissolve it and raise it, but that was all, you simply could not scrape that stuff off. Eventually, Brian Howard suggested soaking paper towels with acetone and letting them draw the finish off. That worked better than anything, but it never did get it all. i finally managed to get enough off to recoat the thing with shellac I mixed myself from flakes. That has at least sealed it up enough to stabilize it. So overall, I am very pleased with my workmanship on this thing, except for the finish. Went from a beautiful high gloss you could leave impressions in with a towel, to a semi-satin that looks good enough that no one will know what trauma I went through. Lesson learned! |
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| Author: | Spyder [ Wed May 02, 2018 12:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: String Spacing - Nut Too Wide? |
Clay S. wrote: If you play fingerstyle or classical you may find the wider neck an advantage. And you don't have to use the whole neck - as you mentioned you can keep the strings at the originally intended spacing which would only add an additional 50 thousands (the width of the low E string) on either side of the fretboard. Splitting the difference (1.85) would make it barely noticeable. Personally I like a bit more space between the edge of the board and the string. This is what I have decided to do. I think I mentioned that my original idea was to set the nut width to the width of the second fret on a '76 model Terada, which is what I learned to play on. i say second fret because the neck bent at the nut, and was unplayable unless you put a capo on the second fret. So that was my plan. I redid the string spacing this morning, and it looks and feels much better to me. Yes, a touch wider at the edges but no big deal, and since this is a 12 fret joint to the body, won't be playing up the neck that much anyway. Only issue is the width of the strings for the right hand, since the spacing of the bridge pins is a little wider than the old guitar. But hey, truth be known, I'm a mandolin player and can't really play guitar anyway. So not that big a deal for me to adjust to the wider strings! |
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