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Ok
so im building my first guitar, entirely with hand tools. Its gonna be a steel string, somewhat based on the plans in cumpiano's book. I was just wondering though how wide i can go on the nut width as id like to have a slightly wider fretboard then most steel strings. CLoser to the width on a classical. Will it affect any other scale measurements? Is there something i should keep in mind.
Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Ankit

I don't see how the nut width will affect scales, the only thing it will affect is string spacing. Just make sure they are spaced evenly and that everything else is correct and aligned. You might want to buy pre-slotted fretboard though to make things easier. Usually they come with enough width to go pretty wide and if you need it wider you had to have giant hands. I prefer 1 11/16" but that's on electrics because I found that most acoustics have 1 3/4"

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Typhoon Guitars
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Keep it simple and go with the dimensions in Campiano's book. Is there a specific reason you want to go with a wider nut?

As already stated changing the width of your fretboard won't affect scale length or fret postion.....these are affected only by lengthwise changes in fretboard dimensions.

Thanks for the reply guys.
Well no specific reason really except that i find it maybe a litle more comfortable to play and since im making it for myself i guess thats why.
Im also considering making a nylon string thats joined at the 14th fret. Would that be posible if i just followed cumpiano's directions on his normal classical and just join it at the 14th instead of the 12th or is there maybe a little more to it??

Cheers
Ankit

There is a lot more to it Ankit, 12 vs 14 fret neck .. you would want to change the layout of the bracing, even though its a fan braced classical - the bridge is now in a completely different place - it will affect the tone greatly.

As for making the nut wider, that is easy and wont really change anything.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

In regards to nut width, the bridge string spacing is also relevant to the nut width. The taper of the fretboard is relevant to the angle formed by the strings from nut to bridge string spacing. This is explained in Tradition and Technology.
A lot of finger style players I have built for like a wider necks but none go over 1 7/8". A classical is commonly 50mm or 51mm nut with that is roughly 2" but I have never built a steel six string that wide. 1 11/16" to 1 3/4" is the modern common width and most find that very comfortable. But Like I said I have build a few with 1 7/8" nut at 2 5/16" bridge string spacing. For a six string I would not go wider as for a steel string that is a very wide string spacing.

Ankit,

I built my 3rd, an OM, with a 1 7/8" nut (actual E-string centerlines 1 5/8"), and a 2 1/8 inch E-string spacing
at the saddle. I am a beginning player, but I am finding this guitar significantly easier to play than my 4th, which
is an "0" 12-fret, which has a 1 3/4 nut with 1 9/16 string centers, and 2 3/16" saddle. But I admit I am a rank
novice, and may change my mind on what I want as I begin to play better and start advancing down the
neck.

But one of the joys of building your own is that you can try anything you want. And if you use bolt-on necks
you can make two or three for the same guitar for learning or comparison.

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

I've made many steels for classical players!
The most ordered neck width size is in inches-1 7/8"th nut
2 1/4"12th fret -e to e at bridge 57 or 60 mm
Sorry i do not have an inches value for that one!
It takes more strength to push the steels down so they need to be able to almost grasp the neck!

Neck thickness in inches-13/16"th at the nut-7/8" at the 9th or so!
You can go thinner but i'd advise against it!

Mike

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Mike Collins