As someone who is principally a mandolinist, I often wonder why guitar necks are so impossibly wide. 1 11/16", that is just ridiculous.
In all seriousness, those above posters who mentioned the different hand position are spot on. When I watch guitar players, they seem to me to grab onto a guitar neck like it is a baseball bat, wrapping their thumb over the top to fret the E string.
A mandolin lays in the V created by your thumb and index finger. This, as has been pointed out, allows you to push straight down on frets like you would finger a violin. This is an important distinction because it gives you the precision needed to make microtonal adjustments on a violin or hit the very small sweet spot of a mandolin.
Personally, I only look at mandolins with a 1 1/8" nut width. To me, the 1 3/16" nuts make your fingers lay across the strings, rather than push straight down, and this leads to poor intonation and tone.
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