1st post: nut width / going from nylon to steel

[gtsone02]

Originally Posted by SJ VanSandt

You are aware that Guy Clark played nylon string guitars that he built himself?

I did not know that...thanks. My wife, primarily through her Dad (who grew up around Austin) introduced me to Guy's music a few years ago...knew several of his songs, but didn't know they were his. Got a chance to see him live just before he passed. I've sung The Cape to my kids at bedtime probably 4 nights a week since I first heard the song.

[gtsone02]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

I'll rub this in - get youself to some dealer

So, is there an etiquette about what you can and cannot do when you walk into a dealer? Do you pick a Saturday and spend the day playing whatever you want (or at least whatever your budget would feasibly allow) for as long as you want?

[SJ VanSandt]

Originally Posted by gtsone02

So, is there an etiquette about what you can and cannot do when you walk into a dealer? Do you pick a Saturday and spend the day playing whatever you want (or at least whatever your budget would feasibly allow) for as long as you want?

It depends on the dealer, but most will let you play whatever you want for as long as you want, as long as you don't abuse the merchandise. Tell them what you are shopping for and what your budget is and they will often be very helpful.

[Jimi2]

As far as the harsh tinnyness of the unwound steel strings, I think youll get used to it after playing steel string guitars for a bit. It’s funny how our ears get adjusted to certain sounds, and that affects our perceptions. When I got my first nylon string guitar I had the equivalent response - it sounded incredibly muffled and plasticky until I got used to it.

I’m a photographer too and similar things happen with the visual apparatus- looking at one color tint will affect your perception of a different color until your eyes can adjust.

[mawmow]

ohhh... A guitar to play while the nylon strings tighten on your main guitar.
Why not a second nylon ? Just don't change strings the same month...
La Patrie Concert (Cedar/Mahogany) would puzzle you as it puzzled me
compared to my pricey Aria AC-80 and Ramirez R-4 (both Cedar/Rosewood) !

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by gtsone02

Hi everyone. As you can tell, I’m a newbie here and am relatively new to the guitar. May not have figured out how to properly search the threads, so please forgive me if I’m bringing up something that’s already been discussed a lot.

Hi g-02

First of all Welcome to the Forum! Glad you jumped in with a new thread.

Just for your info, it doesn't matter if topics are discussed often. This is a DISCUSSION forum, not a Guitar-a-pedia. With nearly 200,000 treads posted already, most topics have been covered often.

So your question involves neck width (nut) but it also should cover profile (shape and thickness of the underside). Sorry but I'm going to speak Imperial and not metric.

Profiles encompass Thin-"C" to Chunky "D" (baseball bat), moderate-"V", more acute-"V" and many profiles in between. Best to play them in person to see how adaptable you will be. Most of my guitars have a moderate to thin-C, but only 2 are extremely similar profiles (even though they are all 1¾" nut).

I'm thinking life-long classical guitar players find the necks on electric or standard steel string very thin, and as you said toy-like.

There are some Recording King guitars which have a 1⅞" (and some 1¹³⁄₁₆") nut width and the necks are more like a baseball bat (fat "C" profile).

Martin makes a slot-head, Slope Shoulder Dreadnought model with 1¾" nut width and deeper than usual neck profile. It's actually like a 12 string build with only 6 strings. This brings me to another point, I've had friends/students who took a 12 string with a 1¾" or wider nut, and had the bridge plugged and drilled for 6 strings, and the nut rebuilt as well.

One of my students had farmer hands (milked cows as a young man) and he could not fit his fingertips even into the spaces of a classical fingerboard. The only remedy was moving to a wider neck and the 12 string trick conversion was his only solution (outside of having a custom guitar built).

People who just strum chords, or flat pick prefer thinner necks (more agility).
Fngerstyle players often prefer wider fingerboards (at least 1¾").

There are wider fingerboards, and comfortable neck widths out-there. Also the top of your classical fingerboard is flat, and the finger of an acoustic is curved. This makes placement of fingers more efficient for their purposes.

Hope you find the acoustic of your dreams!!

Again…welcome aboard!!

[Daddyo]

My Larrivee SD50 has a 1 7/8" nut and I love it.
A few of the older Larrivee Traditional series have that wide nut.
My Taylor 312CE 122 fret has a 1 3/4 nut and sometimes I wish it was a bit bigger.

[gtsone02]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi g-02

First of all Welcome to the Forum! Glad you jumped in with a new thread.

...

One of my students had farmer hands (milked cows as a young man)


Hope you find the acoustic of your dreams!!

AgainÂ…welcome aboard!!

Thanks for the welcome Larry.

I don't think I'm in as bad a spot as your student...that sounds tough. Does remind me of a fiddle player I met some years ago. The guy's fingers were simply huge, but man could he play.

Part of what drove my origial post was that I was so surprised at how such small changes in the paper specs felt so massively different, and thought I might be crazy. Not knowing any better, a difference of ~1/8" at the nut and a ~3/4" in scale length didn't seem like much of anything...until the instruments were in my hands.