1 3/4 vs 1 11/16 Feel the difference?

[RC57]

IÂ’ve only been playing for a little over three years now and the first guitar I got was a 1 3/4 dreadnought. I found out that my fingers didnÂ’t particularly like that width so about two years ago I bought an OM with a 1 3/4 nut and felt much better, sort of put the dreadnought to the side. Last week I picked the dreadnought up out of guilt and started playing it and to my surprise I really didnÂ’t feel much difference between the two. Not exactly sure why but good for me..right? So I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

[JackC1]

I experienced something similar. I think it comes down to experience level.

I'm pretty new too; about 2 years. A few weeks, I was having a hard time play some chords on my (regularlu used) 1 3/4" nut-width guitar. I found it much easier to play on the 1 11/16" guitar that I don't use much. So, I was convinced that I should switch to 1 11/16".

I talked to my guitar instructor about it, and he suggested that I move my arm/wrist more for those chords (tucking the arm into the body or away from the body, for example, changes the wrist angle). In fact, I can even move my body a little too when needed. Turns out, that's all I needed to do. So I can play on both 1 3/4" and 1 11/16" widths now.

[schoolie]

I fret with my thumb a lot, and it's much more difficult for me on a 1 3/4" neck.

[Dave in Olympia]

I can certainly tell the difference, but can play either and prefer the wider nut. My old Takamine has a 1 5/8" nut. THAT is really noticeable.

[Peter Z]

For fingerstyle I prefer 1 3/4, when I’m strumming there is not much of a difference.
The neck shape is more important then the neck width for comfort (fretting with the thumb).

[douglasfan1]

Difference is quite obvious, especially when playing fingerstyle.

[ewalling]

I've never quite got the 'better for fingerstyle' thing. We have varied hand and finger shapes and sizes, coupled with the influence of whatever we learned on. These factors define, I think, what we feel comfortable playing, whether that's fingerstyle, flatpicking, or strumming. I play almost exclusively fingerstyle, yet I prefer a 1 11/16 nut width. I'm perfectly fine with 1 3/4, but if push comes to shove, I prefer the 1 11/16. I don't have particularly large or small hands, but the 1 11/16 does seem to help a little with stretches and thumb wraps. I learned on a 1 11/16 nut, too, so maybe that has something to do with it - my fingers 'fingerpick' just fine with that width.

[campfireplayer]

I can feel the difference, and can play either one, but lately I think I prefer 1 3/4"

[Mandobart]

I play a lot of different instruments with all kinds of nut widths, string spacing, scale lengths, fretboard radii, etc.

The more I read posts on this topic, the more I think I realize that these nut width issues that many here have are a result more of technique than physiology.

I've seen ham-handed, fat/stubby fingered players get around easily on a variety of nut widths (Roy Clark springs to mind, among others).

It's just my opinion that we're faced with a few choices as we go down the guitar road through life. One is to learn to adapt and improve our technique or keep swapping out instruments searching for the one that requires us to adapt less.

I don't think one approach is better for everyone. For me though, I'm looking for instruments that have the sound I want and meet (or can easily meet with some minor mods) my aesthetic taste and are within the budget I have. If I started to add other non-essential (to me) requirements like nut width, string spacing, fretboard radius, etc. I would screen out some of the instruments I currently enjoy.

[Wellington]

I'm a big believer that neck profile has more to do with it that nut width. I can feel a difference on my guitars but they also have different necks. Both play fine to me, I find the guitar with the 11/16 but more comfortable.

[Mbroady]

I was a diehard 1 11/16 player. For years I would stay away from anything wider.
Now with more experience (and playing some great guitars with 1 3/4 nut) I find it takes but a few minutes to acclimate when making a quick switch, in either direction.

That might change as I get older

[Jim Comeaux]

I am a flatpicker, pure and simple, and I do not feel a difference between my narrow gauge (1 11/16”) Yamaha FG-830 and my wide body Yamaha LL-16 ARE. Is it because they are made by the same manufacturer or because they are so similar? No, I don’t think so. The LL-16 has a neck that is very different from its brother. It is wider and thinner than the FG-830. The wider neck is not a problem but I don’t find either one of them to be preferable or any easier to play. The wider neck is not noticeable until I play down below about the 8th or 9th fret. Not particularly difficult, but something to be aware of.

[mr. beaumont]

I had no idea guitars even had different nut widths until I started joining internet forums.

Seems that string spacing is a bigger deal than just "nut width."

All in all, I find the nut width to be just one variable that goes into making a guitar's neck comfortable to me. The shape and depth have a bigger effect to my hands, as I have guitars I am comfortable on with 1 11/16ths, 1 3/4, and 1 7/8ths inch necks, as well as a standard classical which is a shade over 2."

[llew]

I've found that nut width doesn't necessarily equate to string spacing at the nut. At least with the Eastman's I've tried. I have a E40OM-TC that's 1 3/4" at the nut but string spacing is 1 7/16 just inside E to e. Tried a LTD E16SS-TC with a 1 11/16" nut that had the same string spacing as the 1 3/4" nut. To me the string spacing at the nut is way more important than the actual nut width.

[KarenB]

I feel a difference. And I'm a wrap-around thumb player. Also depends on the thickness and curvature of the neck. My thoughts these days are, if I like it, I like it.