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Old 11-13-2021, 08:56 AM
jklotz jklotz is offline
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Default How sensitive are you to string spacing?

How sensitive are you to string spacing at the bridge? I see some guys who only play a very specific spacing. I seem to be able to adapt to most, as long as it's not too narrow and starts with a 1 3/4" nut or wider. Given a choice, I'd prefer 2 1/4", but most of my guitars don't have that spacing and I seem to be able to adapt fairly quickly.
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Old 11-13-2021, 09:14 AM
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I know what the nut sizes of my guitars are, but I've never paid any attention to their string spacing.
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Old 11-13-2021, 09:25 AM
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For strumming and flatpicking, I'm not at all. For fingerpicking, being a very low level and still somewhat new fingerpicker, the wider the better. My main fingerpicking guitar is a CEO-7, which has 2 5/16". I briefly had a guitar with 2 3/8" and that was wonderful, but the neck was also a pretty beefy V with 1 7/8" nut and that neck was a bit of a handful for me. I seem to be fine with 2 5/16" or 2 1/4", but anything much narrower gets to feeling pretty crowded. But again, fingerpicking is something I play around with, but have never gotten at all proficient with and probably won't. So I find the extra space helpful. At the nut, I seem to be fine with 1 11/16" or 1 3/4".

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Old 11-13-2021, 09:31 AM
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I've had two periods of playing guitar. The first time was several years about a decade ago and I was all about playing with my fingers (fingernails, actually). Both classical guitar and fingerstyle acoustic guitar in DADGAD and other open tunings.

String spacing at the bridge mattered a lot. I had a very nice "concert" level classical guitar that was absolutely perfect in that regard. So for steel string guitars, since I was using the same right-hand technique, my experience was basically that it needed to be very close to whatever the spec was on that classical guitar (2-1/4" which is pretty wide).

This time around I'm learning to flatpick/crosspick and I do think the string spacing matters. I'm just not far enough along to know what my ideal spacing would be.

But I have a suspicion that my ideal might be fairly narrow. I say that because while both of my good guitars are similar at around just a hair over 2-3/16" I recently got an old basket-case "beater" guitar which happens to have the narrowest spacing I've ever encountered. It's actually less than 2" center-to-center at the bridge.

The thing is, even though it's got a cracked fretboard and all sorts of other issues I love the string spacing at the bridge. I'm much more accurate at cleanly hitting the string I'm aiming at when skipping over strings. So my guess is, my ideal string spacing is narrower than almost any guitar on the market today.

But at this point in my development, the conventional 2.2" or thereabouts seems to be fine.
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Last edited by Brent Hutto; 11-13-2021 at 09:43 AM.
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Old 11-13-2021, 09:36 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TBman View Post
I know what the nut sizes of my guitars are, but I've never paid any attention to their string spacing.
That's me too. They all seem to be fine to me (bridge spacing).
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Old 11-13-2021, 09:37 AM
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There are some things about guitars that I notice and other things just don't seem to matter to me. Neck shapes don't bother me one way or another and string spacing doesn't come into play. And I'm a finger picker. I have to have a 1 3/4 neck though. I couldn't live with the 1 7/8s. When I noticed my thumb pick was getting short I got a new one that was allot longer. It didn't matter one way or another. I really don't understand that, but it is.
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Old 11-13-2021, 09:38 AM
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Pretty sensitive for fingerpicking. I'm trying to work out a tune on a Gibson ES125, and the nut width of 1 9/16" brings the strings pretty close together and is kind of annoying at times.

D.H.

Last edited by Dave Hicks; 11-13-2021 at 09:55 AM.
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Old 11-13-2021, 09:44 AM
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I purposely switch around so I don't get too hung up on any particular spacing.
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Old 11-13-2021, 09:49 AM
zombywoof zombywoof is offline
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I prefer a 2 3/8" string spacing at the bridge combined with a 1 3/4" or 1 7/8" nut. As a fingerpicker I like the extra room. But I can play guitars with a less generous spacing. Just takes a bit for muscle memory to kick in.
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Old 11-13-2021, 10:37 AM
brad4d8 brad4d8 is offline
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I'm of the see guitar play guitar school of thought. Couldn't tell you the string spacing or nut width on any of my guitars without measuring or Googling the specs. Regularly change between six/twelve/classical with no problems.
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Old 11-13-2021, 10:40 AM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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How sensitive are you to string spacing?

Not very... at least with my right, plucking hand. Things have to get pretty extreme before I notice.

- Glenn
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Old 11-13-2021, 10:56 AM
Rosewood99 Rosewood99 is offline
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I can handle anything from 2 3/16 to 2 1/4. Anything above and below makes certain chords more difficult. Can I do them---sure. Buy why struggle if I don't have to.
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Old 11-13-2021, 10:57 AM
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Not at all. Didn't know there was such a thing until I started hanging out on guitar forums. I will admit, however, that I ordered my new Brook Lyn with 1-13/16" nut width and 2-1/4" spacing at the bridge. It will be for fingerstyle only and I doubt it will ever see a pick. I think my 000-18 has a 1-3/4" nut and my Tele is 1-5/8" or 1-11/16" and I move from one to another without giving it a thought.
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Old 11-13-2021, 11:07 AM
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I play finger style. 2-1/4" ± 1/16" is ideal for me. I had a Yamaha FS-TA for a while with a 2" spacing at the saddle. My fingers would trip over each other. I sold it because of that and the narrow nut.
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Old 11-13-2021, 11:09 AM
Jamolay Jamolay is offline
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Maybe I am just clumsy and new to guitar, but I notice it quite a bit with my picking hand and barely at all with my fretting hand. I am a left playing righty and maybe my limited right hand dexterity brings this out? I expect to overcome this given enough playing time.

My only experience is switching from acoustic to electric and I am not sure the spacing but it sure is tighter on the electric.
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