#1
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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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#2
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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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Barry Sad Moments {Marianne Vedral cover}: My SoundCloud page Some steel strings, some nylon. |
#3
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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".
-Ray
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"It's just honest human stuff that hadn't been near a dang metronome in its life" - Benmont Tench |
#4
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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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Grabbed his jacket Put on his walking shoes Last seen, six feet under Singing the I've Wasted My Whole Life Blues ---Warren Malone "Whole Life Blues" Last edited by Brent Hutto; 11-13-2021 at 09:43 AM. |
#5
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That's me too. They all seem to be fine to me (bridge spacing).
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The Bard Rocks Fay OM Sinker Redwood/Tiger Myrtle Sexauer L00 Adk/Magnolia For Sale Hatcher Jumbo Bearclaw/"Bacon" Padauk Goodall Jumbo POC/flamed Mahogany Appollonio 12 POC/Myrtle MJ Franks Resonator, all Australian Blackwood Goodman J45 Lutz/fiddleback Mahogany Blackbird "Lucky 13" - carbon fiber '31 National Duolian + many other stringed instruments. |
#6
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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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Waterloo WL-S, K & K mini Waterloo WL-S Deluxe, K & K mini Iris OG, 12 fret, slot head, K & K mini Follow The Yellow Brick Road |
#7
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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. |
#8
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I purposely switch around so I don't get too hung up on any particular spacing.
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Martin D18 Gibson J45 Martin 00015sm Gibson J200 Furch MC Yellow Gc-CR SPA Guild G212 Eastman E2OM-CD |
#9
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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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"You start off playing guitars to get girls & end up talking with middle-aged men about your fingernails" - Ed Gerhard |
#10
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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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Guild F212: 1964 (Hoboken), Guild Mark V: 1975 (Westerly), Guild Artist Award: 1975 (Westerly), Guild F50: 1976 (Westerly), Guild F512: 2010 (New Hartford), Pawless Mesquite Special: 2012, 90s Epi HR Custom (Samick), 2014 Guild OOO 12-fret Orpheum (New Hartford), 2013 12 fret Orpheum Dread (New Hartford), Guild BT258E, 8 string baritone, 1994 Guild D55, Westerly, 2023 Cordoba GK Negra Pro. |
#11
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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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My You Tube Channel |
#12
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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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#13
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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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2022 Brook Lyn Custom, 2013 Brook Torridge, 2014 Martin 000-18, several homebrew Teles, Evans RE200 amp, Quilter 101R and various speaker cabinets, Very understanding wife of 48 years |
#14
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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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#15
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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. |