Critical advice needed, hand at stake !

[kuharido22]

I am interested in buying Taylor, pobably a 414. I've heard so much about their playability and the Taylor neck.

 

I will be ordering it with a short scale instead of normal, which helps my wrist. Now I'm buying it mail order, and there is no way i can try it; no shops here. I am confused between a 1-11/16 width or 1-3/4 . I know that the feel and comfort depends on the neck profile too, some 11/16 necks acttually seem bigger than 3/4 ! . but, with the same guitar, and the taylor neck, how can i choose ? i play finger picking and strumming, but #1 priority is fretting hand comfort and ease.

 

i posted a similar post before in which i got excellent advice, mainly comparing the comfort of taylor and ovation. Now that i have decided on taylor, i dont kno which neck width to get.

 

many thanks friends

[Freeman Keller]

I jump back and forth between 1-11/16, 1-3/4 and 1-7/8 and seem to do equally poorly on all of them.

For me, the big deal with neck width isn't so much the 1/16 at the nut, but the 1/8 or so at the bridge. As a fingerpicker I like to get my bare thumb in between the bass strings and frequently reset the tips of my fingers on the top three. I think a flatpicker finds that she can get around faster with the narrower bridge spacing associated with a 1-11/16 nut when doing the up-down thing. If you fret the low E with your thumb (bluesy F chord instead of a barre) you might find the 1-11/16 easier, if you have really phat fingers you might prefer a little more spacing.

The standard nut width for all Taylors 3xx and above is 1-3/4 and I regularly have people comment about how easy and nice mine plays - all over the neck. The setup from the factory will be very good and I think you'll be happy with the short scale (both my 12's are short scale).

[SpaceCowboy409]

I've found the depth of a neck has a lot more to do with comfort than the width.

Personally, I like very fat V or oval neck. I have short fingers and don't usually hook my thumb over the fretboard to catch the E and A strings.
If you're playing a lot of barre chords like I do, with your thumb behind the neck, you'll find a fat neck much less fatiguing.

As far as nut width goes, I have guitars that range between 1 5/8" to 2" and find them all comfortable to play.

[Freeman Keller]

Discussion on another forum

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97852

[kuharido22]

That link is super !

I am even more confused now, wish there wa a good shop anywhere in this country !!!

But thanks a loooooooooooooot =)

[DonK]

What Eric and Freeman said. I find neck depth and shape to be much more of an issue than nut width, and string spacing at the bridge is more important to me that at the width af the nut (although in fairness, a 1.75" nut width is often accompanied by a 2 1/4" string spacing at the bridge, which I prefer to 2 1/8", so I often look for 1.75" nut width).

My Gallagher Doc Watson is 1" thick at the first fret. Compare that to a Blueridge dread, which is .77" thick and you'll notice the difference, believe me. I like thick, but many don't.

If you go here, you can see examples of different neck profiles. They are for electrics, but many of them correspond to common acoustic dimensions. The "fat" neck = my Gallagher. The "Clapton" is similar to the "modified V" found on Martin's vintage series guitars. The Wizard is similar to Blueridge, etc.

http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/necks/necks.cfm?fuseaction=back_profiles

[Freeman Keller]

That's pretty cool, Don. Here is another one - Martin makes several different profiles

http://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/features/neck/index.html

Taylor mostly makes a pretty low oval neck, but I understand that they do have some sort of Vee option for people that like that (and be warned that the "modified V" neck is a love it or hate it thing.

I think a lot has to do which how you cradle the back of the neck - does your thumb stay pretty much on the center of the back or does the neck nestle in between your thumb and first finger.