So what happens if you learn to fingerpick on a 1 11/16" nutted git and then...

[RKW]

....play on a 1 3/4 nutted guitar? Do you have to spend a bit of time readjusting or do you just immediatly start blazing away cuz it feels so easy? What's the dang deal?

[DonK]

Depends...some will hate 1 3/4", because it will feel too wide for chording. Everything's a trade-off, there's no "one-size-fits-all". I find that the playability of the nut width and string spacing on a given guitar can be offset - whether an advantage or disadvantage - by the neck thickness/profile, fret type, etc. Most people that try playing a 1 3/4" Gallagher Doc Watson will find it a bear (hugely thick baseball bat neck) compared to a 1 11/16" Martin D-41. OTOH, many will find a 1 3/4" Taylor (electric guitar-shaped neck) a joy to play compared to the D-41.

[Dave Keir]

Great question!

I played short-scale narrow-at-the-nut guitars all my finger-picking' life (40+ years) without even knowing you could get wider nuts. I only found out after I bought a OOO-28 and lurking over at the UMGF that 1 3/4" guitars were made and were actually preferred by a lot of finger pickers! Long story short, I bought an OM-18V with this wider nut and immediately faced the challange apropos your question. Here's my conclusion: it depends.

It depends mostly on how adventurous your playing is - particulary as regards fretting hand stretches. If the guitar is longer scale, too, there will be added tension in the strings which I find noticable. People say that picking is easier/more accurate with the wider string spacing at the bridge, but personally speaking, I can't feel any difference.

The bottom line is that I find the OM with the wider nut, longer scale, and modified V neck a very different guitar, feel-wise, and it did take time to adjust to it. I deliberately laid off the OOO for a few weeks in order to get to feel comfortable and confident with the OM. It was important I did so for public performance and recording purposes. Now, though, I can happily switch between the guitars and adjust easily. Muscle memory is everything.

I wouldn't be without either guitar.

[Edit: shorter scale, narrow neck guitars are "faster" with respect to movement over the fingerboard.]

[Terry Allan Hall]

 

 

 

It's just whatever feels right..I fingerpick or flatpick on whatever guitar I've got in my hands at that moment, depending on the song.

 

Lotsa folks fingerpick on a narrow neck, and plenty flatpick on a wider neck...the only guitar I've ever found with a neck that was just too narrow to play well was a Rick 12-string I owned briefly (think it was a 365-12)...and plenty of folks (with skinnier fingers) love them, too!

[Cldplytkmn]

its not to say that i don't feel the difference, cause i do... but it doesn't make a difference to me... i always played 11/16 necks and just a year or so ago got a 3/4 width larrivee... i had almost zero adjustment time... I find there are tunes that are easier to fingerpick on the narrow neck, some are easier on the wider neck... strumming is fine on either width... now, unless i switch between them back to back, i don't even notice.

[Hudman]

Neck profile and shape are far more important.

 

If the neck feels comfortable, the guitar will be easier to play.

[kwakatak]

Well, I started out playing fingerstyle on a Martin-style dread with a 1.6875" wide nut on a neck with a modified C profile and found it to be too fat because of the neck profile. I could get around the relatively narrow string spacing but because of how I had to position my wrist I was being held back from being able to fret cleanly on particularly challenging pieces.

 

With that in mind I shopped around and eventually settled on a Larrivee OM with a much slimmer neck profile. Sure the 1.75" nut to a little adjusting to, but it didn't take that long (just a few minutes really). It was overshadowed by the joy of overcoming a perceived limitation that I couldn't get around with my other guitar.

 

BTW - the tone also played a big factor. The dread was muddy for certain pieces but not so with the OM. Now I play both guitars but for different styles of music.

[markwayne]

You know I've never understood all the fuss in the width at the nut. It can be nice to have a little extra space down there for 1st position chord work. But that advantage erodes pretty quickly as you move up the neck.

What I can't adapt my flatpicking to is the 2 1/4" or wider spacing at the saddle that seems to go hand in hand with a wider nut. Give me a 1 3/4" nut with a 2 1/8" saddle please!

Wayne

[TimZ]

My skills are limited but I play a 1.8" Seagull and I find it easier to switch to a smaller nut size rather than play a smaller nut and go bigger. One thing I like about the wider nut sizes is that I have moist skin and my calluses collapse after awhile so the additional space allows for that as my fingers settle in closer to the strings.

[Freeman Keller]

Mostly why people talk about 1-3/4 being "fingerstyle" guitars has more to do with the extra 1/8 at the saddle than 1/16 at the nut. It lets me get my bare thumb and fingers down between the strings, while a pick works better with them closer together. And, altho I think I prefer wider fretboard guitars, I fingerpick equally poorly on everything from 1-11/16 to 1-7/8 (and even 2 on the classical) and struggle with those little bitty frets on my mando. Long scale, short scale, and really short - all kinds of radius too.

I sure can't blame my crappy playing on my instruments

[Tony Burns]

Most fingerpickers like the wider fingerboard ( 1 3/4 ) -over the narrower ones like 1 11/16 - thou it doesnt seem like much it is when you play it . I actually play faster on a wider fingerboard than a narrow one , possibly because i play my OM-28v more than a few of my Dreads with a narrower board - i think as a whole Dreads are more of a flatpicker and OM's as a Fingerpicker - but I know folks who do what they want when ever they want and they make it sound good- go figure. Dont really think theirs a set fast in concrete rule !