Nut width

[Pierre]

I used to have a Charvel with a large nut neck width (43mm or so at nut) and playing it gave me cramps (I wrap my thumbs around the neck 99% of the time). Now I got used to MusicMan's necks with a very narrow width (41mm) and it's just amazingly comfortable. As a result I tend to discard any cool guitars with a larger nut width! I'm GASing for a Mayones or MM JP6 but they both have wider necks.

Another huge factor is the neck profile itself, but still, the nut width is a very fast indicator of whether a guitar will be comfortable or not. And being in Europe and in a tiny country where we're basically forced to buy blind, this is both a problem in terms of a) voluntarily limiting myself in my guitar availability pool or b) taking a huge risk in buying a guitar with a wider neck I may end up hating or unable to play.

Do you guys have a guitar collection with hugely varying necks? Or do you stick to the one neck type which works for you?

 

[Axl H]

Re: Nut width

I remember you tried my Charvel 375 - the sunburst one, which has a 43mm nut like your Charvel had, along with that thin flat neck.

We both share the same experience about wrapping the thumb around the neck and getting cramps. So I switched to narrower necks, swearing to never try wide necks again - Nightswan was 39mm wide.... Very good for baby fingers...

Interestingly though - I have a new Charvel San Dimas, which also has a 43mm nut, but the neck is much thicker - more along the lines of a Fender C shape, and it is much more comfortable to play. I found that I can play wide necks, if the neck shape isn't too flat. The ESP Lynches I have tried have 45mm necks, and I dont get cramps there. At the end of the day I use what works for me. I have had anything from 39 to 45mm nuts, some narrow ones have been very uncomfortable to play, and some wide ones have been awesome to play and vice-versa.

I tried a JP6 recently, and the neck isn't too flat, it is quite comfortable. I would say go for it, but that's my opinion of the neck on it - it can vary a lot from one person to the other. It shouldn't be too hard to sell, if you dont like it

Niels will scream abuse at you for buying a MM though....

 

[Pierre]

Re: Nut width

He can yell all he wants, I have 3 right now

 

[Chocklit_Thunda]

Re: Nut width

I've got guitars with varying nut widths.... For me, the most comfortable is the flat, broad shredder style neck on my Cort X-1, but that's probably because I started on that one. The Yorktown has a thin neck with a fat profile while my Tele has a thick broad baseball bat of a neck. The strat has a medium profile while my newest addition (also my oldest guitar) a '61 Jazzmaster has a shallower profile than the strat but a similar thickness at the nut. I just adjust to each one as I play.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Nut width

It is what it is...I used to try and buy guitars that all had similar profile necks...same depth, width, shape, etc but that makes buying guitars very hard and often leads to you only having one kind of guitar on hand.

As I have gotten older I've started to care a little less about that kind of stuff...it still matters but I don't trip about it as hard.

I have a preference but if I find a great sounding and playing guitar that doesn't have the perfect neck on it I won't let that stop me from buying it.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Nut width

Good thing you do not play classical guitar, eh Pierre
Got everything from big to skinny necks...do not really care about that!

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Nut width

Mine are pretty varied...

.02

 

[Wolferine92]

Re: Nut width

Isnt is more in profile and width combined?

Only necks i never liked were most ibanez superstrats and a strat at highschool, i hated them

The others took some getting used to but it wasn't super uncomfortable

 

[Pierre]

Re: Nut width

Yep, it's a combination of everything of course, but people are more or less sensitive to individual variables. To me, I don't have any specific neck profile I like or dislike, but I am very picky about nut width.

Part of what triggered this thread was the video below. That blue Ibanez with the reverse headstock calls to me! It's a custom model but still:

 

[Brian Griffin]

Re: Nut width

I have a Charvel CX 291 with 42 mm nut, very comfortable but cause of that small neck it kinda looks like a junior guitar for beginners, so I prefer 43 mm.

 

[Justin Read]

Re: Nut width

Pierre.... Great clip, great band. Thanks for the Introduction

 

[uOpt]

Re: Nut width

I used to have a Charvel with a large nut neck width (43mm or so at nut) and playing it gave me cramps (I wrap my thumbs around the neck 99% of the time). Now I got used to MusicMan's necks with a very narrow width (41mm) and it's just amazingly comfortable. As a result I tend to discard any cool guitars with a larger nut width! I'm GASing for a Mayones or MM JP6 but they both have wider necks.

Another huge factor is the neck profile itself, but still, the nut width is a very fast indicator of whether a guitar will be comfortable or not. And being in Europe and in a tiny country where we're basically forced to buy blind, this is both a problem in terms of a) voluntarily limiting myself in my guitar availability pool or b) taking a huge risk in buying a guitar with a wider neck I may end up hating or unable to play.

Do you guys have a guitar collection with hugely varying necks? Or do you stick to the one neck type which works for you?

FY information, music man's JP might have a wider nut, but the string spacing is right back to where it was with MM's normal nuts. Looks like they've been too lazy to make new tools. I'm serious.

I perceived the neck on my JP as feeling more like a typical MM neck than a normal neck.

Also, and I am serious, we should consider maybe swapping necks. I would love to have a non-JP Music Man but I want the wider fretboard from the JP neck and then I can put a new nut this time.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Nut width

I used to have a Charvel with a large nut neck width (43mm or so at nut) and playing it gave me cramps (I wrap my thumbs around the neck 99% of the time). Now I got used to MusicMan's necks with a very narrow width (41mm) and it's just amazingly comfortable. As a result I tend to discard any cool guitars with a larger nut width! I'm GASing for a Mayones or MM JP6 but they both have wider necks.

Another huge factor is the neck profile itself, but still, the nut width is a very fast indicator of whether a guitar will be comfortable or not. And being in Europe and in a tiny country where we're basically forced to buy blind, this is both a problem in terms of a) voluntarily limiting myself in my guitar availability pool or b) taking a huge risk in buying a guitar with a wider neck I may end up hating or unable to play.

Do you guys have a guitar collection with hugely varying necks? Or do you stick to the one neck type which works for you?

43 vs 41 mm is <5% ... And, really, 2mm? Methinks you were mislead by wildly different neck profiles, leading to a 10+ mm difference in the "around" size of the neck

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Nut width

2mm across six strings is a difference that you should feel before you necessarily see it. It was enough to steer me off Martin dreadnoughts and onto Stonebridge/Furch. I prefer the wider spacing.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Nut width

43 vs 41 mm is <5% ... And, really, 2mm? Methinks you were mislead by wildly different neck profiles, leading to a 10+ mm difference in the "around" size of the neck

No, that is a major difference. It's vintage fender 1-5/8th versus modern/gibson 1-7/16ths. For me it makes the difference between being able to play normally and not.