Best archtop guitar for fingerstyle

[DRS]

SO, how do those Silk & Bronze work with the pick-up?

[rpguitar]

They work fine, as do all bronze strings, because the pickup is a Kent Armstrong 12 pole PAF. It's very powerful and has 12 adjustable poles so you can easily balance the wound strings with the plain.

[Flyin' Brian]

Well let's see....

Chet Atkins used a Gretsch or a Gibson or a D'Angelico
Tuck Andress uses a Gibson
Martin Taylor uses a Peerless or a Gibson or a Vanden or an Epiphone
Jim Nichols uses a Hollenbeck
Mimi Fox has been known to play some fingerstyle on her Heritage

I guess my point is that there is no "best". What's best for you is solely up to you.

[bananafist]

Gibson Chet and Tennessean models both have 1 3/4" nut 17" thin body. Gretsch Country Gent 6122-1959 has 1 3/4" nut (no others do of the current range,) 17" body. Peerless Maestro has 1 3/4" nut, 15.5" body and too high a price tag, sadly.
Some Benedettos have wider nuts but more expensive.
Or, you could try the Eastman/Yunzhi/Ms Lora route and have one built.

[TH]

"best" I mean comfortable neck with right nut width...sound is a different option. Thanks

I am curious to know what sets finger style requirements from other guitarists. When I began guitar, it was on a nylon classic, from a classical background, so all steels seemed too hard and too narrow. But now I go to a narrower width (not narrow Guild AA narrow though) and I have nylon guitars built with narrower than classical width necks.
I've always felt it's a match to hand size rather than style, but then again, I don't shred so I never tend towards tiny thin necks.
Kris, what do you feel a finger style needs? I'm curious.
Thanks
David

[Playerizor]

There are a lot of guitarist that play with their fingers on a stratocaster, including myself.

[Jim Soloway]

If that were my one criteria, I'd play the Peerless Martin Taylor. As noted by TruthHertz, you can adjust to a narrower spacing but we built a lot of guitars with what I called "finer style" spacing. It was 1 13/16's with a matching wider bridge spacing. When I play that for even a few minutes, I notice a significant improvement in my playing.

[TH]

If that were my one criteria, I'd play the Peerless Martin Taylor. As noted by TruthHertz, you can adjust to a narrower spacing but we built a lot of guitars with what I called "finer style" spacing. It was 1 13/16's with a matching wider bridge spacing. When I play that for even a few minutes, I notice a significant improvement in my playing.

How much at the bridge? 1/8"?
Yes, I can see that'd be nice.
David

[Jim Soloway]

How much at the bridge? 1/8"?
Yes, I can see that'd be nice.
David

We widened everything by 1/8 from nut to bridge. The bridge spacing is 2 3/16. Hipshot were nice enough to custom mill the bridge for us. Over the last several years that we were active, the wider spacing represented about 2/3's of our production.

[TH]

We widened everything by 1/8 from nut to bridge. The bridge spacing is 2 3/16. Hipshot were nice enough to custom mill the bridge for us. Over the last several years that we were active, the wider spacing represented about 2/3's of our production.

Thanks Jim! We're building 14 fret nylons with narrower fingerboards, so coming in from the other direction. It's a balancing act with the wider width of the string and the faster feel of the "narrower than classic standard" neck. Needless to say, it's a finger stylist's instrument we're aiming for…but not necessarily .
David

[DRS]

My Eastman AR810CE has a 1 3/4" nut and works well for fingerstyle.

[Jim Soloway]

Thanks Jim! We're building 14 fret nylons with narrower fingerboards, so coming in from the other direction. It's a balancing act with the wider width of the string and the faster feel of the "narrower than classic standard" neck. Needless to say, it's a finger stylist's instrument we're aiming for…but not necessarily .
David

Years ago I owned a Yamaha that was a nylon but decidedly not a classical. I believe the nut with was 1.9" and the depth was not nearly as chunky as a typical classical. That spacing was rally what I was after with our finger-style layout. given the thinner strings on a steel string electric, I figured that 1 13/16 would have much the same effect. It is a balancing act though getting both sufficient space and still maintaining playability.

[kris]

I am curious to know what sets finger style requirements from other guitarists. When I began guitar, it was on a nylon classic, from a classical background, so all steels seemed too hard and too narrow. But now I go to a narrower width (not narrow Guild AA narrow though) and I have nylon guitars built with narrower than classical width necks. I've always felt it's a match to hand size rather than style, but then again, I don't shred so I never tend towards tiny thin necks. Kris, what do you feel a finger style needs? I'm curious. Thanks David

Same me... I /ve started with standar clasical guitar with 52 mm nut width. but...it is not comfortable for left hand if you try to play complicated chords. I/ve used Chet Atkins nylon strings guitar few years and the nect was similar. next I played Yamaha and neck nut width was too small. Now I like my Frameworks with nut width 48 mm. Arch-top with nut width 44 mm will be quite good with steel strings. Sadowsky model Jim Hall-I know only this guitar with the nut 44 mm.

[Archie]

The Epiphone Chet Atkins Elitist also has wider string spacing and Imo is a much better guitar than the Gibson or Gretsch versions (obviously subjective and my personal opinion).

I've sold two in the past and both buyers were more than happy. You can pick one up for less than a gib too but finding one could be hard.

[Jim Soloway]

The Epiphone Chet Atkins Elitist also has wider string spacing and Imo is a much better guitar than the Gibson or Gretsch versions (obviously subjective and my personal opinion).

I've sold two in the past and both buyers were more than happy. You can pick one up for less than a gib too but finding one could be hard.

I've never played the Epiphone version but I played a couple of the Gibsons and both of them were absolute bricks. Hard to imagine a man his age and with his health issues handling a guitar that heavy.

[Archie]

I've never played the Epiphone version but I played a couple of the Gibsons and both of them were absolute bricks. Hard to imagine a man his age and with his health issues handling a guitar that heavy.

I also found the tone of them to be a but harsh. I was actually pretty disappointed when I played my first Gibson CA.

[Greentone]

You can play fingerstyle on any electric or acoustic guitar. A million years ago, I played Gretsches because...well, you can guess. However, I found out that I could play the same music just as well on a Telecaster, a Stratocaster, or even a Les Paul. A Gibson ES-335 works like a champ.

For my money, nothing sounds better for fingerstyle jazz than a Gibson L5-CES on the neck pickup. For fingerstyle "country" style music--a la Chet Atkins or Merle Travis--I like a Gibson Super 400 CES/Super-V CES/L-5 CES on both pickups. Currently, I use a Heritage Super Eagle on both pickups for that style. (Or...I use my Stratocaster on the neck/middle pickup...because it has a vibrato arm.)

Honestly, though, you could use a round-neck resonator guitar, a classical guitar, etc. It's all good for fingerstyle playing.

[snoskier63]

Everyone has different preferences on makes, models, and tone. Any guitar can work, you just have to find the one that works best for you.

[fumblefingers]

a carved top acoustic like say, a Benedetto or Buscarino would probably be good. Great acoustic tone and wider nut width.

[Longways to Go]

I only play fingerstyle - no matter what guitar. I'm used to slimmer electric & acoustic neck profiles -- never have done the big flat classical neck. I recently bought a taylor nylon string flat top with a hybrid neck designed to work for electric players -- it's wider than any of my other guitars, but not by much (sorry, I don't have the specs on hand). It's a bit more of a work out for my left hand than any of my other guitars but I enjoy it. I figure that extra stretching will benefit me in the long run.

[Spook410]

Hofner and Eastman offer that neck width and those are available in the used market. Eastman's tend to be a bit bright and no idea about a solid wood Hofner. However, perfection might be expensive.

[bananafist]

I guess 'any size' works if you've got slim or 'normal' sized hands. I've got large hands, ( as you might guess,) and after years of trying can't make 1 11/16" work for me, and fingerpicking this size is totally out. Hence two custom built 'tele's with 44mm nut, Gretsch CG 6122-1959 ditto, and Collings, Atkin and Westbrook (Last two UK builders) acoustics with nut widths of 1 13/16" (46mm), 47mm and 48mm(1 7/8").

[konstantine]

I prefer 45mm for fingerstyle in archtops, actually I´m so used to it that I prefer it for everything.

[Jim Soloway]

A couple things I'd like to add to this discussion is that while all of the focus has been on nut width there are actually three additional measurements that impact on the total area of the playing surface: bridge width, the scale length, and the fingerboard radius. Increasing the width of the nut without increasing the width of the bridge limits the befits to fretting hand only and even then the primary benefit is most obvious on the lower frets only. Of benefit to the fretting hand only: a longer scale length also provides greater distance between the frets providing room vertically if not horizontally; and the flatter the fingerboard radius, the more the outer edges of the board remain fully functional (Hence the zero or infinite radius on most classical guitars).

[kris]

Thanks Jim.
So nice fingerstyle arch-top guitar will be closer to classical guitar.
Bigger nut width more comfortable for left hand and bigger bridge width more comfortable for right hand.
Good right technique need more sapce like on classical guitar.
Radius and scale are two more important things.
So I need custom made arch-top...:-)