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I'm looking at 335 clones and the Eastman T486 looks like a strong candidate EXCEPT for that 1 3/4" nut. I currently have an ES-330L (1 11/16" nut) and an Epi Casino (1 5/16" nut). I can play either comfortably once I adjust but I really don't want to bring in a third nut width if I can help it. I do have a Taylor acoustic with a 1 3/4" nut and I play it fine too once I adjust but I generally don't play it as much as my electrics. I would really like to "standardize" on 1 11/16" for my electrics if I can.
I don't have any Eastman electrics to try locally so here are my two questions:
For you Eastman owners, does it take you a bit of adjustment when transitioning between it and a 1 11/16" nut or do you even notice it?
With a 1 3/4" nut electric it seems that the string width has to be "standard" by the time it reaches the body to line up with the Humbucker pole pieces and to use a standard tune-o-matic bridge. Is it?
Thanks.
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01-02-2020 08:52 PM
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The difference in width doesn't bother me too much. I have guitars of several different nut widths, from ~1-5/8" to ~1-13/16" and I just play them, just as the scale length doesn't matter much to me. I do notice the neck width more than I notice the scale length, which I don't notice at all, but it doesn't take me any time to adjust, I just play.
The string spacing does need to be aligned with the polepieces, ideally. All that means is that the strings fan out very slightly less with wider necks. At the location where the strings are normally plucked, it's about the same spacing whatever the neck width at the nut. That makes the transiition a little easier, I guess.
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If it was me I would look fo one with a 1 11/16" nut, reason being as you get older the wider spacing is just eazyer to play. Now if you don't think you are going to keep it for a long time then go for it.
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You can always get a new 1 3/4 nut made copying the string spacing of a 1 11/16 nut you already have and will not feel the difference. I feel the difference between my Soloway with 1 13/16 nut and the Classical with 2 1/16 nut (obviously) but all the others vary between 1 5/8 and 1 11/16 and I don't feel the difference partly because I don't chord as much in the 1-3 fret area.
Bridge spacing differences matter much more to me because I started as a classical player and use my fingers much more than using a pick.
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I think I meant to say 1 5/8". Thanks for the correction.
Originally Posted by thelostboss
It sounds pretty easy to make the transition from what you guys are saying. Of course 5 minutes with one would answer all my questions but I haven't found one locally.
Thanks. You've mostly put my mind at ease.
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Chances are you'll adapt to the wider nut width and string spacing easily-- but you might have a few clumsy minutes going back to a narrower width guitar after playing the wide for a while.
Like others who have posted, I have guitars with nut widths ranging from a very narrow 1 5/8ths all the way to 2," and I can play all of them comfortably...a lot goes into what makes a neck comfortable, I guess. But yeah, if I go from playing my 1 7/8ths inch wide gypsy jazz guitar for an hour right to my old club neck Kay (1 5/8ths, super fat neck, very round, a true "baseball bat") there is a little transition period, but not long.
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I can't visualize fractions (or metric for that matter) easily. Having literally grown up in a machine shop, decimals make sense...
1 3/4" = 1.750"
1 11/16" = 1.687"
1 5/16" = 1.312"
I decided to take my vernier to mine which hang right beside my bed. Actual measurements on mine...
My 335 measures 1.740"
My T-486 " 1.770"
.030" is imperceptible to me. But then again I'd unlikely feel a golf ball under my mattress let alone a pea :-) If you're comfortable with a 335 I think the 486 will work for you.
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So many guitars today are listed with 1.687. Seems to be the new "normal". For me 1.62 would be a lowest limit, and maybe not work at all. I find it easier to go wider than narrower. A classical guitar neck is great for me. You might try a cheap classical guitar as an experiment, and see if maybe you can "learn" to go bigger. Who knows?? Sometimes you have to travel outside the box. Can't hurt and that's the beauty of Guitar Center, go and park yourself, and try different stuff. Certainly there are others doing the same thing!
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I am with medblues. You can get a new nut made with the string spacing that you like. I have Fenders with 1.650" nuts and Gibsons with 1.687" nuts and the string spacings are exactly the same. Those are the way they came, btw - not custom made by my choice.
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The 1 12/16" nut width only feels different to me in the right hand. It challenges fast picking because of the extra space to traverse, but it's negligable and can be overcome.
I don't have fat finges at all, and yet I don't mind a slightly wider nut width even in the low frets. After all, so-called "jazz chords" can be a pain to grip with closely spaced strings.
Johnny Smith wanted it that way for a reason.
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Thanks everyone.
I actually like the 1.75" nut on my Taylor acoustic and it wouldn't bother me at all if all of my guitars were that way.
Like someone said, going from wide to narrow is what gets me. Going from narrow to wide doesn't seem to require as much adapting.
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I wouldn't worry about it too much. Adapting to a new string spacing seems to be a muscle-memory thing for me - when I got my narrow-nut Byrdland I just couldn't play the thing for s---. The narrow spacing screwed up both fretting and picking mechanics for me. After playing it every day for a couple weeks, I got the mechanics into my hands and brain. Now, I can go back to it without issue any time, and I don't have trouble switching between different scale lengths and spacing on a gig.
However, I will get to see if I have to eat those words in about 2 weeks, when I am playing a couple things out of town on a friend's acoustic axe that I'll be lucky to be able to try out a day beforehand, at best. I don't really play acoustic at all, and my favorite guitars are pretty narrow necks. But I do still have my nylon-string classical guitar, and I play very heavy strings on the jazz box, so I guess I'll just try to rotate amongst all my neck widths and scale lengths for the next couple weeks in hopes that one of them will be a reasonably close match to the borrowed guitar.
SJ
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