Epiphone Emperor Regent frets measure

[StefanoGhirardo]

Hi,
due to my very large hands and fingers I have trouble with the strings being too close together. On my Eastman Ar503 the nut is 43.69 mm (1.72") and that's enough. On my Epiphone Joe Pass it is 42.93 mm (1.69"): too narrow for me, but I replaced the nut with a 1.72" one (sanding the sides).
So the spacing of the strings has become sufficient. I just need to not let the two Es slip out of the frets. I can do this because the straight, unfiled part of the first metal fret is 4.04 mm (1.576") and of the twelfth it is 5.01 mm (1.968"). If they were even slightly narrower, I wouldn't be able to do it.
Now I would like to find a used Epiphone Emperor Regent or, if I can't find one, a D'Angelico Excel EXL-1, but I don't know if I will be able to do the modification described above on this guitar.
Does anyone have one of these two guitars and a caliper and be so kind to precisely measure the straight, unfiled part of the first and twelfth frets?

[Gitterbug]

Stefano, I'll see my ER at second home tomorrow. Hope to remember to take the measurements then.

[StefanoGhirardo]

Stefano, I'll see my ER at second home tomorrow. Hope to remember to take the measurements then.

Thanks Markku, but don't worry if you forget: as a chronically distracted person I would understand you perfectly...

[John A.]

Hi,
due to my very large hands and fingers I have trouble with the strings being too close together. On my Eastman Ar503 the nut is 43.69 mm (1.72") and that's enough. On my Epiphone Joe Pass it is 42.93 mm (1.69"): too narrow for me, but I replaced the nut with a 1.72" one (sanding the sides).
So the spacing of the strings has become sufficient. I just need to not let the two Es slip out of the frets. I can do this because the straight, unfiled part of the first metal fret is 4.04 mm (1.576") and of the twelfth it is 5.01 mm (1.968"). If they were even slightly narrower, I wouldn't be able to do it.
Now I would like to find a used Epiphone Emperor Regent or, if I can't find one, a D'Angelico Excel EXL-1, but I don't know if I will be able to do the modification described above on this guitar.
Does anyone have one of these two guitars and a caliper and be so kind to precisely measure the straight, unfiled part of the first and twelfth frets?

All D'Anagelicos have 1.69" (1-11/16') nuts. Mine (an EX-DC, not an EXL-1 that has been refretted, so maybe not applicable), has somewhere between 1.55" and 1.58" of straight fret before the part that is tapered down to the fingerboard at the first and between 2.1" and 2.13" at the 12th. It's a contiunous taper without a clear boundary, and I get different measurements every time I try, so I'm a little uncertain about these measurements, but a couple of 1/100's of an inch shouldn't make a lot of difference.

FWIW, mine does not have room to space the strings more widely. They're already pretty much at the limit before sliding off the frets. Also, keep in mind that the neck specs for any model may not be the same from year to year, and how frets are installed and filed will vary a little from individual guitar to guitar. So you probably can't count on someone measuring their guitar as a reliable predictor of whether it'll work on a different guitar you buy. This is something you'd be much better off measuring yourself with the prospective purchase in hand. Also, you don't necessarily to replace the nut increase the spacing. You can fill the slots in with the baking soda and super glue trick and cut new slots were you want them.

[StefanoGhirardo]

Thanks John,these are all very important pieces of information for me, you've been really kind!

[Gitterbug]

Ciao Stefano! My ER (Peerless -99) is 43 mm at nut, with 35 mm string spacing.

[StefanoGhirardo]

Ciao Markku,
so you remembered... Thanks, you were really very kind!

[Gitterbug]

Scusi, I forgot to measure 12th fret: 53.6/44.7 mm. I believe you can widen the string spacing by 1-1.5 mm max., subject to how the fret ends have been rounded.

Saluti, Markku