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Fingerboard width and first string clearance?
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britguy
Posts: 712
Joined: Dec. 26 2010
From: Ontario, Canada
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 Fingerboard width and first string c...
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This may be a luthier question, but I'll try it in here anyway:
I love playing those (pull/hammer-on) 'moorish' rippling grace notes about midway up the first string. But frequently the first string slips off the edge of the fingerboard when pulling. Its an interesting effect but I dont want the extra sharp notes. I'm using medium/high tension strings.
I ordered this guitar built with a 51mm fingerboard, thinking it might make playing easier for my average hands. But the first string is rather close to the edge of the fingerboard. To try to compensate for this I tried sliding the nut about a millimetre towards the bass side. Seems to help, as does pushing the cejilla basswards also.
Two questions here:
(A) Did I make a mistake ordering the narrower fingerboard,
and (B) what effects - if any- will moving the nut and/or cejilla have on the playability, intonation etc. Anybody else tried doing this for whatever reason?
Also - an obvious question - do I need to modify/improve my left hand fingering technique to avoid these 'slip-offs' when pulling the first string??? And, once again, would using Extra High-tension strings help?
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Fruit farmer, Ontario, Canada
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Date Sep. 16 2011 13:49:29
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Ricardo
Posts: 14841
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
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RE: Fingerboard width and first stri... (in reply to britguy)
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This is an important topic that almost never comes up I think. I have experienced this often. I also did like you to some guitars, slide the nut towards the basses a little. In many cases the REASON it was happening was because the nut had slipped down toward treble side a hair, so centering the nut fixed the problem. Using the capo I don't recommend as it will affect the tuning, and one of the strings might shift a bit if you grab and bend it downward, and then it feels really weird to have an out of tune guitar with odd string spacing!
Honestly what I found was that this issue is all about the nut itself, the way the slots are cut. I examined many guitars and realized it is a very in-exact science. They are not mathematically even on any guitar I have examined. So you can replace the nut for one that the slots are more close together, so you won't pull the E string off the neck, even if the nut is not centered. Problem is, I personally have gotten used to the wide slot orientation of most concert guitars, vs the tendancy for student models to have the narrow slots...so it actually feels harder to play on the guitars that have the slots closer.
It can take getting used to putting the new nut on, the guitar definitely feels different especially down in first position or so. But for sure you don't want to be accidentally yanking that E string off the fingerboard.
Ricardo
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Date Sep. 17 2011 15:27:52
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beno
Posts: 881
Joined: Nov. 3 2006
From: Hungary
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RE: Fingerboard width and first stri... (in reply to britguy)
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yep, oh well....
I understand what You mean, and of course I don't think the opposite. A much slimmer neck (let's say a neck of an electric guitar) can be set perfectly as well....It's just obvious.
and I admit that I just put word 'standard' for the most frequently used dimensions.... for me a 650mm or 660mm mensure could be standard, while 664 or 670 ISN'T. neither are 50mm nut (at least for me...)
quote:
I ordered this guitar built with a 51mm fingerboard, thinking it might make playing easier for my average hands
I meant to reply to britguy with my first post....
I've played guitars with the same string spacing but different fretboard width, so I may haven't been clear, but there's a Huge difference...
I've also played guitars with the same scale lenght, the same distance from the side of the high E string to the side of the fretboard, yet the neck profile was just a little bit different, so the string started to slide down. The luthier said the exact same, when I complained about it: It's the same distance, though agreed at the end-after trying to play the same pattern on both guitar....
I had a hard time with this issue when I changed guitar in the past, as my previous one had much more thicker neck. I also thought the thinner the neck the easier to play on....at first time I've experienced the opposite. I had to slowly get used to the new shape...
all I wanted to add that it's just not that simple like a distance in mm
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Date Sep. 20 2011 13:50:01
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