Do I Need A Wider Neck?

[Billy]

I am new to the mandolin.I boght a cheap Rogue,from Musicians Friend.It seems nice enought to get started on,but I am having alot of problems trying to form chords.When I try a chord,I keep touching a string that is not part of the chord.I seems as though my fingers are too fat for the neck.Is this common,and something I'll grow out of,or do I need a mandolin with a wider neck?Thanks!

[mandroid]

For wider necks see radim Zinkle's gear, all custom made.
For a sense of perspective, look at fiddlenecks , narrow has not been an obstacle for generations of folks with some rather meaty fingers.

[WireBoy]

Billy !
#Welcome to my world !!! # You are not alone!! I suffer from the same affliction, wide digits. #your solution is to limit your playing style to single note arpeggios or get a wider necked mando. #I chose the later.
#It seems the mandolin universe has standardized neck width (at the nut) to be 1 1/8". #The nice wide open spaces of 1 1/4" are few and far between. #There are only a few companies that have stock product that do go that large. #Two that come to mind are Breedlove and Rigel. #They go very nearly to 1 1/4". #
#Mid Mo has a wide neck option. #Weber offers wider necks as an option, but they build to order. #and then its all custom ordering after that. #
#You could keep your eye on the Cafe Classifeds and links to other vendor/dealer sites. #Occasional listings come up that feature 1 1/4". #That's how i found mine, a used Will Parsons F model. #I got it from Dale on the classifeds. He tries to feature mandos for the wide of digit. #
# Keep playing! #Don't let the skinny neck get you down, just do some careful shopping for that first upgrade.

[mandocrucian]

This issue came up on Comando a day or two ago. #I'll just repost my comments since they apply here as well:


Width DOES matter. #You can get by OK with a narrow neck if you are primarily going to be playing single line stuff, but if you intend working in a lot of doublestops, you'll run into problems with you fingers damping the other strings. You're gonna be much better off with a wider neck, and I'd suggest a pre-truss-rod Gibson (before 1921) size at least. #I know.

Right-handed (instruments), I have an F4 (truss rod, 1-1/8" nut) and 1919 A (no truss rod. 1-3/16" nut). Personally, I've come to prefer the wider neck, and have a tendency to play the A much more because of that, although once I play the 4 for awhile, I do readjust and after a bit, it doesn't feel as cramped as before. (I played the 4 for almost 20 years before I bought the A, and it never was a problem.)

I started messing with playing left-handed a while ago primarily to give myself a better perspective for teaching beginners, which it has done. #But also to increase the ambidexterity wiring factors in the brain, and ultimately to bring my LH up to a rudimentary competency level to play easier stuff like "Golden Slippers", Stephen Foster tunes, beginner scale drills etc. so I can avoid overworking the RH during the occasional recurring times when I have to play for 7+ hours per day for several days straight. (I hate that tell-tale "pinch" at the base of a LH fretting finger which tells you "Rest it NOW or be sorry later".)

At first, I just flipped the A over to the right, and played it (reverse-strung) lefty. #Later I bought a Mid-Mo M-1 (1-1/16" nut) strung up as a LH instrument. #That's when I became more aware of the fact that while both R & L hands are the same size, the RH fingers happen to be a ring size or so thicker than the ones on the left. #While the Mid-Mo was ok playing RH (reverse strung) when used as a lefty instrument, the neck was a bit too narrow for me, and the fingers would tend to dampen the adjacent strings, and I would have to lift up the finger(s) if I momentarily had to play an adjacent open string note, rather than leaving the finger in place, and doublestops in 3rds and 4ths are real problematic in getting both intervals to sound. (6ths on the other hand are not a problem because the higher finger is playing above on a higher (treblier) string. For single line stuff, it's not an issue, but doublestops and "chords" (which is why I needed a lefty strung instrument), I could see that this situation was going to present a begginer player some definite trouble. #This wasn't that much of a problem on the A (and mainly due to the lack of fine placement adjustment coordination) and was not an issue at all on a (Weber Alder) mandola (1-1/4" nut) or tenor banjo (1-1/8" nut, but only 4 strings) where I had ample space between strings. #(I just had the crappier of my TBs restrung as lefty instrument, btw. #This will be a more convenient way to work the pinky).

My advice to "beginners" (little or no stringed instrument exp.) is that you're probably better off with a slightly wider neck than one which is a slightly narrow for you. Better to have a little more space between strings so you can acquire the cordination to play the doublestops and chords before burdening yourself with the additional task of precise placement to avoid dampening at the same time - which may elude you because you are not training on an appropriate neck. #(And regardless of what others tell you about "gotta play with an extra heavy pick for tone", beginners need to start with a medium pick and gradually work up to something heavier. #If you took up archery, you'd be started with a one having a light draw than one that feels like it wanted to pull your shoulder out of joint!)

Some folks have really small hands, and they need not only a narrower neck, but also a shorter scale length to play comfortably (or....tune low and use a capo.) #Standardized neck width (and scale length) may be fine for a majority of folks, but the folks at the two sides of the bell curve need to have more of a selection.

Niles Hokkanen

[ira]

wide neck option number http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif?- www.kennaquhair.com

[Billy]

Thanks for the help.I'll have to keep the one that I have for right now,but I've been on the Mid-Missouri website.They have some very nice looking Mandolins with a wider neck as an option.Does anyone have anything to say about them.
Thanks...Billy

[Eric F.]

Billy, Mid-Mo makes excellent mandolins and has reputation for terrific customer service. There have been numerous discussions of them here, and a quick search would certainly turn up plenty of information.

[Charlie Ayers]

I don't have chubby fingers, but I have big hands, and I was quite accustomed to the guitar fretboard, before taking up mandolin. My idea of torture is a mandolin with a 1 inch nut, like I once owned, but 1 1/8 inch nuts aren't real comfortable for me either, particularly when playing swing style chords.

I've thus had one built with a wider neck. What I've found is also important for my comfort is a fairly thick neck (front to back); the first thick necked mandos I encountered were the pre-Gibson Flatirons, which have "U shaped" necks that are almost one inch front to back.

Charlie

[Martin Jonas]

There is another side to neck width, though: a narrower neck makes playing adjacent fifth and barre chords easier. I much prefer playing fifths by rolling the pad of my finger across the strings rather than fingering them separately.

Martin

[craigtoo]

I've had the same experience as Martin. #I have a pre truss Gibson A with a wide neck...and string crossings on the 5ths are harder. #It's much easier to play faster on my F5. #

The other effect of a wide neck is that the reaches are a little bit longer ...this slows me down as well. #

Both of these are things I could probably overcome with a change in left hand position/technique.

Interesting Note: #I saw a Sobell Mando once with a Guitar width neck! #Weird..

[Big Joe]

I don't think you'll have any problem with the standard neck size. I'm not quite a little guy at 6'5" and 300 pounds with a size 141/2 ring. I play mandolin. Any lack of playing is not due to my fingers, but my head! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif ...oh, yes, I play mostly by ear. Boy I get tired of getting them stuck in the strings! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Pete Braccio]

Hi Joe,

What is the neck width of the Sam Bush model? I thought that model had a larger than standard width.

Pete