Nut Width At Peghead

[dgrimm]

What is the standard width of the nut at the peghead? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[John Flynn]

The standard seems to be 1 1/8," although some mandos, like Rigel, are 1 3/16" and there are some "wide neck" mandos, like the Mid-mo "W option" that are 1 1/4."

[Lee]

I've measured a lot of nut widths. It's not so meaningful as you might think at first.
The more relevant measurement is from the outside of the G-string to the outside of the E-string. And even then you've gotta take the gauges of the string-set into consideration.
Some mando's keep the strings farther or closer to the edge of the fret board. So the nut-width doesn't tell the whole story. Compounding the situation, some frets don't even reach the edges of the fret board. And even if they do the ends of them might be irregular or bevelled very shallow so you don't really have much usable fret-width to work with. So if you're deciding to re-cut a new nut to space apart the strings further first take a close look to see how much usable fret-width is available.

[dgrimm]

Good point, maybe I should be asking about string spacing instead.

[Lee]

How does one define string spacing?
I usually ask about the measurement from the outside of the G and E strings and hope everything between that is spaced "intelligently". On occasion I run up agianst G-strings that are too close and buzz against each other. Also, some people seem to like the D and G courses extra close.

[Tom C]

Interesting. One of first things I compared when I got my BRW to my Flatiron was this. The measurements from outside "G" to outside "E" were the same at the nut of each and at the bridge of each to the millimeter. The difference is the BRW has
tighter pairs. I always thought my Flatiron could have been paired tighter. It does help playing a bit more cleanly.

[Lee]

There's also the property I call "splay". This is the tendency for the strings to get wider apart as they reach the bridge. Two mando's might have equal "nut" dimensions but might be really different widths at the tenth fret. Personally I prefer less splay because my skinny fingers can't easily hold down two courses at the tenth.

There is also a tone and sound difference with how the strings are paired. I tend to like the pairs spread out a little farther than most.

[GTison]

In looking at new mandolins, I saw the same thing. I like the strings at the nut to have some separation so that they don't buzz on each other or influence each other. ( not sure if that's real or imagined) I got used to the string spacing at the bridge on my old KM1000 and found that playing on a narrower spacing at the saddle makes me miss strings sometimes when playing. I need it a little wider ( maybe a string space width) than what seems to be standard. I'm with you on this mav.