Who makes a reasonable priced wide neck mandolin?

[krwilson830]

Hi all. Im a new mandolin picker (guitar for 25 yrs) and love this little wonder. However, I have large hands. My friend lent me his Fender to learn a little on and Im doing well. Tell me some brands and models if you all would. Thanks!!

[Jim Broyles]

There are some models out there with 1-3/16" and a few with 1-1/4" width at the nut, but I suggest that you just keep playing your friend's mandolin. You will get used to the neck and you should not have any trouble switch between guitar and mandolin. I have pretty large hands - tip of outstretched thumb to tip of outstretched pinky = over 9-1/2"; base of palm to tip of middle finger = 8-1/4". My mandolin has a nut width of 1-3/32" and the outside G string to outside E string is just under 15/16". I go among bass, guitar and mandolin with no trouble, but the mandolin did take some getting used to, and at first I thought I wanted a wider necked mandolin.

[Eddie Sheehy]

That's easy, a Gypsy Spirit. Well-made mando, wide neck, excellent woods, great sound. Superb customer support from Walt.

[sunburst]

Just about any reasonably priced custom builder.

[JEStanek]

Welcome to the Café,

Mid Mo, Gypsy, Breedlove (is a bit wider than normal), any reasonable custom builder. Reasonable is a pretty vague term, it depends on your budget! The first 3 brands will run you (new) $600-1600. Custom builds will be $1000+ depending upon your style, builder, and appointments.

Jamie

[Fretbear]

Alot of mileage can also be gained by having a custom string spread cut on a new nut. The outermost strings can be set as close as functional to the edges and the rest can be arranged to suit the player's preference. I have a wide neck mandolin at 1-3/16", but have my full string spread at 1", as that is what feels good for me and allows me to fret two courses at the same fret with one fingertip.

[steve V. johnson]

Breedlove, Gypsy's, Big Muddy and Weber are the companies that I know of that will make a neck with 1 1/4" width at the nut.

As for "reasonably priced"... one person's reasonable price could be the amount of another person's mortgage. For the above mentioned makers, Gypsy's and Big Muddy will be the least money, Breedlove next and probably Weber the most.

As John notes, luthiers who do custom instruments can accomodate design requests.

stv

[dulcillini]

I have a Weber Yellowstone with a 1-3/16 nut. I think the ever-so-slightly wider spacing helps me fret more cleanly. However, I agree with one of the other posters that time will heal your problem. I am a mountain dulcimer player who recently took up mandolin. The first couple of months, my fingers felt like sausages. I was hitting all the strings at once. Slowly, for reasons I can't explain, my notes started coming out more clean. I wrote Dix Bruce (author of my lesson book) an e-mail about my problem and he was very kind to answer me and say basically, that I just need to keep playing and the problem will eventually get better.

For what it is worth, that has been my experience.

Mike

[jjboone101]

You can order a Collings MT from Greg Boyd or Dennis Vance with the wider neck/nut option for around $2100 or cheaper used.

[greg_tsam]

I love my Breedlove Quartz FF

[Payit Forward]

What Fretbear said.

I also searched for wide neck mandolins for a while until I realized that what really matters is the string spacing, not the width of the neck. Any mandolin with 1 1/8" nut (which I think is the majority of mandolins) can have the slots in the nut cut to provide wider spacing of the strings just like what you get with the wider nuts.

Also, if you keep the old nut you can easily convert it back to the original if you like.

[gypsy1]

[QUOTE=Payit Forward;598139]What Fretbear said.

(I also searched for wide neck mandolins for a while until I realized that what really matters is the string spacing, not the width of the neck. Any mandolin with 1 1/8" nut (which I think is the majority of mandolins) can have the slots in the nut cut to provide wider spacing of the strings just like what you get with the wider nuts.)


Fretbear has a 1 3/16" neck/nut, a wider neck to begin with and had it fit to his style. It is about string spacing and you can't get the same spacing starting with 1 1/8" as you can with 1 1/4", 1/8” makes a lot of difference.

Walt

[spenser]

I have had 4 wide nuts-the breedlove and collings were the most comfortable radius, to me, with wide nut. The weber had good width but seems, to me, to have a sharper V to the neck, making it a little tougher to adjust to. Suprisingly to me at least the one that I would not sell would be the Breedlove. I can take it anywhere, and it is very comfortable day in day out. Suggest giving them a try. There are some good used deals floating around right now. same with some used wide nut weber F's

[Mike Bromley]

..wait till those big fingers become big OLD fingers, and neck width is a monumental difference!

A friend of mine has a Kentucky Hoss knock-off (can't remember the model #) that had a 1 7/32" nut, he paid 600 bucks for it. Nice to play. It was one of the clinchers making me get my Triggs.

Jim used a blueprint of Sam's mando to get the string spacing, but a person has room with so many acres of nut to put strings all over the map.

Wide is goooooooood

[Payit Forward]

you can't get the same spacing starting with 1 1/8" as you can with 1 1/4", 1/8” makes a lot of difference.

True enough. I was just trying to make the specific point that a stock Breedlove or Collings (or similar) with 1 3/16" nut isn't cut any more spacious than a 1 1/8" nut cut with the same wider string spacing. I have a mandolin with a 1 1/8" nut with the strings spaced at 1" just like fretbear's spacing on a 1 3/16" nut.

If you want even wider spacing, then yeah, having a wider nut to start with gives you the available space.

[mando.player]

No one has mentioned them yet, but Rigels are also 1 3/16" nuts.

For me it isn't the extra string spread as it is more neck. Specifically, I like a little fretboard south of the E string. I don't have to contract my finger so much on frets 1-3 on the E string. On a skinnier neck I really have to work to get a clean note. Not so much with a wide neck.

[Jim Kirkland]

There is a Weber in the classified today with a wide neck.

[dwmand]

Thanks for this thread. I play an old Gibson A-1 as my main mandolin. I've been playing it for over 12 years. I had bought a Collings MT. Loved the tone, never played it - couldn't get used to the nutwidth and sold it. Now I just received a Collings MT with the 1 3/16th nut. No one had one for me to try before I bought. It feels thinner than the A-1 still. The string spacing is still much thinner on the Collings. Where do you actually measure the width? The nut tapers out from the top to the actual neck. Just want to make sure I actually have a widenut! If I have to have a nut recut, I'm fine with that.

[jasona]

My Laura Ratcliff comes with a 1 3/16" neck. I'm going to have it shaved down 1/8" inch. That little bit really does make a difference.

[Jim MacDaniel]

That's easy, a Gypsy Spirit. Well-made mando, wide neck, excellent woods, great sound. Superb customer support from Walt.

Ditto. And for a sample of their basic model (the Vagabond), check out this this youtube vid.

[Steve Jeter]

Inexpensive,, wide, Big Muddy. you will love it.

[JGWoods]

I have big hands and it took a while to adapt from guitar neck real estate to mando, and to appreciate the small space for what it is- speed waiting to happen.
My conclusions from owning several mandos - necks narrow as 1", wide as 1 1/4" is that the 1 3/16" is about ideal. Also if you work at the narrow necks you can play them and will always be able to adapt quickly to wider. If you play wide necks only you won't be able to pick a narrow one at all.
at 1 1/4" it can be hard to hit two courses coming straight down between them and that is a useful playing technique.

[Anglocelt]

Pretty well all the European makers (including UK) of flatback mandos make them with a wider neck as standard. I blame the Gibson F5 and Mr Loar for setting the too-thin neck standard, which many modern makers follow. The thin neck size of Eastmans (copying Gibson F5 dimensions) is what prevents me buying one of those, depite their keen pricing.

I don't have thick fingers but I can't get on with modern Gibson spacing, although the old Gibson A models are fine. Sobell (England), on the other hand, makes the widest neck of all, or used to, which is why I sold mine and got an Oakwood flat-top, which feels ideal.

As for 'reasonably priced' a lot of good US makers used to seem reasonable to us in the UK; now that the dollar has surged against the pound, it could be the other way round!

Cheers,

Kevin

[Steve Jeter]

If you play wide necks only you won't be able to pick a narrow one at all.
at 1 1/4" it can be hard to hit two courses coming straight down between them and that is a useful playing technique.[/QUOTE]

I dont think that is true at all. Its like switching from a Gibson neck to a Martin neck on guitar. There is a difference ,, but if a person is not able to switch between the 2 , there is a problem somewhere.
Im not expert but have played string inst. for yrs. and though I prefer my wide neck , I also love my old Hohner with a narrow neck .

No offence , just my opinions , but to say you wont be able to pick a narrow one ,really threw me off & I didnt want others to be, what I consider mis-informed.
Steve

[JGWoods]

I should have phrased that better.
Once you get used to wide necks narrow ones can be challenging, whereas going the other way, from narrow to wide seems less, so.

It's kind of like automatic transmissions vs standard trans- if you are used to a standard an automatic is pretty easy. Not so much so the other way unless you have spent plenty of time on a standard.