string separation ?

[kkmm]

What is the typical separation between strings in the same course ?
I notice that on some mandolins, the separation is a little more than 2mm, and on some others, it's 3mm.
Is there any known benefits of each choice ?
Is this a personal preference ?
or most likely people stays with whatever comes in when the mandolin is bought ?

[G7MOF]

I like my wider string spacing on my Fylde, It also gives me a slightly wider neck for my chunky hands!

[Astro]

RE "between strings in the same course"

I dont know what is most typical but I know I like the string spacing within the courses pretty tight. I have narrow fingertips and I find that as I go way up the neck on the G string of my Eastman, my fingertip can fall between the strings and ends up splaying them out laterally instead of pressing them down and its not a clean note. I can prevent it from happening with dead on precision but when I get worked up and sloppy, I fall through the ropes. But just on the G.

[Ron McMillan]

I recently had a new mandolin shipped to me with the spacing between the G strings too wide, making the instrument almost unplayable because the G strings separate on either side of my fingertip. I have ordered a new nut and a new nut blank to get a replacement made and hopefully save the instrument. Such are the joys of buying a mandolin from the other side of the world.

The difference between a mandolin whose G strings are ideally spaced and one whose strings are too far apart to play is very small, but can be seen by eye, and no luthier worthy of the job description would allow an instrument to leave the workshop with the strings set too far apart.

[Stephen Perry]

Not very difficult to reslot the saddle. Nut a bit more trouble.

An issue with running production instruments through is the slightly wide separation on some brands. If acceptable, but not ideal, what is one to do? I'm going to tackle that head on by simply slotting the way I like, even if it adds time to setup.

[Frank Russell]

I had a wide-neck F5G with the Bush style inlays, and it also came with the Bush model string spacing, which was almost like playing 8 separate strings. I tried it for a while, kept splitting strings and got a new nut made for it. Much better. I've also had a few with the string pairs a bit too close, and found that if I played hard, I got a lot of buzz and rattle, especially on the G and D courses. Personal preference plays a big part on spacing, and playing style as well. Frank

[Phil Goodson]

Mine are about 3mm and cause no problem at all.
Only downside of closer spacing would be rattling of the strings if they're close enough to hit each other when playing hard.
I suspect that's why you see the 2-3mm range. It's what WORKS.

[kkmm]

I have 4 mandolins with string spacing between 2mm and 3mm. I found it is much easier to tremolo on the 2mm one, and a little harder on the 3mm. However, the 3mm sound more like double strings while the 2mm sound like single strings with 2 times the volume. 2mm for the G strings is a bit to narrow, I can hear something weird during tremolo, I changed it to 2.5mm at the saddle and this weird sound went away.

[Pasha Alden]

Am not sure of the answer to your question. Though I prefer string separation very tight. I have rather small hands and so am aided in my playing by a narrow neck.

[kkmm]

Well, the answers I got seem to be:
1) 2mm to 3mm string gap is normal as it works
2) personal preference (including myself) may steer the players either toward the 2mm or 3mm