big hands, sick of being so cramped.

[Justin Burrows]

I currently have a mando that has a standard neck, something to the tune of 1 1/8 inch at the nut. I have very large hands for a mandolin player, and I'm looking for the WIDEST neck that I can find. Anyone know what brands have the widest neck? I have reached the point that I cannot progress in my playing, my fingers just can't move any faster without getting tied in a knot trying to get past each other. Wide with a radiused fingerboard would be good.

any suggestions about brand/model would be appreciated. I am a college student, so the price would have to be reasonable too, say around or under 1500. I just hope I dont have to wait 3 years till I'm out of school for a custom! :(

I like to play classical and folk/celtic, if that helps.

[Justin Burrows]

oh, a wide-necked kit would be good too, I am a decent woodworker, and know a couple pros that could help if I needed.

[29er]

Well I've only been playing for a few months and can't offer nearly as much input as most, but I have the same "big hands" issue you have.

I bought a used Mid-Missouri with a nut width of 1 1/4" and it works great for me. If I pick up a mandolin with a standard width nut of 1 1/8" or less I can't play it at all.

More experienced players will tell you that you can get used to the narrower width and I won't argue with that but I sure can't see being able to get used to it.

[mandozilla]

First of all Hightekredneck and 29er, welcome to the Cafe!

There are other threads that discuss this issue so if you don't get what you want/need from this thread you can try searching. :)

Anyway, I too have pretty big hands. Well actually, I have long fingers but the aren't real wide/thick or what have you. The nut width on my main mando is less than 1 1/8" and I have no problems like you describe...it was a bit tight when I first started but I'm used to it now would not want a wider neck. :grin:

It's funnuy 'cause I've played guitar a lot longer than the mando...haven't played my Martin in quite awhile...got her out today and it's weird because on the one hand, I flatpick better after having played the mando for awhile but on the other hand if I'm not looking at my left hand, I'm hitting the G string when I should be hitting the D string and so on. :))

And the guitar neck feel like a 2 x 4 in my hand...never had this problem in the past. I guess my left hand has fully adjusted to the narrow mando neck. :cool:

Anyhow I'm sure you'll find a lot of good advice regarding large hands/wide necks here.

:mandosmiley:

[danb]

Howdy HTRK,

I have a suspicion you're going through what I did when I was learning. I have pretty darn big hands too, and I play Irish style mostly. When you're trying to get the fast runs in it feels like big fingers and hands are in the way, though I learned over time that a lighter action and a lighter grip with the left hand helps enormously. I'm now quite comfortable even on the 1" wide necks you see on the old gibbos, and the bulk of it is down to loosening up the left hand and working on accuracy with a light touch.

I'd suggest looking into physical things like that, how you hold it, strap, position, etc- I bet you can make a lot of headway there.. and if you do need a wider neck after that you'll at least know you've worked through your left hand technique too!

[Ivan Kelsall]

This is a pic.i took shortly after getting my Weber Fern - The Lebeda 'Premium Plus' Mandolin on the right,has a significantly wider neck.I dodn't know if this is typical of all 'current build' Lebedas.
My 2001 lebeda "Special" is only a fraction wider than my Fern. I can also testify to the amazing build quality of the Lebedas.Having had 2,i can say that the build quality is as good as it gets,with minute attention paid to every detail.In fact in 'some respects',my "Special' makes my Weber Fern look like a bit 'plasticy',
Saska;)

[Bertram Henze]

Fylde have the widest necks I've encountered so far.

But like Dan said, it is also a matter of playing technique to prevent fingers from getting in each other's way. When watching Dan's videos, I noticed that his fingers are in the air most of the time, not on the fretboard - that is certainly one remedy, but it has to be combined with staying out of any flying-fingers discussions. :grin:

Bertram

[Nate]

I think Breedloves have a 1 3/16" nut width.

[Justin Burrows]

My other problem is chording, If I have to contort my left hand at all to get the chord, my fingers rotate and they won't fit between the strings, deadening the sound pretty bad. On the bright side, I can double stop the same fret pretty well! lol

[johnl]

Definitely check out a Breedlove Quartz if you can, they're very comfortable to play. And if you still want wider, the old New York-made Epiphones from the 40's and 50's have a 1 1/4" nut width. A very roomy neck!

[Chris Wofford]

I played a Breedlove the other day and really liked it. The neck was wider and the string spacing was better. I thought I might would have difficulty fretting two sets of strings at the same time, but there was no problem. It was a little out of my price range and I was awful disappointed to walk away from it.