I picked up a used mandolin recently and the string spacing at the nut seems odd to me. I can't put my finger on it yet (no pun intended) but I think both the spacing between courses and the space between strings on the same course is not what I'm used to.
The nut width is 1 1/8" and the total space between outer G and outer E is about the same as my other mandolin (about 0.96-0.97"), so that's not it.
I think the strings on the same course are closer together and so the space between courses is further apart.
Is there any standard on this or a rule of thumb? Maybe I'll just get used to it. I am getting some buzzing when I get the action down where it should be but that could be the frets (I doubt they are two strings on the same course hitting together).
I've seen some weird string spacing, especially on some Gibsons where the space between strings on the same course seems ridiculously large, so maybe this is an issue where there is no logic and all personal preference...
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