Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bad Wolf on February 4, 2013 at 12:36am

im building my first 4 string right now and the neck is 1.75" wide. my 3 strings have had 1.5" necks

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on February 4, 2013 at 1:48am

All my 4 stringers have a standard 1x2 for the neck. You can easily fit 4 strings in a 1.5 inch wide neck/fingerboard.

No clue on a 6 stringer...never built one.

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Permalink Reply by Maddog on February 4, 2013 at 1:53am

Like B.W. my 3 strings are 1.5" wide and 4's are 1.75" wide, I make the necks a full 1 inch to 1 1/8" thick on 3 strings and I go to 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" on 4 string. If I make a fretboard to attach that adds another 1/4" to 3/8" to those thicknesses, I mill my own hardwoods so thickness is made to order. If you need to, you can laminate 3/4" stock to achieve the thickness you want.

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Permalink Reply by Jackson Pereira on February 4, 2013 at 2:09am

I like a 6 string with a neck width of 2" and a thickness of 1". It is quite a comfortable neck. Though everybody's playing is different. So it may not be to your taste.

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on February 4, 2013 at 2:12am

Four strings can easily be accomodated by a 1.5 inch wide neck. String spacing would be a comforatble 3/8" inch, which leaves 3/16" on the outside of 1st and 4th strings so they are not too close to the edge of neck/fingerboard.

And since a length of 1x2 is actually 3/4" x 1.5", you don't need to rip a wider piece of lumber down to 1.75 wide. By adding a fingerboard (usually 1/4 inch thick), you wind up with a neck 1" thick.

My three stringers have been as narrow as 1.125" wide, with 5/16" to 3/8" string spacing, which still leaves an adequate amount of space on the outside of 1st and 3rd strings, for the same reasons stated for 4 string setups.

The distance allowed on outside of 1st and 3rd or 4th strings depends more on whether you have frets for fingerstyle play, or if its fretless for slide playing only. For a slider, outside string space isnt so critical. But on fretted necks, its best to ensure the outside strings aren't too close to fingerboard edge.

Cheers

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on February 4, 2013 at 3:46am

Check a commercial 6-string steel acoustic. Neck widths at the nut are usually a really slim 1-3/8" to more normal 1-1/2 to 1-5/8". Most commercial 6 stringers also have tapered necks, so that the neck width at the body join is around 1-3/4." Classical guitar fretboards usually approach 2" wide, some tapered, some not. Commercial neck thicknesses, including fretboard are right around 1." Now you have some reference points.

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Permalink Reply by Lou "cubancigar2000" on February 4, 2013 at 3:58am

Thx Oily, That is very helpful and exactly what I needed

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Permalink Reply by Lou "cubancigar2000" on February 4, 2013 at 3:57am

Thx to all who helped me on this

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Permalink Reply by Michael Recchione on February 4, 2013 at 4:13am

I measured the string spacing on instruments I like to play, and allow 1/8" on each side at the nut.  So, if a guitar has 1/4" spacing, 4 strings would take up 3/4", adding 2 x 1/8 for the sides, the 4-stringer would be 1" wide at the nut.  (I'm making one like this right now.)  I also like to taper the neck so that it gets a little wider as it approaches the body of the guitar - about 1/4" total.  So the neck goes from 1" wide at the nut to 1.25" wide where it attaches to the body.  This might sound fussy, but it takes about 5 minutes with a drawknife to make it happen, and is part of rounding the back of the neck anyway.  It really looks better than not tapering, IMHO. 

 

If the instrument has double courses of strings, (e.g. a mandolin), I make it a little wider - I make the strings in a course about 1/8" apart, with the same 1/8" margin on each side of the neck.  So, in that case, a 3-course instrument would be 1" wide at the nut, and a 4-course instrument with double strings would be about 1.25" wide at the nut. 

 

I use a glued-on fingerboard, which usually starts out 1/4" thick, so the basic neck blank can be a standard 1x2.  (3/4" x 1.5" actual). The glued-on fingerboard raises the neck above the body of the guitar, which is nice because it lets you use a higher bridge (= louder unplugged), and also lets you continue the fingerboard for a few frets over the body.  It also adds strength to the neck. 

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