Recently joined after almost finishing my first build 3 stringer. My problem is short fingers which makes barr chords very difficult on standard 6 string instruments. I've built this 3 string from scrap and reclaimed materials, the neck came from a cheap damaged strat copy electric and the body was built from scraped wooden charis. I got to work on the neck and reduced the width down to 1.5" with a string spacing of apprx 10mm it leaves me with roughly the same distance between the neck edges and the strings.
My predicament relates to my short stubby fingures making barr chords difficult and maybe I should take more off the width? I'm probably not alone but realy don't want to finally put the new fret wires on until I've checked with other players with similar circumstances.
Any advice would be helpfull as I don't want to scrap the neck!
Replies
It all depends on what's comfortable to you and what string spacing is good for you. I use the 1.5" width for 4 strings and 1" to 1.25" for 3 strings.
The 6 string guitars are usually 1 & 11/16ths" and if you tune them to an open chord, you can use 1 finger all the way across for fretting chords or slide.
My string spacing is 10mm with a narrowed neck at 1.5 inches. The neck has an internal truss rod fitted so I’m not sure if narrowing any further is likely to cause any problems. The back of the neck is curved which I have altered, only the width.
Merv
Then leaving it as is will probably be best.
Well could'nt resist the temptation, so out with saw and rasp etc and reduced width too 1.25" all sanded and sprayed with yacht varnish. New frets fitted and almost ready for final assembly.
Merv
Merv