Narrow nut

[Stray Feathers]

I've gone from worrying about a possible faux-pas to discovering that what I'm doing may not be so far from normal. I have two luthier friends who happen to have Gurian guitars, and one went straight away and measured his - 1 5/8" at the nut. He is a bigger man than I, and he says it's "a delight to play". I wonder why it is so hard to find examples of guitars outside the 1 11/16 to 1 3/4 range; I wonder if it is one of those things where, if nobody seems to be doing it, then “it’s just not done”. So I am seizing the opportunity to learn for myself what it's like. I glued the fretboard on yesterday, and did final shaping today, and the nut will be 1 5/8". Onward . . . Bruce W.

[Stray Feathers]

Just to finish this thread: I finished this guitar (see"Rosewood and Engelmann 00" in Blog Your Project) and I must say, a fretboard this narrow is not a big difference. I am a fingerstyle player with small hands, so I may not be the norm, but I'm very comfortable playing this with a 1 5/8" nut. The fretboard is radiused at about 12" too, and it has turned out to be a sweet little guitar. All that angst for nothing . . . again . . . Bruce W.

[phavriluk]

I just finished a guitar whose fingerboard I made with a similar error, but 'too' wide. It is a joyful revelation to play. I think it's wonderful that we can make stuff and discover how they perform, and know that a fix is in our hands if we need one.