I was on YouTube for some random reason today and this video was up front.
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@RobertJackson58585858 @guyjantic
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oh, wow, I did everything wrong
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@guyjantic @RobertJackson58585858
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it’s all good. All those years I waited, I’ve been practicing on lesser guitars. I didn’t have to refret (not yet anyway), because I wasn’t changing the arc. No jig, no router, pretty organic process of rasps and planes and sandpaper, but it gets you there.I think it's amazing you've done this—I would not have had the guts!
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topicR relay@relay.publicsquare.global shared this topicR relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
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I think it's amazing you've done this—I would not have had the guts!
@geoffduncan
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I have a few guitars now that are only good for tiny handed people, I want to somehow label them as such and make sure they go to small handed people when they outlive me.
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@geoffduncan
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I have a few guitars now that are only good for tiny handed people, I want to somehow label them as such and make sure they go to small handed people when they outlive me.
@punishmenthurts
What is your ideal nut width/string spacing looking like? -
@punishmenthurts
What is your ideal nut width/string spacing looking like?@geoffduncan
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strings 1 3/8”, nut, 1 5/8”
happens to be the spread of a stratocaster nut, but I think the Fenders have three times the arc of the Martin, not sure it will work for this one. I can modify, dig the middle ones out deeper, but I also ordered a bone blank to carve from scratch. -
@geoffduncan
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strings 1 3/8”, nut, 1 5/8”
happens to be the spread of a stratocaster nut, but I think the Fenders have three times the arc of the Martin, not sure it will work for this one. I can modify, dig the middle ones out deeper, but I also ordered a bone blank to carve from scratch.@geoffduncan
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my fingers are short, but they’re fat, that’s too close together already, and surely getting more so as I age, but it’s a trade off, I need that smaller circumference. -
@geoffduncan
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strings 1 3/8”, nut, 1 5/8”
happens to be the spread of a stratocaster nut, but I think the Fenders have three times the arc of the Martin, not sure it will work for this one. I can modify, dig the middle ones out deeper, but I also ordered a bone blank to carve from scratch.@punishmenthurts
One and three eighths…wow. Suddenly all this is making much more sense to me.What about shimming Strat nuts? Any issues with rolling strings off the edge of the fingerboard?
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@punishmenthurts
One and three eighths…wow. Suddenly all this is making much more sense to me.What about shimming Strat nuts? Any issues with rolling strings off the edge of the fingerboard?
@geoffduncan
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I have a Fender and it’s amazing for that, the strings are at the very edge, but I hardly do pull them off of it, I think the tight arc helps that, for small hands.
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I keep thinking about breaking that Tele down and putting the neck on an acoustic.
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@geoffduncan
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I have a Fender and it’s amazing for that, the strings are at the very edge, but I hardly do pull them off of it, I think the tight arc helps that, for small hands.
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I keep thinking about breaking that Tele down and putting the neck on an acoustic.
@punishmenthurts
I sort of have the opposite problem: pretty normal-sized but substantial fingers, so I appreciate a little extra width, and I'm forever rolling strings off the edge of some fingerboards (but very rarely on an acoustic).There's always those old Fender acoustics with the bolt-on necks! Although I imagine some of those are now considered "vintage" and priced beyond reason.
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@punishmenthurts
I sort of have the opposite problem: pretty normal-sized but substantial fingers, so I appreciate a little extra width, and I'm forever rolling strings off the edge of some fingerboards (but very rarely on an acoustic).There's always those old Fender acoustics with the bolt-on necks! Although I imagine some of those are now considered "vintage" and priced beyond reason.
@geoffduncan
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ah! Such variance in this species, huh.
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my issues are a little beyond normal variance, but still, there are lots of people with small hands of normal proportions that may also struggle at music. My very first few I’ve since given away, a cheap one - and a really good one, dammit, missing that one prompted finally doing this one.
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That one was a Martin clone dreadnaught that I gave a new life in a strange way as well as paring it down. Deep throated beauty - the neck looks homemade, but it feels and sounds great and it’s maybe got another fifty years in it now. And I think it’s going to make a huge difference for them.
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My own dread is a Framus, from before the composite, bolt on ones, a proper one - or it was. Saving it from end of life like the clone failed, and now it’s a bolt on too. It needs a other redo, and now I have this one to play while I try again to restore the Framus.
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Or farm that out, and pay for it with the Tele, I don’t play it, it weighs a ton. That’s really the plan, farm out the Framus, a ‘66, out to the entitled, big handed prick of a luthier that wouldn’t do the Martin for me, LOL.
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Sorry, Not every big handed person is a problem, of coarse
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#Guitar -
@geoffduncan
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ah! Such variance in this species, huh.
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my issues are a little beyond normal variance, but still, there are lots of people with small hands of normal proportions that may also struggle at music. My very first few I’ve since given away, a cheap one - and a really good one, dammit, missing that one prompted finally doing this one.
.
That one was a Martin clone dreadnaught that I gave a new life in a strange way as well as paring it down. Deep throated beauty - the neck looks homemade, but it feels and sounds great and it’s maybe got another fifty years in it now. And I think it’s going to make a huge difference for them.
.
My own dread is a Framus, from before the composite, bolt on ones, a proper one - or it was. Saving it from end of life like the clone failed, and now it’s a bolt on too. It needs a other redo, and now I have this one to play while I try again to restore the Framus.
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Or farm that out, and pay for it with the Tele, I don’t play it, it weighs a ton. That’s really the plan, farm out the Framus, a ‘66, out to the entitled, big handed prick of a luthier that wouldn’t do the Martin for me, LOL.
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Sorry, Not every big handed person is a problem, of coarse
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#Guitar@punishmenthurts
I'm honestly amazed I don't encounter this sort of hand-size issue more often in the guitar world. I suspect it's self-selecting and many people who are frustrated by it simply give up or move to a different instrument. I know a fiddle/mando player with small fingers: I'll ask.I'm also amazed what people *can* do. A long-time colleague is maybe five foot nothing: her hands are proportional to that, which is to say "not giant." Yet she can handle a 3/4 size upright bass (which is the "normal" size one most often encounters) wit aplomb.
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@punishmenthurts
I'm honestly amazed I don't encounter this sort of hand-size issue more often in the guitar world. I suspect it's self-selecting and many people who are frustrated by it simply give up or move to a different instrument. I know a fiddle/mando player with small fingers: I'll ask.I'm also amazed what people *can* do. A long-time colleague is maybe five foot nothing: her hands are proportional to that, which is to say "not giant." Yet she can handle a 3/4 size upright bass (which is the "normal" size one most often encounters) wit aplomb.
@punishmenthurts
Ha, just talked to the mando/fiddle player with small hands. "I dunno, I've never picked up a guitar. I started in violin at four." So…no help there!

