Nut question, string to string spacing

[tomjackson]

Nut experts!

My Tokai feels quite cramped on the lower frets, string-to-string is 33.5mm and the nut is 41mm.  Would there be scope to put a new nut in with the strings a bit further apart?

Is 41mm pretty narrow for a gibson type?  My Tele only measures 42mm but the string-to-string is 35.5 and it feels a lot less cramped. 

I don't really want to sell the Tokai so lookand to see if I can get it more me

[gingataff]

41mm is pretty narrow for Gibson type these days but I'm sure in days of yore there was quite a variety of nut widths. It looks like you could get away with a slightly wider string spacing but I'd be careful on the treble side because you could go off the edge of the board if you're a heavy handed player.

That said a more practical option might be to have a new nut cut so that there is an equal gap between each string, rather than the midpoint of each string being equidistant (as it appears in your picture). I believe this is quite a common solution to cramped wound string syndrome :)

[Ratrod]

It looks like there's a wee bit of room left on both sides on the board. Don't get them too close to the edge or the strings will pop off the board.

Just have it done by pro.

[martinw]

41mm is narrow for a current Gibson type (they're normally 43mm I think).

I've become very aware of things like nut width, neck profile and fret height over the last few months and have found certain combinations that make life easier for me.

There's not a lot you can do to make a significant difference; a new nut would only improve things slightly. Sell it and get something else!  :)

[jpfamps]

Up until around 1964/65 Gibson used a 43 mm (or thereabouts) neck width at the nut.

They then slimmed the neck to around 41 mm at the nut: sometimes refered to as a pencil neck. This profile is less desirable than the wider neck profile, although obviously this is very much down to taste/ hand size.

From around 1969 it seems Gibson gradually went back to the wider neck profile, although this does seem a bit variable on guitars of that era.

Obviously neck profile is a matter of personal taste, I prefer the wider neck profile. Mind you Angus does alright with the pencil neck profile!

My general option on modify guitars (and indeed amps), is that you are often throwing good money after bad, and if a guitar amp etc doesn't suit you, you are often better chopping it in. I think most of us have bought a guitar without being 100% sure about say the neck profile - "I'll get use to it" - and regretted it later. I know I have.

[JDC]

I don't wish to hijack the thread, but is there any standard of nut width on modern guitars?

Was looking at floyd nuts the other week and couldn't believe how many sizes there was!

[tomjackson]

Thanks for the replies.  It's a great guitar but the small things like this end up making them not keepers, I was probably playing high up the neck too much when I tried it in the shop!

Next time I buy a guitar I'll be taking a ruler and calipers with me.

[jpfamps]

I was probably playing high up the neck too much when I tried it in the shop!

No money up that end.....

[Philly Q]

I don't wish to hijack the thread, but is there any standard of nut width on modern guitars?

There's lots of variation, but I reckon 43mm (or 1-11/16") is about as close to a "standard" as you'll get - that's most Gibsons, Fenders (except vintage reissues).  I don't really know about Ibanez and things like that, but I don't think they're significantly narrower.