Re: neck width of classical guitar vs. steel strung guitar
"tysteel" <tysteel3000@aol.com> wrote in message
news:5fdd8d01-8ca5-4f2f-9e91-328de2ad7b52@p25g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> After playing a nylon strung classical guitar today at a shop, I have
> a question to ask of those who are familiar with guitar making in
> general who can provide insight.
>
> Why is it that steel strung acoutic guitars have slimmer necks (or
> should I say... smaller frets) than their classical nylon strung
> counterparts? Why aren't don't steel strung acoustics generally made
> with the same kind of jumbo-sized frets (and neck width) as is the
> case with many nylon strung classical guitars?
>
> Something that I noticed while playing a nylon classical guitar is
> that, because of the fact that the frets are larger, certain chords
> such as the small F are much easier to play than they'd normally be on
> the typical steel strung guitar. At least for me, anyway. On a
> steel strung guitar, I would have to roll my index finger on its side
> so as to sound all the notes of the little F chord clearly.
> However, because of the bigger frets on the classical guitar, I don't
> have to worry about such "finger gymnastics" in order to get all the
> notes of the chord to ring clearly.
>
> It would seem that playing certain kinds of chords would be much
> easier if the steel strung guitars had similar necks as the classical
> guitars I've seen...less chance of accidentally muffling adjacent
> strings on the fret board.
>
> Are there guitars designed for steel strings that have the same kind
> of neck width and fret size as the classical acoustic guitars, and do
> a lot of players prefer to play them over the standard steel strung
> acoustic? I haven't seen any steel strung acoustic guitars like
> that.
>
> I once heard of an nylon classical guitar that was also designed to be
> strung with light steel strings. I recall seeing old concert videos
> of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull playing such a type of guitar. It was
> a Martin, but don't recall the exact model # off the top of my head.
>
> But I don't think I've seen anything similar at the local music
> stores, but maybe I'm not looking in the right places,
>
> tysteel
To answer your question: Neck sizes on classical and steel string acoustics
are different sizes because of the way "most" people play the instruments.
Classical guitars are generally played by plucking individual strings with
the fingertips or fingernails, and the wider spacing allows more room to do
that. Steel string acoustics and electrics are generally played using
chords and chord forms, so the narrow neck allows quick formation of chords.
Also, using a pick, it's easy to get between the narrow strings.
All this said, many players fingerpick steel string guitars, and there are
steel string guitars with wider necks to help this -- none as wide as a
classical, however.
I also agree with the other posters, in that you should not put steel
strings on a classical guitar unless the guitar is a special breed made for
this.
<castlebrav…
RichL
