Is it possible to narrow a standard guitar neck?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John Whiteside on July 8, 2010 at 6:47pm

First, a simple solution might be merely to decrease the distance between the strings by installing a new nut with more narrowly spaced slots. The fingerboard remains the same, but the strings are now closer together. Even a reduction of a 1/16 of an inch in the spread between the 1st and 6th strings would be quite noticable playingwise.

As to the depth of the neck, that can be easily accomplished with a rasp or spoke shave, but you need to know the depth of the embedded truss rod, so you don't cut into it. The tricky part is refinishing attractively after you have shaved all that wood off.

Reducing the physical width of the neck would be more work. Ideally, you would remove the neck, remove all the frets, carve the neck to the dimensions you wanted, refret, and reinstall it. Of course, your string spacing at the bridge would now wrong, so that would have to be removed and replaced. Doable, but expensive.

I'd start with a new nut and see if that doesn't solve most of your playability problem.

Permalink Reply by Michael Rosendahl on July 8, 2010 at 8:05pm

You would be better off finding a new guitar. A good luthier would charge several hundred dollars to do that, and the guitar would not be worth anymore than it is today. Find a guitar with a neck that you like, and sell the one you have. Look for a low profile neck, and you would probably be better off with a shorter scale. With the action set properly, you could have a very nice, easy to play, guitar.

Permalink Reply by Greg Brandt / Maker of Guitars on July 8, 2010 at 9:08pm

I agree w/ Michael.....find a guitar that's comfortable with out having to do all the surgery. Cutting a new, narrower nut might be a good solution too as a start but to re-carve a neck w/ a truss rod....unless it's a small amount....is asking for trouble (even if you don't hit the truss rod...removing enough wood could cause the neck to crack if enough "juice" is put on it). If it was a nylon string guitar....and someone was adamant about doing this.....I'd cut off the neck and replace it. This isn't a good option for a steel string guitar.

Permalink Reply by Charles F Morrison on July 9, 2010 at 6:40am

With the exception previously pointed out of possibly accidentally discovering where the truss rod is, anything is possible. The quesion is really if it's affordable to do such a thing, either in time and effort (if you do it yourself) or money. John's idea of starting with a newly spaced nut is an excellent way, at little cost, if this is going to be a good direction. The rest is a lot of work and in the end you still have a "Cheapie Gibson Maestro" guitar.

One of the things that was impressive about the (1968-1976) NBN guitars was the thin electric guitar like neck. I know there are others out there building acoustic guitars with thin necks. It may be a more worthwhile use of time, effort and money to search for them. You could get a much better instrument in the process.

Permalink Reply by Jon M. Allred on July 20, 2010 at 8:27pm

Almost anything is possible, Janice! I have trimmed down a neck or two. I once converted a twelve-string to a six-string and it turned out just fine. If the neck is indeed maple that would be a plus, as maple necks are typically more rigid than, say, mahogany necks. I probably wouldn't mess with the thickness, however. If too much stock were taken off you could significantly affect the integrity of the neck. If, after narrowing the neck it still seems too big, you might try giving it a bit of a V shape. Even a little will help the neck settle deeper into your hand and make it more comfortable to play. As always, you must weigh the cost of having a qualified luthier do this if you do not feel comfortable doing it yourself. It may cost more than the instrument is worth.

Permalink Reply by Janice Hamilton on July 21, 2010 at 10:19pm

Thanks everybody for your replies. I think I will keep the neck stock and work more with the electric guitar that I have. After a few months, the fingers and muscles will probably be more generous in their ability to hit certain chords and such. Besides I have so much to learn with licks and other rock guitar tricks.