tooltimegrunt - Posted - 10/27/2013:  12:13:39

I have a mando with 1-1/16 neck.  I have a medium sized hand with slightly shorter than medium lengthfingers.  The big thing is that the pads of my fingers (the part that gets finger printed) are fat and often mute the next string below.  From your own personal experience would a wider neck help me?  If yes how much wider  1-1/8 or 1-3/32?   Will a wider neck cause me to have to stretch more when chording or fretting?   The pictures of the 1-3/23 necks make them seem huge (it could be the rectangular fret markers).

I do not have the ability to try other mandos so I need to hear your experiences.

Thanks

Edited by - tooltimegrunt on 10/27/2013 12:15:06

UsuallyPickin - Posted - 10/27/2013:  14:50:24

Wide neck mandolins allow more room for finger placement , yes , they do cause a slight increase in reach but it is negligable. THe shape of the neck can make as much difference as the width to your reach and playing . Use one finger on two strings when you are able. Mostly it is a question of getting used to playing mandolin. They all have skinny necks if you started out playing guitar like me. I know you wrote that you do not have the ability to try other mandos. But you really need to take a trip somewhere you can play several makes and models of mandolins. That is the only way you are going to be able to really answer you question. Everybody has the hand shape they were born with. For all of us it is both a blessing and a curse in that long fingers don't necessarily figure into dexterity. Good Luck in your search..... R/

tooltimegrunt - Posted - 10/28/2013:  16:44:52

quote:

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Originally posted by UsuallyPickin

 

 Use one finger on two strings when you are able. Mostly it is a question of getting used to playing mandolin.

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I think my post may have been unclear.  The pad of my finger mutes the next higer pitch (lower on the mandollin) string.  If I am fretting F on the D string my finger pads will mute the first open A string.

mojohand40 - Posted - 10/29/2013:  08:53:32

quote:

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Originally posted by tooltimegrunt

 

I have a mando with 1-1/16 neck.  I have a medium sized hand with slightly shorter than medium lengthfingers.  The big thing is that the pads of my fingers (the part that gets finger printed) are fat and often mute the next string below.  From your own personal experience would a wider neck help me?  If yes how much wider  1-1/8 or 1-3/32?   Will a wider neck cause me to have to stretch more when chording or fretting?   The pictures of the 1-3/23 necks make them seem huge (it could be the rectangular fret markers).

I do not have the ability to try other mandos so I need to hear your experiences.

Thanks

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I don't think the nut width is really going to matter much for you, IMO.  It really is a case of looking at your hand position and finger placement. You should be using your finger tips, not pads.  Wide width isn't really necessary. Look at a fiddle. Slimmer neck, yet I've seen and been out played by lots of fiddle players with sausages for fingers.  Same with mandolin, lots of players with huge hands.

In other words, it's 99% of the time technique, not the width/shape of the neck/fret-board  when folks have problems cleanly chording or noting.

Edited by - mojohand40 on 10/29/2013 08:55:07

ErikForGod - Posted - 10/29/2013:  10:34:27

I agree with mojohands hypothesis...we can't see any videos or pics of you holding your mandolin neck but I suspect something is going on there with the left-hand. It sounds like you are maybe laying your hands a bit flat on the neck like an electric guitarist with a thin wide neck might use? This is just a guess. You want your fingers to pivot down on the strings like tiny little pistons with a bit of curve through the knuckles...the tips should be making contact not the fleshy parts of the pads...which could be somewhat acceptable with an electric guitar but not a mandolin. Your thumb should only be peeking above the neck line just a little.. and it shouldn't be way down below the neck line with the hand or wrist flared out either.

Maybe if you show a photo or a video we can see a little better.

I tried to find an acceptable photo to show you of correct left-hand placement and I think this is pretty good...everyone probably does it more or less this way with some variations.

Edited by - ErikForGod on 10/29/2013 10:36:14

left-hand