Recently joined after almost finishing my first build 3 stringer. My problem is short fingers which makes barr chords very difficult on standard 6 string instruments. I've built this 3 string from scrap and reclaimed materials, the neck came from a cheap damaged strat copy electric and the body was built from scraped wooden charis. I got to work on the neck and reduced the width down to 1.5" with a string spacing of apprx 10mm it leaves me with roughly the same distance between the neck edges and the strings.

My predicament relates to my short stubby fingures making barr chords difficult  and maybe I should take more off the width?  I'm probably not alone but realy don't want to finally put the new fret wires on until I've checked with other players with similar circumstances.

Any advice would be helpfull as I don't want to scrap the neck!

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Replies to This Discussion

If you having trouble keep taking the width down so it suits your fingers in this game there's no rules just get it to suit you mate I'm making my necks 1 1/4" wide and I have really long fingers .
I think 1 1/2 inch width is good but could be less. A favorite three string of mine by Uncle Jjohn is just over one inch wide. I like slide guitar. Try a slide for those bar chords. I like fingering and slide with a pinkie slide. And welcome Merv!
Thanks for replies, will post some pics when completed. Will probably reduce neck by further 5mm.
Merv

It all depends on what's comfortable to you and what string spacing is good for you. I use the 1.5" width for 4 strings and 1" to 1.25" for 3 strings.

The 6 string guitars are usually 1 & 11/16ths" and if you tune them to an open chord, you can use 1 finger all the way across for fretting  chords or slide.

Thanks Paul
My string spacing is 10mm with a narrowed neck at 1.5 inches. The neck has an internal truss rod fitted so I’m not sure if narrowing any further is likely to cause any problems. The back of the neck is curved which I have altered, only the width.
Merv

Then leaving it as is will probably be best.

Well could'nt resist the temptation, so out with saw and rasp etc and reduced width too 1.25" all sanded and sprayed with yacht varnish. New frets fitted and almost ready for final assembly.
Merv

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