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Is a 40mm wide neck too thin for a 3-stringer?

My Uncle-in-law kindly gave me some oak and elm to use for CBG necks, and cut it to size. Annoyingly I told him slightly the wrong dimensions, I wanted 45mm x 20mm but told him 40mm x 25mm. Will these dimensions work ok for a 3-stringer or will the neck likely be too narrow? I can at least take the depth down a bit easily enough if needs be.

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on May 8, 2010 at 8:48am

My 3-strings are 1 3/8 inches wide, which is 35mm.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Breault on May 8, 2010 at 12:12pm

You'll be fine. I do 4 strings that tapper from 40 at the nut to 50 at the tail. Check out the head shots I posted today and you will get a good close view of the spacing.

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Permalink Reply by J-Hob on May 9, 2010 at 12:48am

Excellent, I should be ok then. I come from playing ukuleles so tighter string spacing is more natural to me anyway. I think the 25mm thickness will need taking down a bit anyhow.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Breault on May 9, 2010 at 12:57am

Yeah you can take it down a bit. You'll need to judge that based on the tuning pegs you will use. I'd love to see the elm.

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Permalink Reply by J-Hob on May 9, 2010 at 5:17am

Hi Dave, I have uploaded some pictures of the wood for you. I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like all oiled up.

Dave Breault said:

I'd love to see the elm.

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Permalink Reply by Steve (HaGGuS) Hattersley on May 10, 2010 at 2:08am

I got a 4 stringer made from a laminated 38 mm neck. I will be stringing it up in a few days.. so I will let you know if it works. :)
http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/239833719?profil...

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Permalink Reply by Steve (HaGGuS) Hattersley on May 11, 2010 at 11:33pm

I have strung the 4 stringer up.
It is great.

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Permalink Reply by J-Hob on May 12, 2010 at 1:07am

That's great! Thanks for letting us know!

Steve said:

I have strung the 4 stringer up.
It is great.

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Permalink Reply by Crow on May 19, 2010 at 1:55am

i build all of mine (3 stringe sliders) from standard 1x2 sticks, which are actually only 1.5 inches wide... thats..lets see...
like 32mm wide.

wow, at 40mm you sould have lots of space!!

i space my strings at 1/4 inch from each side, and the third right in the middle.

you'll be fine.