Mandolin neck

[CGMan]

I'm sure this has come up a thousand times, but I'm new and have played classical guitar for many years.

Why is a mandolin neck so narrow? I don't see how a wider neck would affect the sound

I'd appreciate it if someone could give me a brief explanation.

Thanks -- Dave

[pops1]

I have seen mandolin necks from 1" to 1 1/4". Guitars from 1 11/16" to 2 1/4". Mandolin is much like a fiddle which never has a wide neck, same tuning, and it works for me. I played guitar for decades before playing mandolin, never thought about the difference, it's a different instrument. Banjo's have different width necks too, and they vary just as with the other two. I also play banjo and like a little wider neck there, because it was what I started with, still have it.

[Rick Jones]

Why is a mandolin neck so narrow? I don't see how a wider neck would affect the sound

A narrow neck makes it possible to fret two courses with one fingertip, and I find myself doing that more and more. Sometimes I can't fret all four strings, but I can usually get three of them, and I can ALWAYS get the middle two. If the neck were wider this would impossible, and would require using two fingers on the same fret on adjacent strings, which isn't practical unless the neck was REALLY wide.

[PT66]

I personally don’t like a narrow neck. I make mine just under 1 3/8 inch. I have 4 fingers so I don’t need to cover more than one chorus with one finger. In fact I find it easier to make sure I don’t accidentally cover the wrong strings.

[sunburst]

It is common for people who switch from guitar to mandolin, or add mandolin as a second instrument after learning guitar, to think that the mandolin neck is too narrow.
In other words, many guitars players who also play mandolin think the mandolin neck is too narrow. Many of those people gradually become mandolin players as well as guitar players (rather than guitar players who play mandolin) and begin to prefer narrower necks.
For whatever reason, mandolin players tend toward necks in the 1 1/16" to 1 3/16" range (though the range can go all the way from 1" to 1 3/8", but the outliers are not too common).

[Rick Jones]

I personally don’t like a narrow neck. I make mine just under 1 3/8 inch. I have 4 fingers so I don’t need to cover more than one chorus with one finger. In fact I find it easier to make sure I don’t accidentally cover the wrong strings.

And that's exactly why there's chocolate and vanilla. Pick on!

[PT66]

Which is why I build my own instruments.

[mandocello8]

"why is a mandolin neck so narrow?". you accidentally purchased a mandolin with a narrow neck. sell it, buy one with a wide neck. same as guitars, mandolins come with all kinds of neck widths and profiles (wide/narrow, beefy/slender, u-shaped/v-shaped, etc).

[Ayo Leo]

I'm sure this has come up a thousand times, but I'm new and have played classical guitar for many years.

Thanks -- Dave

It's an optical illusion created by the double courses. The spacing between courses at the neck is the generally same as an electric or steel string guitar. But you aim for the centre of the courses when fretting them, that's the important dimension.

Just measured my Yamaha Pacifica guitar. It is 20.5 mm between the D and high E string . My KM150 is 22.0mm between G and E courses, centre to centre.

I've always wondered why the strings on a classical guitar are so wide? I've got a nylon string guitar with a narrow neck, ie. standard spacing for most of us.