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Thread: OK, we've done nut width, but how about neck depth and shape?

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    Default OK, we've done nut width, but how about neck depth and shape?

    Looking for my first decent mandolin in UK, in Covid lockdown, so I'll have to 'buy no try'. I found some good older posts here on mando neck width - thanks all!. Most say '1 1/4" is king if you want wider, but you can cut a nut to move the strings out far enough on most any well known model, and if you only have one mando you'll get used to most widths'. That's great - but how about neck shape and depth?

    I'm moving up/sideways to a standard size from a hand made 'travel' mando with a small teardrop round hole body - flat unbound board, 1 1/8" nut, 29/32" string spacing (on string centres 11-40s) at the nut. This has a rounded V neck with a centre ridge, at the nut it's about 29/32" deep to the fingerboard surface. The centre ridge gets me right on the unpadded thumb joint bone, developing an achy sensitive point.

    So what do you find most comfortable? I've tried cheap mandos with necks so shallow there's nothing to get hold of, and I don't want one of those. The best contender so far in £/sound/quality looks like the the Eastman 305 - any views on that?

    Thanks, Max

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    My Florida is scooped pheffernan's Avatar
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    Default Re: OK, we've done nut width, but how about neck depth and shape?

    Quote Originally Posted by maxr View Post
    So what do you find most comfortable?
    I’ve played enough mandolins at this point to know that I can make a lot of variables work. I’m seemingly unbothered by neck depth, but I am sensitive to the profile. I feel obstructed by a lot of meat in the shoulders and gravitate towards a V-shape like the one I found on my Collings MT.

    That was my sixth mandolin, and by that time, I had met pickers with very different tastes. One is a Weber man who relishes the heft of a full neck profile. Another requires something more shallow due to an old hand injury.

    All of this is to say that I can tell you what works for me, but I can’t tell you what will work for you. At this point, you can’t even tell me what will work for you, which is when the real fun begins: you will only be able to answer that question by playing a lot more mandolins!
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    Default Re: OK, we've done nut width, but how about neck depth and shape?

    Thanks pheffernan - yikes, I think I have a practical choice of 'play the one you're with' for the next 3 months or so I guess if lots of players here are happy with eg Eastwood or Kentucky necks, chances are I'll find them OK.

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    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: OK, we've done nut width, but how about neck depth and shape?

    Quote Originally Posted by pheffernan View Post
    I’ve played enough mandolins at this point to know that I can make a lot of variables work. I’m seemingly unbothered by neck depth, but I am sensitive to the profile. I feel obstructed by a lot of meat in the shoulders and gravitate towards a V-shape like the one I found on my Collings MT.

    That was my sixth mandolin, and by that time, I had met pickers with very different tastes. One is a Weber man who relishes the heft of a full neck profile. Another requires something more shallow due to an old hand injury.

    All of this is to say that I can tell you what works for me, but I can’t tell you what will work for you. At this point, you can’t even tell me what will work for you, which is when the real fun begins: you will only be able to answer that question by playing a lot more mandolins!
    Totally agree with this. What I like doesn't translate to what you will like. A Weber is very comfortable for me, but I don't consider it very hefty and full.

    Also, what pheffernan enjoys might not work for me. Am finding that the hard V shape of some instruments doesn't work well with my playing. Although a softer V like a Collings is just fine.

    My own hands have enjoyed the Eastman models I've tried. If you are having pain with what you have, it's probably worth trying one to see if it helps.
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    Default Re: OK, we've done nut width, but how about neck depth and shape?

    I've built mandolins with pretty small necks because that's what I saw others around me using. I've evolve to liking a fairly deep soft V though. I have real short fingers and have found that the deeper contour fills the crook of my fretting hand and provides the support for less muscle/tendon fatigue. I have a client who has had the sharper part of the back V shaved off two mandolins because it cuts into his fretting hand painfully after playing for very long, so it's a personal preference.

    There's been lots of praise here for the Eastman 300 series mandolins and I've never heard of anyone not getting along with the necks. However, they are spec'd with a 1 3/32" nut. Lots of other makers do produce mandolins with 1 3/16" nuts but I don't know if you'll find on in your price range.

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    My Florida is scooped pheffernan's Avatar
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    Default Re: OK, we've done nut width, but how about neck depth and shape?

    Quote Originally Posted by maxr View Post
    Thanks pheffernan - yikes, I think I have a practical choice of 'play the one you're with' for the next 3 months or so I guess if lots of players here are happy with eg Eastwood or Kentucky necks, chances are I'll find them OK.
    Buy the best mandolin that you can afford, ideally used and appropriately depreciated. Learn what you can from it with full recognition that your next mandolin is unlikely to be your last mandolin. Then you can move it along at little to no loss and have quite the education for that tuition.
    1924 Gibson A Snakehead
    2005 National RM-1
    2007 Hester A5
    2009 Passernig A5
    2015 Black A2-z
    2010 Black GBOM
    2017 Poe Scout
    2014 Smart F-Style Mandola
    2018 Vessel TM5
    2019 Hogan F5

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    Registered User Bren's Avatar
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    Default Re: OK, we've done nut width, but how about neck depth and shape?

    I've just got an Eastman 815, bought remotely since we can't travel far at the moment.
    I'm struggling a bit with the V neck and will have to adapt or it will get painful.
    The narrow nut width isn't is big a problem as I feared, but the neck...
    Also I guess I'll need to polish it because the webbing of my thumb is dragging on the V finish as I move my hand up and down.

    My other mandolin is D shaped neck and a generous 1-3/8" nut width
    Bren

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    Default Re: OK, we've done nut width, but how about neck depth and shape?

    Thanks all for your help. Do different Eastman mandos have different neck shapes, or is it one shape all round?

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