How Far Should Guitar Strings Be From The Edge Of The Fretboard? 

I have small hands, and because of this, I make my necks a little wider. 44 > 45 mm at the nut. That sounds counterintuitive , but my short fingers have a tendency to pull down a bit on the strings, and I can easily pull the high E off the edge. A slightly greater distance from the edge helps to prevent this 💜💜💜 Sarah

I really enjoy your style of videos. You communicate really well, thanks!

Great content and very interesting topic

Been playing 43 years, and building for 3 years. its really about the distance from the outside edge of the string to the end of the top of the fret. so fret end width affects distance from fretboard edge. for 1 mm wide fret ends, I shoot for a 3 to 3.5 mm distance from the outside of the string to the edge of the fretboard (~2 mm from string to bevel) - along the entire length of the neck from the nut to the 24th fret. In some cases, I will shoot for an extra 0.5 mm on the treble side. This is for 25.5" scale length and 8 gauge strings.

The Stew Mac guy said something that made sense and I incorporate. The 1/8” measurement should be from the top of the shoulder of the fret as this is the real playable fret surface.

I measure the edge of the string to the edge of the fretboard. I shoot for 4mm and I try to keep that all the way up the fretboard. Great subject, Chris. I like the nitty gritty detail stuff.

Hi Chris, this is a great subject, and I've never heard anyone else talk about it. I have a Les Paul that needed a refret, so I asked the luthier if he could replace the neck binding and not round the edges (they were very rounded by previous owner and the high-e constantly slipped off), and if he would do elliptical ends, no nibs, and minimal filing of ends to preserve as much useable fret length as possible. The nut was also moved toward the bass side to help with this. I have no dimensions, but it seems to be maybe 1mm gained on the high-e side, nut moved about 0.5mm off center. I love it, but would like a bit more still. My ideal might be a wider neck with 2mm more than std on high-e side. My Fenders and other bolt-ons are easy -loosen the neck screws and pull the headstock up so the strings are now a bit further from the edge of the fretboard. I guess I really prefer all guitars be set up asymmetrically like this. When I do vibrato on the low-e I pull down and it rarely messes up, but bending slightly up on the high-e while applying vibrato does not work well for me since it needs much more movement to be as effective. That's why I like more space on the high-e side. To paraphrase Mark Twain " if I had more time I would have made this shorter".

All of my necks are 56 mm at the widest and 43 mm at the nut. I slot my nut for the low e 0.125" from the edge, for the high e .100" from the edge. Center the bridge and let it fall where it does. Works good!

All my guitars, electric and acoustic, measure about 3mm from the edge. There's a little bit of variance, but it this seems to be accounted for by measuring center to edge versus outside to edge. I can't feel the difference between 3mm and 1/8" or the difference between outside to edge and center to edge.

When I build a guitar, I usually design my fretboard on fretfind2d. I buy pre-cut nuts from graph tech and adopt the string (center)-to-edge measurements from the nut itself, which in most cases is 0.14-0.15 inches (for a 43mm width nut). This also matches most production guitars I own. The dimensions of the nuts are available on their website, I subtract the E-e distance from the total length of the nut and divide by 2, to get the exact measurement per side.

Vintage Fenders have a 2 and 7/32 string spacing at the bridge, modern ones have a 2 and 1/16. The heel of the neck in the neck pocket is the same modern and vintage causing the vintage strings to be closer to the edge of the frets closest to the bridge.

5/64" from the top of the bevel on the end of the fret to the center of both E strings. If the bevel on the end of the fret is 3/64", that's very close to your 1/8"from the outside of the fretboard.

Great question. I use 1/8. on center. Seems to be right for me.

I build acoustics and electrics. Electric I use .120" and on acoustics I use .100" at the nut (measured at center). I like a wider spacing on acoustics for 2 reasons: I build mainly finger style guitars, and many finger stylist guitar players like to fret the 6th string with their thumb - too far away is not good in that instance. I also use a wider spacing at the bridge for acoustic guitars, which is critical, IMO, for finger style guitar players

Good subject. All the guitars I like to play the most seem to come in almost exactly 1/8" from edge of string to fretboard. That is what I shoot for. I try to keep them even on both sides. I have experimented with a little more space for the high E string at the nut because it makes me less likely to accidently mute the high E string.

what i do: i divide the total fretboard width by the number of strings. the equal spacing is what i use between strings and i use half of that spacing in each side, on the end of the fretboard... so to resume, i use half of the string spacing each side.

On the woodside of things, I try my best to maintain the centerline from the nut to the tail. I take the outer strings and hook them up to a tailpiece and "center in" where the strings will be. Sometimes, its on point with the centerline and sometimes its off, but strings stay within the fretboard area where I want them. So not always the centerline, is THE centerline.

Ty for sharing! Lots of great comments. One thing that I'm not completely sure of is , should the neck be straight when cutting slots for nut? Thanks!!

While we're at it: What about string *spacing* ? A highly interesting subject as well - as some players/builders favor equally spaced (string-)centerlines, while others go for equal amounts of space *between* the strings. (I personally prefer the latter.)

I'm in the process of designing a guitar so this is very interesting. One thing I have wondered about is whether the distance should be the same all along the neck or if it should increase towards the body. My thinking is that as you move away from the nut the string can be more easily pulled off the edge of the neck. In truth the variation would probably be no more than 0.5mm or the neck would start to look very odd, so this may be more pedantic than practical.

I recently rebuilt a Harmony H78 from 1964 (similar to a Gibson ES335, but with 3 pickups and a Bigsby). This guitar has sentimental value for a family member, so I viewed it as a learning opportunity - and it certainly was that... In an attempt to start refinishing the guitar many years ago (after the fretboard had popped off), the neck had been "over-sanded", so it was 1/16"-3/32" too narrow - I had to shim the neck where it fit into the body's neck cavity. The new geometry was a bit fussy to reestablish, and I agonized about this same subject. I tried 2mm and 2.5mm spacings with nuts that I made, and neither one worked out - I could push the bass E off the edges of the frets, starting at about the 12th fret. So, I bought nut for a "narrow Gibson" from StewMac, and ended up with a 3mm spacing from the outside edge of the fretboard's binding to the center of each of the two E strings (or maybe 1/8" - it's hard for me to measure that difference). The bass E stays on the frets all the way down the neck with the 3mm spacing. That spacing is consistent down each side of the neck. I was trying to keep the string to string spacings as wide as possible, so I was happy that 3mm worked out. Because of the thinner neck, the 2 E strings pass over the poles on the neck pickup just inside of their centers. It does not seem to make a difference in how well those poles work relative to the other 4 I am a complete novice at this stuff, so my experience is a bit limited, but this guitar plays very well.

I am making mine using Basses I own as a guide (all are between 3 and 5mm). My LTD and Yamaha are even on each side to the string centre. My Squire and Cort 5 string are even to the edges of the strings. I went with 4mm from the edge of the string (same on both sides), and consistent. 5 String Multiscale Bass 34"-37",. I hand carved the nut out of bone with 9mm string spacing (to the centre of each string), and 19mm spacing at the bridge. I didn't 3d model it, all sketched out and measured by hand - I did a plywood mock up first to test the positioning of the components.

I bet this matters more for guitars with a really small fingerboard radius where it may be rolled heavily off.

I build nylon string guitars and shoot for 4.8mm from the high E string edge to the edge of the fretboard and 3.2mm on the low E string. This works well for this type of guitar with the fret ends not being excessively beveled. The spacing at the 12th fret is 5mm on both sides. Anyway, that’s how I design my nylon string guitars. The asymmetrical layout works in this case.

I almost always went with a 43 mm nut, with 35 mm string spacing. That gives me 4 mm on each side from the center of the string to the outer edge of the fretboard. At the 24th fret I do 5 mm on each side. I like to have enough "room" for beveling / rounding in the fretboard edge and frets and still be able to play heavy vibratos on the high e string.

Thanks

Great question, and not something that's being discussed that much. I used a lot of time researching this topic, when I started out making my own bone nuts, from scratch. On guitars I'd start with 3,17mm (1/8") from the outside edge(s) of the nut, and see how the strings are sitting, in regards to how close they are to the edge of the fret itself, I don't want them to fall off. The 3,17mm will give me the measurement for the string's side/edge, but it does not take the diameter of the string into account. Therefore I'll add half the string diameter to the 3,17mm and that provides a good starting point. If I'm not happy with how the strings lay, then I'll reconfigure. Another way, if for example the frets are heavily beveled, and the strings risk falling off the edges, I will measure from the bevel on the fret itself, in order to "correct" this. This trick I picked up from StecMac, in one of their Nut Making videos - that's a great trick! Normally I'll try to keep the dimensions the same, on both sides, but on a CMI Electric Bass that I'm restoring at the moment, I had to come up with different dimensions/measurements for the outer string locations. The outer spacing for the E-string, measured from the edge of the nut and in, using a caliper, ended up being 5,4mm (.212") - this is with half the string diameter added, which was .0475". The outer spacing for the G-string ended up being 4,87mm (.191") - with half the string diameter added, which was .020".. I would place the nut blank in the slot, put a decent amount of tension on the strings, and kind of see where they'd "naturally" wanted to lay. I checked the alignment up and down the neck, to make sure it was consistent, then I marked their location and used the String Spacing Rule for laying out the two remaining strings. Once they were all layed out, I put the nut back on the bass and checked the string locations - they were all good. I believe the "standard" is considered to be the 1/8". Atleast that's the information I found, when I started doing the research, many years ago now! Keep up the good work! Have a great day.

3mm at the nut, 4mm where the body joins (16th fret), then it get narrower again towards the last fret (heel of neck and pocket are square). Measured from de outside of fretboard to the outside of string. Low and high E are the same. My heels are wide because I build with bridges with a 54 or 56,5 mm string spacing. The width of my heel is determined by the width of the bridge so the sting doesn't come to close to edge at the last fret. Low and high E are always on the outside of the pickup poles, never gave me any trouble. Cool Project looking forward to your findings!

Thanks!

Bonus question: Do you use same measurement for fretboards with and without binding? I wouldn't want the strings completely over the binding, but in a bit from that edge. A lot of times you can change it with nut/bridge adjustments.

All I know is that my Clapton strat has it too close…. I go for the big bend at the end of a fast bit on the E string and half the time i get #&*%@#!

I guess the technical term is 'fretboard overhang'. And yes, it is a VERY important feature, often overlooked. It's the first thing I look for on a new guitar. If it's too little, it's unplayable to me. I never measured, but I can tell just by looking. Great content btw.

That has been a issue for me as a builder and a player. Been getting warmoth necks without nuts because they don't offer bone nuts. Got a Stewmac safe gaurd nut slot jig. I like it because it is a very safe way to make a nut from scratch. It comes with a tracing jig to rough cut it in, then I use the graduation string spacing ruler to mark the the slots. Instructions say to mark a 1/8 inch in from the edges and move the graduation ruler until the strings line up with the 1/8 marks. The graduation spacing of the ruler gradually widens the spacing as the strings get thicker. Actually a very nifty system. But real world playability and intonation. I get my neck Plek'd as a last step of the build. And consistently the slot depth has been rather safe and high. To the point I don't even waste my time doing a final polishing of the top of the nut till I get it Plek'd. Playability wise. I can't control the width of the bridge. Maybe sand the neck pocket a little and change the neck angle. But I have a tendency to do a wide vibrato with the strings and the high e slips off the side of the frets, sometimes. Really quite annoying. To the point I have to consciously change my playing style. So I have been slowly giving myself more space on the high e string with every build. Went 5/32 on the last nut. And probably going to go 3/16 on the next neck until I don't have to think about it anymore. I'm even considering using a bridge with narrower string spacing. End of the day my builds are very personalized to my preferences and playing style. Need a guitar I don't have to think about or need anything else. Just need a deep connection with the instrument to the point of getting lost in the music. Probably could write a book about all the intricacies of building a guitar. It a very personalized process

This an interesting subject that I never thought about when purchasing my first guitar. After thinking about it I have a feeling this is one of the reasons people have stopped trying to learn the guitar as beginners. Fret spacing is so important for the beginner who have issues with the SORE fingers and muted strings trying to play the correct chords. Of course everyone has this issue when first picking up the guitar and only practice will cure some of these issues. Personally I had more issues with the high e being muted because of being the same distance from the edge as the low E string. I have extra large hands which is not a gift when playing the guitar.....9 inches from palm to end of middle finger with fairly fat finger tips. So, muting strings was a struggle with me and it was extra frustrating when the high E string would be pushed off the fret board. It was hard enough to fit my fingers between the frets but when I'd position my correctly to have this happen constantly it made me want either slam the damn thing down or just lay it down and quit. I'm still not a pro or even what I'd call a gifted guitar player but have gotten better with time. I suppose a classical would be the answer but funds are limited at times. Ha, I wished a guitar as made with a little more spacing for the high E string from the edge of the fret board.

In my opinion, it depends. Since the fingers touch the fretboard from the bottom, it seems likely that there would be a greater tendency for fingers to push a string off the board on the bass side than the treble side. So, I would think the spacing should be greater on the bass side. How much depends. Some players tend to push up on strings as they apply pressure. Other don't. Also, the manner in which the fretboard is made can influence the tendency to push strings off. If you have never had complaints about the spacing, just keep doing what you have been doing. I remember once when someone handed Norman Blake a guitar they had built, wanting to get his opinion. He started to play, and almost immediately, his finger pushed the 6th string off the fretboard. He stopped, and told the guy that he preferred the 6th string to be a bit farther from the edge to prevent such things from happening. Norman was so good a musician that he continued playing without a recurrence.

So finally getting to where the new camel bone nut is to be put in. Using the old plastic nut as a starting point. (1.680 nut width) Low E and High E are .160 from the neck to the edge of the string. Seemed a little too much to me. BUT checking the heel of the neck shows the same .160 from the bridge. Using D'addario "balanced" light strings makes about .250 spacing between each string needing a little tweaking with the calipers.... This is on a 1999 Ibanez GAX 50 dumpster find rebuild...Neck pocket was too big and skewed the neck...the fretboard dots were not even centered ? Fixed the pocket.Replaced the plastic dots with MOP.

Don't know where I read up on it, but I've stuck to aligning the edge of the string (not center) 1.5mm from the point of the first fret when cutting the nut on both sides. The point meaning wherever you end up having the sharp bit of the fret end after beveling, but before rounding over. The other strings will align to this location. Since I've only built and mostly worked on Fender-style guitars, the neck can actually move around a bit in some cases, but don't have issues with fret-outs on any guitar that I've set up with this approach. Though now that I measure this on the closest project guitar I have nearby, it's actually 2mm from the end on the low E, but that might have been a bit of a sloppy nut job as it was always going to be temporary...

My favourite home built guitar has 3mm from high E (edge) to edge of fretboard and 6 mm for the low E, but the neck is scalloped up to the third fret so that I can get my thumb round for a D-chord.

strings should be a certain minimum from the edges of the fretboard to not slide off and note-out when fretting. However, the actual distance is determined by several factors including: string gauge, fretboard width & radius, pickup alignment, intonation, and fret-hand playing style. I for one often use my thumb for the low E and (sometimes) A, which means hand pressure on these strings is either flat or downward. I'm not going to note-out off the fretboard here.

That's really crucial for me as a guitar player to have the proper gap between the edge of the string and the edge of the fret. For a 6-string guitar I prefer to have a 2.5 mm gap between the edge of the both low and high E string at the first fret, and a 3.5 mm gap at the 24th fret. Having such a little gap helps me to widen the string spacing a little bit, so my finger tips don't touch the unwanted strings while fretting chords, especially at high positions. In I can fret the 6th string with my thumb as well. And I prefer to have the frets' edge with the bigger angle (about 80°) to make the fret surface as long as possible. That's helps me to keep such a wide string spacing playable. And for a 7-string guitars I prefer a bigger gap (about 3 mm at the 1st fret and 4 mm at the 24th fret) cause the 7th string has a wider amplitude.

In my opinion, the first question to answer is how wide do I like the neck? I had a guitar with 58 mm at the 24th fret and it felt awkwardly large, my favorite guitars have 56-57 mm at the last fret. I also own a Spirit by Steinberger with a very narrow string spacing which allows as little as 53.5 mm width at the 24th fret. I don’t find it as comfortable as my other guitars, and it also is uncommon, so not the kind of guitar you want to get used to and then find out you can’t play on other guitars anymore... String distance from the edge is quite a direct consequence of neck width and string spacing, but most bridges have about 10.5 mm string spacing anyway, so the variable parameters you end up with are neck and nut width. As with string spacing, which is calculated from each string axis (otherwise you should have individually crafted saddles for each string and even for each gauge of strings), I measure (eyeball) the distance from the edge of the fretboard to the center of the string, not the edge of the string. I set the neck “tilt” in order to keep those eyeball measures equal, but if I have to leave more room to one side, I’ll always choose the high e string side, because that’s where you risk going out of the fretboard the most when playing. As already stated, fret-end treatment is as crucial as the available space: very round, spherical fret ends are a pleasure to see and touch, but they often reduce the “safe space” between the string and the fretboard edge quite a lot. I personally suspect Ibanez RGs have increased their neck width from the 56 mm of the 80s-90s to the 58 mm of the later models because of the adoption of the spherical “prestige” fret-end treatment. I prefer the more standard fret-end treatment, which allows more available space for vibrato, a constant height till the edge of the fret and is somehow more predictable (with spherical fret-ends, it’s like they induce you to slip off the fretboard, even when you think you’re still quite far from the edge of the fret).

I've measured this on almost every guitar I've ever owned and the vast majority of them have been right around 1/8 of an inch (3.175 mm) from the edge of the fretboard. I do own one now where the high E is closer to the edge of the fretboard and I do have issues with it sliding off the edge if I'm not careful. I've also replaced nuts on guitars where I went just a tiny bit too far from the edge of the fretboard and it was noticeable when trying to play chords close to the nut. You wouldn't think it would make much of a difference but I sure could tell.

I'll go along with what Andreas Segovia wanted on his custom acoustic guitars. He wanted more reveal, that is more gap between the E strings and the edge of the finger board. So there is less chance of the string sliding off to the side. This is a very important spec for him and I agree. I dont have any measurements but 2mm to 3mm seems okay. Measured from end of string to end of fret.

I try to get both Es equal distance to the edge, but as long as both are 1/8" or more I'm alright if not perfectly centered. When slightly off center I favor having the high E at a greater distance for safe bending avoiding the edge. From edge of string not center.

Let me just leave some numbers here, measured at the 12th fret: *Ibanez S-Series, Wizard-III-Neck* Neck width: 53 mm - Distance E to e: 44.3 mm - Playable fret length: 49.7 mm *Fender Mexican Tele* Neck width: 51.9 mm - Distance E to e: 44.8 mm - Playable fret length: 49.5 mm While string spacing and the levelled part of the fret are almost identical, the Ibanez has a wider neck. Assuming you're using the same angle when filing the fret ends, this makes sense. I am comparing jumbo frets (Ibanez) to very small vintagy frets (Fender). If this is true, you'd have to think about what frets you want to use before you can determine the neck width. Also, replacing small frets with big ones on an existing instrument could effectively leave you with a "shorter" fret.

I use 1-11/16" nut Warmoth necks, so my method may not work for narrower necks. Normally the nut comes spaced correctly, but occasionally I'll have a new one installed. I go by the B string. If I can bend the B towards the high E, up one half step without falling off the edge, it's good. I use the same method bending the A towards the low E. I don't like the edges rounded. What are the actual measurements? No idea. My set up guy is Denny Rauen, (first documented person to build a compound, or multi radius fretboard) I explain it to him and he makes it happen.

The magic number seems to be 6/32", from the edge of the fretboard to the edge of the string (measured at the last fret, for 22 fret Gibson scale). Have tried less and have had to redo.

You have different parameters to consider. Bridge spacing (if factory) and the width of each end of the neck. A factory locking nut would be a fixed distance BUT can be tweaked with files. Do not use your good slot files tho... I have a rebuild using a Kahler and the saddles can be adjusted side to side....do not like the way the strings go off the rollers when using the trem bar BUT it can also lock....

so getting the bridge dimensions before building the neck is essential.

What a great content. This is a topic that has been something I have wanted but didn't know :) I'm using also 3-3.5mm, I figured that out from your earlier videos. I measured from the width of the bridge (centers of the strings) and nut

I have large hands and a nasty habit of pulling the e string off the fretboard every do often. To fix this, I put a custom nut in all my guitars with the height e string further away from the end. It works for me

I don't think there is a one size fits all answers. I mainly build basses. There are a lot of factors that I consider such as fretboard radius, will the edges be rolled, will there be binding with nibs, whether its fretless or fretted, and the size of fretwire and what fret edge profile will it have. Even scale length and what type and gauge of strings can affect my choice. Generally i go for 1/8" from fretboard edge to side of string, but could go even more in some situations. I'd rather have a hair too much space than too little. Too little is unplayable, too much may not be noticed or at worse a minor issue. This really is a great question to ask. I've seen lots of guitars and basses suffer from strings that are too close to the edge.

I a-priori made/ke my guitar/s 40mm at the Nut. And I use string spread of either 35 or 34.5 mm on the Nut. Which means I have about 2.25 to play with on the edges of the fbd. What all this means: Firstly, rolling a string off the edge is part of my 'technique' or style of playing. (And I actually have plans of making all the rolled edges of the frets [yes I roll them off] aligned just like all the frets on the board are aligned in all aspects for smooth playing without buzzing etc.) I had to develop the right playing adjustment for this. But like everything else learned in guitar playing I had to learn this technique of makibg sure you play the Bass E string coming from the edge inwards or down . And also you need to develope a less agressive play on that Bass E string. And with time it becomes natural. So... it's not the end of the world if one makes a 'mistake' and narrowed his board 'too much'. If Django Reinhardt played with one finger .... you fill in the rest...

The binding makes a lot of difference. On a Les Paul with binding 3mm (from the center) at 12th fret is not enough , Gibson build the guitar with 5 mm at 12th fret. Also must be consider fingers tend to slide inside the fretboard the high E and tend to slip OUTSIDE the fretboard the low E so I use 4mm on high E and 5 on low at 12th fret on a Les Paul with binding . This also visually give the idea of equal distance considering the different diameters.

I've never built my own guitar yet. But, I've been planning for months. And my research for fender guitar is nut width = 1.65"(41.91mm), string space at nut = 1-13/32" (35.56mm). So I should keep 3.175mm gap from the edge of a neck to the center of a string. Then, string space at bridge is 54mm. And, you know, now I can draw neck outline with that 3.175mm gap. I dunno how this 3.175mm gap works with radius and pups etc. I just hope I can successfully shorten a scale length with this method.

I am wondering, on an electric, should the distance to the edge of the fret board be equal on both sides? I have a Gibson ES 335 that sometimes falls off the edge on the high e-string, and a Les Paul (Studio, no binding), where I don't have that problem. The Les Paul is not uniformly 1/8" all the way down on the high e-string side. It gets to about 3/16th where the neck joins the body. I'm wondering if that is by design. Easier to play without worrying about falling off the fret board. Did they do that on purpose? The strings seem to randomly go over the pickup poles, but they all do, even if not always dead center. I'm just wondering, is my Les Paul tuned to perfection, while my ES -335 is adjusted for people who don't bend strings?

Hi. As a player not a builder, but someone who tinkers with the set ups I prefer a larger gap for the low E and quite a small gap on the top E. Depends also on the fret ends and how they've been smoothed off. I don't think thumb over the low E is an issue (your 1/8") as that's down to practice and neck shape and width - my distances would be just under 1/8" on the low and nearer, just over 1/16" on the high E (outside of string reference). Also heavier strings and a wider neck need more gap - but probably microns. Good luck with this - the variables that make the right instrument from a good one may be getting into the metaphysical! Steve (UK, blues and jazz and acoustics that need lots of room for the strings to vibrate).

I use 2.8mm low E and 3.2 high e 🤘👍🙏

My current S-shaped object is 2-2.5 mm between the center of the e and the edge of the fretboard and it’s not enough. 3-4 mm would be better. New G&Ls use a 1-11/16” nut width and 1.65” string spacing - i.e. strings are spaced the way they would be on a 1.65” neck. I’m not sure what that means in numbers, but it feels good. Just enough room for both E strings.

2.5 mm high e 3mm low e from the center of string on a standard 9.5" radius strat. I got a new neck from stew mac and the high e is 1.75mm and driving me crazy.

its really easy i think with the FRITZ RULER ( SIDE STRING PITCHRULER ), it depends on your NUT size and i think that relies on your neck measures also. Take care you also BUDDY !!!

Excellent video! I've always used 4/64" from the fret bevel to the string when I'm cutting a nut. As for neck alignment, I'll usually get the outside strings as even as possible, but sometimes will shift it so there's more room on the treble side than the bass. This is also something I consider when notching tune-o-matic saddles, and I've even notched many of my Strat saddles to get them to my preferred spacing -- 4/64" from the So 4/64" from the fret bevel has been my standard for years. The real risk for me has always been rounding the fret ends while maintaining that measurement. I've gotten a bit too trigger happy with my quarter-round file a few times and when you see the string closer to some fret bevels than others...even if you can deal with it, it ain't pretty! Fortunately I never have this issue on customer guitars. But on my own guitars I'm an obsessive freak about getting the lowest possible action and widest possible string spacing. Just what I personally prefer. And it's definitely taught me that since I measure from the fret bevel, the profiling of that bevel is perhaps the most imperative thing for determining this spacing. Nuts and saddles are a lot less time consuming to replace than frets. Rounded/hot dog fret ends are tricky for this reason. I'm still searching myself for the perfect fret burnishing method, while maintaining the widest possible spacing. Getting those edges invisible to the hand seems to be a tall order without beveling them a fair amount. But assuming evenly beveled frets -- 4/64" from the bevel. Most of the time I just worry about this at the nut and let the saddles take care of the rest. I'll adjust the neck alignment if necessary, either dead even or a little more room on the High E side.

I do 1/8" from the edge of the string on both high and low E. On basses I do 3/16"

I like 3mm at the nut and 4/4.5 mm at the end of the board, measured from the side of the string. This feels comfortable to me and looks “correct.” Fender necks are too narrow at the heel imo.

Assuming the strings are equidistant from each other, I would say half the distance between two strings. The way I like to think of it is "each string gets a certain amount of space around itself". So if you have a guitar with say, 7mm between each string, i would conceive of that as "each string gets 3.5mm of fretboard on either side of it" which would mean there is 3.5mm of fretboard on the outer edge of the outside strings. You shouldn't really be bending the outer strings out toward the edge of the fingerboard anyway, right? Maybe a little if youre doing some vibrato, but I was taught that big bends go toward the middle of the fingerboard.

This is my comment before the video has even played ..lol.. Without going into actual measurements, I have always liked strings to be as close as possible to the fretboard edge, especially the low E since now and then I will thumb a note. But lately on my acoustic I have found that when playing some open chords I am accidentally muting the open high E with my palm. I don't know if I am just getting lazy or my hands are getting fatter. I never glue in my nuts (place joke here ..lol..) so I have tried pushing the nut across a smidgen and that fixes it (although it does put the low E a little too close to the edge on the other side).

Having played production guitars most of my life, I immediately noticed on the two custom shop guitars I’ve recently purchased, the E strings seemed closer to the edge than my other guitars. I’ve gotten used to it and I like it. I’m in the process of building an Explorer style guitar, and I had a couple pre slotted bone nut blanks in the shop. Sure enough, it feels too far away from the edge and the spacing feels crowded. I’m gonna cut another one from scratch. I’d say 1/8 is good but no more.

Out of a desire for symmetry I tend to aim for 1/2 the distance of what is between the strings Edit…centre to centres with a smaller margin on the high E if anything

1/8 is a great distance between the E's and the edge of the fretboard, personaly depending on the angle of the bevel of the fret end I find it ok to mesure the edge of the string cause the bigger E has more chance to slide(or drift , I find that the high E can get away with being a little to close but the low E has to be further away... Depending on taste and technique it changes from player to player

I had a friend who had an expensive esp that did this whenever i played it. Ever since my worst nightmare has been buying a prestigous model or brand some day and it being flawless playability but with this issue where the high e slips off. Low and behold I bought a schecter reaper that has this issue when I play. from sweetwater and the bridge is noticeably screwed in closer to the low side, where all the strings are slightly run along a mm or 2 too close to the edge on the high e side. I put my 8s on and its completely unplayable unless i use the very heavy 10-48 strings and even then its still dangerously close to sliding off at all times. Basically I have to play with such large strings that the tension is so immense that it becomes difficult to play lead for me either way. Im currently arguing with sweetwater about this and they do not see my issue. They saw its within standard factory regulations. But i can literally see on the guitar and in pictures that the bridge is mounted way off pushing the E to the edge. Im scared to buy any guitar online now for this reason. Even if i get a guitar with bad high action i can fix that. But its harder when the high e slips due to bridge alignment or over filing the fret ends.. It seems sweetwater doesnt wana deal with me now other than letting me send it back. Rip. :/

I use 1/8" on both sides to the center of the string from the nut all the way down.

Probably the worst playing problem for me. Have sold guitars because of it and have found that it’s worse with bigger jumbo and X jumbo frets. I tend to pull off the high e so I’d allow more space on that side than the bass side. Bevel certainly affects it so if I’m dressing frets I opt for a steeper bevel and have sometime cut the nut slots to compensate on necks.

3mm has been my personal norm, measured from the center of the E strings.

I was thinking about that a few days ago when I decided to change the bridge of my stratocaster cad model for a wider spacing bridge and then I realized how much of a difference 2mm spacing from e to E can make when it comes to the distance between the strings and the edge of the fretboard. The first time I designed it I thought it would be a good idea not to leave too much space since I'm a fan of narrow necks, but now thinking about it, if for any reason the future owner of the guitar decides to put a different bridge down the line, I don't think it would be a good idea not to leave any room to accommodate the new spacing.

My preferred metric is simply that the strings cross over the middle of the bridge pickup poles.

Well although I have no measurements, I have a couple of G&L guitars (both US made and Indonesian) and the E string (the bottom one) is located too close to the edge. Of course it is possible to adjust my playing, but I have not experienced that on my other brand of guitars. And with the dry climate up here in the north of Sweden it gets even worse if I need to correct fret sprout due to a shrinking fretboard...

Define "edge of the fretboard"... Is there binding? No binding? Do the frets run all the way to the "edge", or are they dressed hemispherically as in your video from five years ago? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-moxUw3Ke2Q0.html If not hemispherical, what's the angle at the end of the frets? 22.5 degrees? 30 degrees? Might it not be "better" (more useful/accurate) to measure from string (centre or edge, your choice) to the outermost playable part of the fret itself? (I mean that in the interest of CAD and CNC use, over hand tools and maybe a sander). I'm not claiming it to be so; I'm just asking a question.

I don't measure to a specific distance, but taking into account the fret end shape I leave a "comfortable" amount of room, which for me means leaving just a tad bit more room than I think it needs. I try to make it as symetrical as possible with respect to fretboard length or width. I have found good results by building necks with an eye to feel and comfort, and bodies to specific dimensions and hardware placement.

I don't do it symmetrically. I always give the high E String more space than the low E string

From a player's standpoint, I'd much rather have a wider space from the outside of the string to the end of the fret. The string sliding off the edge of the fretboard is one of the worst design defects a neck can have. I have "literally" soldered some material onto the ends of frets tho keep the strings from sliding off the fretboard. I think the traditional "beveled" fret ends are a design defect, and more builders are now moving to a "ball end" design. This is a big improvement in my opinion. Other important factors to account for are "neck radius" and how much the player uses string bends. The strings are far more likely to slide off the fretboard a 7.25" radius neck than one with a 12" or flatter radius. In a different playability design topic, some unusual chords around the nut require extreme hand positions, and volutes, as well as the wood for the treble side of the headstock can get in the way. If staggered tuning keys are used on the headstock, I think the treble tuners should be further away from the nut than the bass side tuners.

Tbh i aim for around 3mm and when i repair guitars i take the frets bevel into consideration

Should start the topic with string spacing at the nut. Then we could talk about how wide a neck should be at the nut. I feel many guitars are to narrow. Should be at least 43 mm.

Your comment about people making the outer strings end up too close to the edge of the fretboard is interesting. Once you've got the neck and fingerboard, can't you control the distance just by reslotting the nut? Sure, if they made the fingerboard overall too narrow, they are screwed unless they want to completely remake the neck, but any mistakes in string distance planning can be corrected I would think fairly well by just making a new nut.

The bad part: You talk so much and so slowly. The good part: Every single word is so informative, I can't miss a millisecond. Bring us more of those!!!!

for modern guitar standard spec is stupid it doesnbt allow for proper vibrato on the thinnest string. I feel like bass would be better off at 4mm and treble at least 5 mm. there are obviously people with weird techniques like the guy below wrapping their thumb around but thats for less technical playing and it doesnt really matter at that point. My guitars seem measure 4-4.5 mm on both from the center on the 2nd fret to the edge of the fretboard and that feels like too little I would end up pushing string off the fretboard more often than I'd like. So if you're making guitar for boomer blues keep it less on the bass side for thumb over but if youre making extended range or shredder type leave technical players some space. Also keep in mind that fret edge angle and fretboard being rolled off eats into actual usable fret length

David Grissom claims the problem is when the strings are too far, not too close to the edge. He talks about his PRS spec here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9x_LnboWjTo.html The strings are closer to the edge and the frets have a steeper bevel to somewhat compensate. They copied his favorite necks and they all had this in common. He says too much spacing is "unplayable", earlier in the vid.

I've only built one and I went with what Dan Erlewine recommended, 1/16" in from where the bevel starts on the fret ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-im1Qw2CI8BQ.html

No simple answer Its going to depend on the height of the frets and how you finish your fret ends, as well as the player and string guage. Typically ill leave more room on the treble side than the bass side for left hand vibrato on the high e. I get way more complaints from players about going off the treble side than the bass. But this is a repair guy talking. If you're looking for one size fits all, you need a focus group. Hey...wait a minute...

Stew mac says 1/8” (both sides) in at least 2 nut making videos.

Always from the center

100

Yes being too close to the edge of the fretboard is the worst! I've really disliked every "50's style" Fender reissue I've tried for this reason. On basses I have offset the strings so the edges of the strings are close to the same distance from the fretboard edge, rather than the strings center lines. I've found this small detail can make a difference worth considering in your design. At the same time, if you pay attention there are a whole lot of guitars and basses on the market with much less than perfect alignment and people don't seem to make much fuss of it. On guitars I don't bother building this offset into the design because the strings are so much smaller. Do you know any large scale manufacturers that offset the string alignment? From what I can tell everyone has been basing measurements on the strings center lines, maybe offsetting the nut slightly when installed.

The correct distance is.....whatever I prefer........

Never trust a guitar with strings that are too close together! Lol.

Answer: as close as possible without the risk of the string being nudged off the fingerboard while playing.

Why should I Like, Subscribe, and give you money in the first minute of this video before it’s even started???? Learn some manners and ask for those things after people have been able to assess the quality of your presentation.

Hi hate fender Strats with that problem where the High E is falling off the fretboard. 95% of Fender Custom Shop Strats and Telecasters have this problem.