Beginner question: what are the benefits of tapered string spacing?

[Paul Douglas]

Apologies for starting yet another thread about string spacing: I know there are already a lot of them, and I have searched through a good number of them, but I can't find a simple answer to the question of why it might be better to have the string spacing narrower at the nut than at the bridge, even though a lot of comments I have seen are from people saying they prefer this configuration.

I'm a complete beginner but I have been able to try both parallel and tapered strings because I bought an Epiphone Electar to start with but quickly also built a 2x4 for the fun of it. The Electar has tapered strings so I used parallel on the 2x4. I prefer the latter: plenty of room for both picking and for blocking single strings with a tilted bar.

The argument in favour of parallel strings seems mainly to be about slants but I haven't seen any particular argument in favour of tapered strings. Maybe there is a good reason but my complete lack of experience means I'm missing something.

Just for completeness: the bridge spacing on the Epiphone is a full 58mm at the bridge narrowing to 48mm at the nut. My 2x4 has 54mm spacing at both ends (copied from the Duesenberg). There's not much difference as far as picking goes because where my fingers hit the strings, the taper on the Epiphone means the spacing is about the same 54mm as on the 2x4.

Thank you!

[Michael Kiese]

Aloha Paul,

Take a look at any electric guitar or acoustic guitar. The string spacing at the nut is always smaller than the string spacing at the bridge.

Strats, Teles, Gibsons, electric basses, heck, even upright basses, cellos, and violins are all that way.

After making that observation, it would seem that tapered string spacing is the norm, and parallel is not the norm.

Tapered would feel "normal" to most people because the majority of stringed instruments have that configuration.

An argument in favor of sticking with tapered is that it would feel more natural switching from guitar to steel guitar and back.

That being said, there are no rules. The best thing you can do you try it out and see if you like it.

Good luck and have fun!

[Fred]

I’ll second what Mike said. The benefit of tapered strings is that it looks right.

I only play one instrument that has parallel strings and it’s slightly easier to do slants in tune at the low end of the neck.

And finally, Joaquin Murphy specced parallel strings on his last instrument and that’s good enough reason for me!

[Greg Forsyth]

Don't most pedal steel guitars have parallel strings?

[Paul Douglas]

Thanks everyone - I love the "whatever works for you" aspect of steel guitar! As far as I can tell from looking at pictures, pedal steels do all seem to have parallel strings, but I think that makes a lot of sense in the context. I also get the "it looks right" and "easier to swap back and forth if you are a guitarist" ideas, but as I'm neither a fiddler nor a guitarist, those things don't apply so much to me. In fact I've always quite fancied having a go at a koto, which has parallel strings - maybe I could build a simplified one of them next In the meantime, I'll experiment with both tapered and parallel and decide which I find more comfortable overall.

Mike: a little aside, I'm having lots of fun trying out different string gauges on both instruments and have just ordered a bunch of single strings to try which, in theory at least, provide a much more balanced set than any off-the-shelf set would. Thanks again for introducing me to this concept, I'm still surprised how much difference it makes.

[Carey Hofer]

One advantage I would think, isn't so much the that strings are narrower at the nut on a tapered neck (especially on guitars) but that they are wider on the other end, so that it is easier to pick with the right hand. Makes sense to me anyways.

[Michael Kiese]

Mike: a little aside, I'm having lots of fun trying out different string gauges on both instruments and have just ordered a bunch of single strings to try which, in theory at least, provide a much more balanced set than any off-the-shelf set would. Thanks again for introducing me to this concept, I'm still surprised how much difference it makes.

Aloha Paul,

You're very welcome! I'm VERY glad to be of help to you, and to hear that you're enjoying your journey! That's the whole point. Have fun, learn, and enjoy!

[Michael Kiese]

Don't most pedal steel guitars have parallel strings?

Hi Greg,

I'm glad you pointed that out.

I suppose making the strings parallel on a pedal steel guitar just makes everything work much easier from a fabrication and mechanical point of view. The parallel strings on a pedal steel are more of a practicality. The string angle from every saddle to the nut on a PSG is 90º (or very close). That probably aides in the mechanism of lengthening and shortening of the string for higher or lower notes.

Thinking about it, if the string spacing were larger at the saddles than at the nut, then the string angles would no longer be 90º for most of the strings. Then you have to compensate for the different string angles. The 1st and 10th strings would have the greatest deviation from 90º. The more I think about it, the more it sounds like a whole lotta "NOPE". lol. Parallel just makes the most sense for PSG. Any perceived benefit of tapered strings on a PSG wouldn't be worth the effort of designing and fabricating of a new system. Don't fix it if it ain't broke.

That being said, maybe some mad genius scientist somewhere in the world has already made a tapered PSG. lol. totally possible.

In the end, whatever works, works. Players just get used to it. It's whatever you like.

There are no solutions, only trade offs. Good life lesson I see pop up again and again.

[Greg Forsyth]

Aloha Paul,

Take a look at any electric guitar or acoustic guitar. The string spacing at the nut is always smaller than the string spacing at the bridge.

Strats, Teles, Gibsons, electric basses, heck, even upright basses, cellos, and violins are all that way.

After making that observation, it would seem that tapered string spacing is the norm, and parallel is not the norm.

Tapered would feel "normal" to most people because the majority of stringed instruments have that configuration.

An argument in favor of sticking with tapered is that it would feel more natural switching from guitar to steel guitar and back.

That being said, there are no rules. The best thing you can do you try it out and see if you like it.

Good luck and have fun!

Hi Michael,

I think that Classical/Spanish guitars, and the violin family have tapered neck because of the way they are played, with your hand wrapped around the neck, using your fingers to fret the strings and it makes sense to taper the neck to accommodate the hand position. I imagine that other stringed instruments that are played in a similar fashion such as the Oud and Sitar (maybe?) have tapered necks as well.

Since steel guitars are played using a bar to fret the strings I don't think that tapered necks are necessary and the steels that do have tapered necks are made that way so they have a similar appearance to the more common classical/Spanish guitars.

Personally I like parallel strings ( or close to parallel) better on my steel guitars just because I do.
Like you said they are no rules, and that may be a reason most of us sift through numerous guitars before we find ones that fit us.

Aloha to you as well,
Greg

[Greg Forsyth]

Apologies for starting yet another thread about string spacing: I know there are already a lot of them, and I have searched through a good number of them, but I can't find a simple answer to the question of why it might be better to have the string spacing narrower at the nut than at the bridge, even though a lot of comments I have seen are from people saying they prefer this configuration.

I'm a complete beginner but I have been able to try both parallel and tapered strings because I bought an Epiphone Electar to start with but quickly also built a 2x4 for the fun of it. The Electar has tapered strings so I used parallel on the 2x4. I prefer the latter: plenty of room for both picking and for blocking single strings with a tilted bar.

The argument in favour of parallel strings seems mainly to be about slants but I haven't seen any particular argument in favour of tapered strings. Maybe there is a good reason but my complete lack of experience means I'm missing something.

Just for completeness: the bridge spacing on the Epiphone is a full 58mm at the bridge narrowing to 48mm at the nut. My 2x4 has 54mm spacing at both ends (copied from the Duesenberg). There's not much difference as far as picking goes because where my fingers hit the strings, the taper on the Epiphone means the spacing is about the same 54mm as on the 2x4.

Thank you!

Hi Paul,

I've been wondering if the Duesenberg lap steel had parallel string spacing, or not. Thanks for sharing that info. Makes sense they are parallel due to the mechanical factor of string pulling that Michael has pointed out about the pedal steels.
I am surprised that the Duesie has a 54mm string spacing. I've been thinking it was wider than that to accommodate the sliding nut. On you next build you might make the string spacing 58mm which was common with the early Gibson built lap steel. More room to maneuver.

Thanks for this posting,

Greg

[Jeff Highland]

54mm string spacing on a 6 string Lap is as wide as you want to go unless you are using custom pickups

[Michael Kiese]

You guys got me thinking now, other than pedal steel guitar and the Duesenberg steels with palm benders, are there any other stringed instruments with parallel strings?

Harp perhaps? Piano probably does, but you don't strike the strings with your hands.

Thinking about it some more, electric guitar players like to bend strings, that would be more difficult on a parallel setup. The tapered strings are more spread out beyond the 12th fret, which likely aides bends and single line lead playing. The frets get closer at the end of the neck, so wider string spacing likely aides playability. More room for finger placement.

Cool topic thread. Not something I really thought about much. I appreciate the discussion.

[Paul Douglas]

are there any other stringed instruments with parallel strings?

Harp perhaps? Piano probably does, but you don't strike the strings with your hands.

Hi Mike - there are at least some... I'm pretty sure both Koto and Shamisen (they are both traditional Japanese, so not exactly mainstream) have parallel strings and, as you say, I think harps generally do, though there are a fair few different types of harp, so maybe not all. I have a small lyre and it has parallel strings - I can't really play it, it was very cheap and I bought it for fun but haven't done much with it; again, maybe not all lyres have parallel strings. Still, there are at least a few!

[Paul Douglas]

Hi Paul,

I've been wondering if the Duesenberg lap steel had parallel string spacing, or not. Thanks for sharing that info. Makes sense they are parallel due to the mechanical factor of string pulling that Michael has pointed out about the pedal steels.
I am surprised that the Duesie has a 54mm string spacing. I've been thinking it was wider than that to accommodate the sliding nut. On you next build you might make the string spacing 58mm which was common with the early Gibson built lap steel. More room to maneuver.

Thanks for this posting,

Greg

Hi Greg - I should point out that I've never actually met a Duesenberg lap steel! I've read in several places that they have 54mm parallel spacing, though Thomann say 54mm at the nut and 55mm at the bridge. Oddly (to me) Duesenberg pickups are only 50mm, unless there are special ones on the lap steels that you can't buy separately. I've seen a couple of 58mm pickups described as suitable for older Gibsons - I presume they were 58mm around the pickup but tapered to something narrower?