Do you prefer wider or narrower spaced strings, and why?

[Zooberwerx]

I voted "no preference". I'm working on my floating thumb technique and have found that 16.5 mm works best at the moment.

Riis

 

[5StringBlues]

I prefer 19 mm cuz of these big old pork chop hands.

 

[J-Mags]

I chose 17-18. I play with a pick. One of my favorite kinds of neck is the old-school Euro short-scale that's deep and narrow, like a broomstick with strings on it.

 

[Watchootognbout]

The jury is out with me.
My fretless six is .750(19mm) spacing at the bridge.
My fretted six is .625 (15.875mm) spacing at the bridge.
So just .125 of an inch difference.
Which really no difference at all.

 

[Mordamir]

I've got huge hands, I need all the space I can get.

 

[Beej]

Bringing this thread back to garner more opinions.

 

[selowitch]

It varies according to my mood, really. Sometimes I find it easier to slap or play with a plectrum on a wider-spaced instrument and not at other times. It’s pretty situation-dependent.

 

[Ostie]

I also play the mandolin. That’s where string spacing really comes into play. I don’t have the foggiest notion of what the string spacing is on any of my basses. It’s just not an issue. But on the tiny neck of a mandolin, things like nut width and string spacing is greatly amplified. Those are discussions I have over on the Mandolin Cafe, but they don’t happen on TB, for me anyway.

 

[Kro]

My favorite bridge spacing is without a doubt 16.5mm. Bridge spacing is very important to me and is a huge part of the feel of the instrument.

So of course I play a 19mm Precision...

 

[Gsnorgathon]

Give me 19mm or give me... um... well. 20mm, I guess. Or 18mm. Or cake.