About the narrow nut width of Martin tenor ukuleles

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Bernstein

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Martin tenors have only 34mm nut width while Martin sopranos and concerts have 36mm nut width

Am I the only one who thinks it doesn't make any sense?

I absolutely love my Martin soprano and concert

They sound amazing and have great 36mm nut width that fits my hand perfectly

Such perfect instruments

I'm a big fan of Martin ukes, but I've never even considered getting Martin tenors just because of the stupid narrow nut width

How many people turned their backs on Martin tenors just because of the narrow nut?

I believe they are keep sticking to the 34mm nut just to be loyal to the old Martin design from decades ago

It's just a total anachronism

I just wrote an e-mail to Martin about this issue

I searched on the forum and found that most people have the same opinion

If you feel the same, please contact Martin on their website and leave a message or e-mail them

Or leave your opinion on this thread so that I can show them how most people think

And don't get me wrong. I love Martin ukuleles

I think they build great ukuleles

But the stupid 34mm nut is ruining the company

I'm more than certain if Martin changes their tenor nut width to at least the nut width of their sopranos(36mm), the sales of tenors will be doubled
 
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I agree , one of the best things about a Martin Soprano for me is the nut width.
Anything smaller and it is hard to play. The 34mm nut makes no sense to me either .
I had no idea the tenor had a smaller nut , I dont play tenor , but I think that is odd.
I thought about buying a vintage Martin tenor but now that I know
about the narrow nut I dont want one. Thanks for letting me know
before I bought one , I would have been very disappointed.
A smaller nut on a bigger instrument , whaat?
 
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I have a Martin Iz and don't mind the narrow nut, I think it makes it easier to reach spread out chords, such as C+, etc. And my concert is a Kanile'a, which has a 1 1/2" nut. (38mm)
 
A 34mm nut width on a tenor would be a deal breaker for me. My preference is for tenors, so this just took Martins off my radar.
 
I don't measure them or weigh the strings; I just play them. So my reaction to a 34mm nut: shrug. My reaction to a 36mm nut: shrug. To be honest, I don't even know the width of my ukuleles. I have never played anything but tenors and I have handled Martins, but I don't remember feeling that there was anything wrong with them.
 
Ukecaster said:
Of the various vintage Martin sopranos I've owned, all had 36mm nuts and string spread at the nut (more important to me) of 29-30+mm. Plenty of room and easy to play. My T1K had the 34mm nut, but the string spread was 29mm, pretty decent, but there was still something about the feel of the 34mm nut that I just couldn't get on with. Many players like it just fine, so if you haven't tried one in person, I'd recommend it, as otherwise, mine sounded great. I ended up with a tenor uke with 38mm nut and 31mm string spread, which works better for me.
Click to expand...

Even with the decent string spacing, it will still be annoying since the 1st and 4th strings will be too close to the edge of the fingerboard

I like to grab the neck when I'm playing, so I will have to pay extra attention not to touch the 1st string

Such attention won't be needed if it had the right nut width

So I think good string spacing won't solve the problems of such a narrow nut

And most of all, even though 34mm nut is somehow playable, we all know that it's not the right choice for tenor ukuleles

It's just wrong

34mm nut has absolutely zero merit for tenors

Now I'm curious about how big are the hands of the Martin uke designers
 
Honestly, the 34mm nut is not "ruining the company".

I have a Martin IZ and a KALA archtop with 36.5mm width at the nut. I switch seamlessly between them an wouldn't have known there was this difference had I not read the specs.

I let a 1/16" difference in nut width become a deal breaker for me on some Martin guitars. In retrospect that was a bad decision for "me".

When somebody hands me an instrument to try I don't ask them what the specs are, I just play it.

If it's really a deal breaker for you then simply buy something else. No shortage of fine instruments out there looking for a good home. :cool:
 
I suppose there is one obvious advantage to a smaller neck: up the fretboard (and if you're not going up the fretboard you are completely wasting the tenor's extended range!) difficult chords like the add 9 chord with the C-string root or the dominant 13 chord with the G-string root are much more attainable.
 
I recently sold my old Martin tenor. It was one of the best sounding ukes I've ever heard. I couldn't get over the narrow nut width.
 
The string spacing on my Martin 1T IZ is 1-1/8" at the 1-3/8" wide nut. Or 3/8" between each string, which is pretty much the industry standard for tenor ukuleles.

I'm curious. Are the nut & string specs the same for the other Martin tenor models? Especially the 1T?
 
I don't think anybody's going to "ruin" a legendary company of over 180 years by having 50 (or a thousand, fifty) people send them an email complaining about the nut width of a ukulele. Personally, I like Tenor size and rarely buy anything else. I love the T1K, it's a personal favorite. I can switch back & forth between it and others, such as a Lanakai MAS-CET with a nut width of nearly 38mm, and do so without hindrance either way.

In addition ... going up the neck is actually easier, when you start with a narrower nut width, and that's one of the benefits of the Tenor's longer neck, to begin with. I'm nowhere near a professional-level player, started less than a year ago, these observations are based upon my experience with the instrument (and others). I think Martin will probably survive this.

It's a shame you can't get some hands-on experience with one, you might find it feels good in the hand, who knows?
 
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Kenn2018 said:
The string spacing on my Martin 1T IZ is 1-1/8" at the 1-3/8" wide nut. Or 3/8" between each string, which is pretty much the industry standard for tenor ukuleles.

I'm curious. Are the nut & string specs the same for the other Martin tenor models? Especially the 1T?
Click to expand...

1-11/32 nut width on Tenors per Martin's website.
 
I read lots of similar complaints on a major guitar forum. On a nut that's close to 1-3/4" wide people moan about a difference of 1/64"! Interestingly this hardly ever comes up on the fiddle or mandolin fora I frequent. I'm not surprised to see it here on the uke forum.

As a multi-instrumentalist playing many stringed instruments built from 1 to 150 years ago, I deal with a wide variety of string gages, spacing, action, neck profiles, nut width, etc. I have large hands and just have to adapt to all these variables if I want to enjoy playing the instruments I have, which include a tenor Martin T1K.

It's just not that big a deal to this guy who's been playing stringed instruments over 40 years. I'm always reminded of "the princess and the pea" when I hear complaints about nuts being a millimeter or two "off" one way or another.
 
Now that I think about it , I'll bet I'd have no problem with the smaller nut.
I have a few sopranos with smaller nuts that are no problem just a little tighter.
I'm wondering why Martin decided on the smaller nut in the first place .
The soprano came first , then the concert and tenor
It would cost more to produce the smaller nut when they were already set up for the larger.
They must have had a good reason , I wonder what it was .
 
Some might think Martin's narrow nut is not that big of a deal

But just imagine what's gonna happen if Koaloha and Kamaka decide to change their tenors' nut width from 38mm to 34mm

I bet it will be more than just a big deal

The forum will be on fire

I'm not saying 34mm nut is impossible to play

My point is why 34mm? why not 35mm, 36mm or 38mm?

With Martin's string spacing the 1st and 4th strings will be extremely close to the edge of the fingerboard

I just can't understand the reason behind the 34mm super narrow nut
 
We should keep in mind that Martin is a guitar company that also makes ukuleles. Yes, I know how important ukuleles were to the company at various points (I have read "the book") but I would not be surprised if they currently sell a factor of 10 more guitars than they do ukuleles. Having a narrow nut on their tenor models will certainly not "ruin" them.

I suspect that the narrow nut on the tenors is likely a historical artifact. Pukulele Pete asked why the would decide to do that, when they are already set up to make the wider ones for the smaller sizes. It probably happened a long ways back, when everything was cut by hand, using a template. I suspect they keep doing it that way now due to "tradition."

And, of course, if they stopped, and made them wider, a lot of folks would rejoice. But I suspect there would also be a subset who would be upset that they changed them. One man's treasure is another man's trash.

I'd vote for the wider nut, but honestly I don't have skin in this game. I don't really like playing tenors anyway! :)
 
MJB said:
1-11/32 nut width on Tenors per Martin's website.
Click to expand...

Yup, that converts to 34.13 mm. You either like it, don't, or are indifferent. There's no right answer, just individual preference. If they went with 36mm, like the sopranos and concerts, I'd try one again, as I liked the look, sound and value.
 
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Cluze said:
We should keep in mind that Martin is a guitar company that also makes ukuleles. Yes, I know how important ukuleles were to the company at various points (I have read "the book") but I would not be surprised if they currently sell a factor of 10 more guitars than they do ukuleles. Having a narrow nut on their tenor models will certainly not "ruin" them.

I suspect that the narrow nut on the tenors is likely a historical artifact. Pukulele Pete asked why the would decide to do that, when they are already set up to make the wider ones for the smaller sizes. It probably happened a long ways back, when everything was cut by hand, using a template. I suspect they keep doing it that way now due to "tradition."

And, of course, if they stopped, and made them wider, a lot of folks would rejoice. But I suspect there would also be a subset who would be upset that they changed them. One man's treasure is another man's trash.

I'd vote for the wider nut, but honestly I don't have skin in this game. I don't really like playing tenors anyway! :)
Click to expand...

Since Martin is a US company, I strongly suspect they use SAE system of measurements of inches and feet.
 
Now I'm thinking maybe because the frets are spaced a little wider , meant to be more like a tenor banjo than a ukulele .
 
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