1964 M20 in the studio today

[jeffcoop]

I took my M20 for the first of three planned days in the studio this week. It sounded tremendous and recorded beautifully, just as I had thought and hoped it would. The funniest moments came when the engineer entered the isolation booth to set up mics for me. He took one look at the M20 and said, "Hey, I have one of those!" He called it, of course, a "Nick Drake guitar." But I know it was an older one, and not one of the current Oxnard models, because he said that the only thing he didn't like about it was that he found it hard to play because of the narrow nut. So I told him that my '64 had a 1 11/16 nut. Yes, he was jealous.

 

[jgmaute]

I loved the sound of my M20 but just couldn’t comfortably play it because of the narrow nut. It moved to New Zealand to an LTG member years ago and I assume it’s very happily being played. Were there two different nut sizes in ‘64?

 

[twocorgis]

I loved the sound of my M20 but just couldn’t comfortably play it because of the narrow nut. It moved to New Zealand to an LTG member years ago and I assume it’s very happily being played. Were there two different nut sizes in ‘64?

I thought all the Hoboken F and M20s had I 1 5/8" nut, but I guess I'm wrong? My luthier offered me a '67 F20 that I found to be pretty unplayable.

 

[jeffcoop]

Mauser has stated that he's aware of two 1964 M20s with 1 11/16" nuts, one of which is the guitar he sold to me. How did these two come to exist? Special order? Mistake? Who knows? But, though I don't see well enough to take a caliper to the nut on mine, my hand tells me that it's definitely wider than the 1 5/8" nut on my 1964 F20.

 

[mavuser]

The one I sold to Jeff has a 1 + 11/16" nut, and a somewhat chunky/full neck carve, as well. I have seen one or 2 others advertised that way, both from 1964. Without getting into any detail or my expanded explination...my hypothesis is that these bigger necks were likely intended for M-30's (but I don't know!)

 

[AcornHouse]

I love my narrow necked M20. One of my favorite guitars to play.

 

[mavuser]

I love my narrow necked M20. One of my favorite guitars to play.

same here, I own 1+5/8" M-20 and F-20's...sold the wider and fatter necked M-20 to Jeff as per above...even though it sounded tremendously huge for an M-20, I was just used to the other ones.

 

[jeffcoop]

The one I sold to Jeff has a 1 + 11/16" nut, and a somewhat chunky/full neck carve, as well. I have seen one or 2 others advertised that way, both from 1964. Without getting into any detail or my expanded explination...my hypothesis is that these bigger necks were likely intended for M-30's (but I don't know!)

The hypothesis that these necks were intended for M30s is interesting, and, although I've never played an M30, dI understand their necks were somewhat fuller than the typical M20. But I also thought that they had 1 5/8" necks. Was the special run of M30s in 1964 different?

Regardless of how it came into being, I love my M20, and it recorded beautifully.