"little help here"
 

Wife wants a new guitar. We got here a Yamaha JR 3/4 sized guitar that worked well for a while but now she would like to step up & get a better one.
Question is what? meaning what size to get a comfortable guitar for a 5' woman?

From what I am seeing the 3/4 sized guitars currently are more for children and cheap. I just bought here a Taylor Baby Taylor and well not so good, had terrible fret buzz.


thanks in advance

Welcome
 

First, welcome to the forums!

As far as the guitar, yes, 3/4 size are geared toward kids, normally. You might want to look at 00 or 000 body styles. They are a bit smaller and usually 12 fret. I'm thinking the shorter neck would minimize the reach and might be more comfortable for her.

Just get her to your local shops and have her play as many styles as she can.

Baby Taylor is a good option. The fret buzz most likely could be fixed with a set up. Might even just need a slight turn of the truss rod.

00 size guitars. Martin, Alvarez, etc.

As was already mentioned, have her play a bunch of different models.

I would check out a Taylor GS mini, it is little big for my 9 year old, but he manages most simple chords on it with little trouble.

I would look at the Taylor GS Mini and Academy series, but there are a lot of nice Gibson, Martin and Taylor options with shorter scales and smaller bodies. I haven't played any Eastman acoustics, but I hear good things, and the Guild M20/M120s are terrific.

I'm a small guy at 5'6 the folk, concert, 000 is very comfortable for me. I don't recommend dreads as my shoulder would fall asleep while playing sitting down. Unless she is playing mostly standing up. Taylor GC guitars are super comfy and short scale as well. And their 12fretters are even more comfy.

Martin 0-18, get if for her and she will be set for life;

https://www.martinguitar.com/guitars...d-series/0-18/

Not kidding, I played one of these at the store and it was sweeeeeeeeeet!

What is comfortable for one 5' woman might be uncomfortable for another 5' woman. As several have said, she needs to go audition some guitars to know for sure.

Yamaha FS-800 would be a step up, worth trying.

This but I also suggest setting your budget and have her get the nicest guitar you are comfortable affording. To me, a nice 00 would be better than an inferior sounding travel or undersized model purchased simply for size. There are plenty of smaller people (think Dolly) or young players playing full-size guitars. A quality larger guitar will be more enjoyable to play than an inferior small guitar.

I suggest (in order):
-- any 12-fret GC body
-- Taylor Academy 12
-- GS Mini
-- Big Baby Taylor
-- Little Martin (with solid top)

The LM sounds way better than the regular Baby (we've owned both).

Not knowing your budget, my petite wife really likes her CA Cargo in carbon fiber, but these go for around $1700 now. It quickly displaced her GS Mini, but is 3X the price.

I am 5'3" and female. My group of acoustics:
Taylor GS MINI Koa
Alvarez Mahogany Parlor
Alvarez Blues 51
Yamaha FS800
Larrivee OM-03BW

She absolutely must try any guitar for 20 mins to 45 before she buys. If nothing else, have her hold it as if she was playing it for close to an hour. She will feel any awkwardness or pain.

Even though the Larrivee is the biggest of the bunch, it has a strange body styling which makes it very comfortable to play.

If I had to hand her one-sight unseen-to play, absolutely the Yamaha FS800. Extremely comfortable and great sound.

Nevermind - bad idea

can't go wrong with a Seagull Grand Parlor

sweetwater $ 379

win win!

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...SABEgJbEvD_BwE