neck width has nothing to do with hand size!

[M.D.Smith]

The wider neck profile 1 7/8" compared to 1 3/4" works for me because I have fat fingers and a pretty good size finger span. the smaller neck widths ie.. 1 11/16" don't work well for my fat fingers or my wife's little hands. I find on the smaller widths, my finger-tips end up touching adjacent strings causing them to mute and the same goes for my wife.

My newest Taylor has a slim carve 1 7/8" neck and this neck works out beautiful for me but cramps my wife's hand. She's 5'4" and has little hands but she can get down on the 12 string standard carve 1 7/8" and her Taylor at standard carve 1 3/4"... I'm confused but I think the shape of the neck, slim, standard, V and some others are prolly more for the player's grip.

Weird ain't it? My big hands like a thinner but wider neck and my ol' lady likes the thicker necks at the wider widths.

The hand is an incredible, complex masterpiece.

[Buck62]

I have the opposite problem. I can palm a basketball and wear a size 13-EEE shoe, as I have large hands.

But, I've also had a traumatic hand injury 25 years ago where I broke the index and middle finger of my left (fretting) hand and crushed the joint of my index finger. My index finger was actually broken in 3 places and the tendons and ligaments were ripped away from the bone. I needed surgery and 2 years of extensive therapy to regain enough motion to play guitar again.

Because of that, I can't play a guitar with a slim profile neck or with a narrow nut width for very long. My index and middle fingers start to get very painful and I have to put the guitar down. It's nowhere near as bad on a guitar with a thick neck and wider nut width. I can play for extended periods of time with only mild pain on these types of necks. I expect my playing time will continue to shorten with age. So, I try to play when I can and enjoy it. I also play the drums and sing, so at least I have other musical options when my fingers are hurting and uncooperative.

[gitardude]

OK, my theory. Some of us are precise people who with their keen laser-like focus can quickly come down on six strings with four fingers with plus or minus 1/64 inch variance. Others, like moi, are not wired that way. With moderate speed, we bring down three fingers with 1/16 inch variance, and practice as we might, we're still a bit loosy goosy. Thus, we need more space to flop around in.

[Wolf]

You don't need to be a child to play mandolin! Thats a small neck indeed.
I have guitars with verry different neck with and one learn to swich between them with small not notebole adjustments of playing tecnik.

[Jesse Matthews]

Thanks Howard for the links to the Gibson...I know about that guitar unfortunately can't find it where i live...but if i have a chance to check it out I sure will.

Wolf - try fingerpicking a mandolin and then know how i feel .
seriously it depends on what style of playing your into...every style and its guitar specs in my opinion...no matter what size of hands you got small or large it will be very hard for anyone to fingerpick a mandolin...but you can sure flatpick it and play rhythm...every style of playing and its best specs in a guitar...I'll give you a general example :

1 11/16' - best for flatpicking/rhythm/one line solos because of the closeness you can achieve things faster...

1 3/4' - the middle ground...i think the most versatile.

1 7/8' - best for fingerpicking not so good for flatpickin rhythm etc...

I'm heavily generalizing upon what most people play today and not necessarily what is "best" for the individual.

patticake - does your husband play fingerpicking, or another styles? if so he must of gotten used to it as I did before i had the chance to get my hands on a wider nut BUT if you put in hes hands a guitar with a 1 7/8' nut i assure you that he will be more comfortable with it...unless as i said before he plays only lead or rhythm guitar...

[Alberto]

I can move from my electric with 1 9/16 neck to my acoustic, 1 3/4 neck pretty easily (but then i suck, so I'm not this means much). I like the 1 3/4 neck lots but the slim neck is really fun to play.

[drbluegrass]

Originally Posted by Matt Mustapick

I've learned to play classical guitars, electric guitars, and all kinds of acoustic guitars and I'm comfortable on all of them. I think I know why...because I've learned to play them!

People of all kinds of hand sizes are capable of learning to play double bass and mandolin too.

I understand preferences and take customers' requests very seriously. Why shouldn't a custom guitar be just what you want? That said, I think a lot people would benefit if they changed their thinking from "I can't" to "I simply haven't yet", because there's an enormous and obvious benefit to being comfortable playing a wide variety of guitar necks.

Then there are the exceptions...injuries, anomolies, etc. My sympathies are with anyone who has insurmountable bio-mechanical limitations.

Very well stated. I too have very small hands but I've found larger necks to be much more comfortable for me. I've adapted really well to the 1 3/4" nut size on my D-1A and on occasion use my thumb (2nd fret) for a complete D chord voicing. And, I've found I actually need the added spacing for my finger picking. So it's a sort of compromise, but a very useful one. I was admittedly a little concerned when I first played the D-1A but very quickly adapted to it to the point where I have total comfort playing it now. In fact I liked it so well I ordered the same exact neck profile on my custom ordered Collings DS3MhAS.
I agree we sometimes get too hung up on certain features thinking we would somehow not play as well with them, when in actuality we may play as well or even better with a different feature/s than we're used to.
My electric Strat and Tele style guitars have identical "V" necks. And when I ordered a Gibson '54 Chambered Les Paul Gold Top I was concerned about the neck profile being really different from the Fender guitars I had played for the last 7 or so years. To make a long story short, I adapted almost instantly to the Gibson...no problem at all. And I've done this countless times over almost 5 decades of playing guitar. My 2 cents worth.


Tom

[gary0319]

I've learned to play classical guitars, electric guitars, and all kinds of acoustic guitars and I'm comfortable on all of them. I think I know why...because I've learned to play them!

+1 on this.........

I have all sizes and can play them all with equal ease (not play well, mind you but equally well, for sure).

Now, if'n you're going to wrap that nasty 'ol left thumb around a 2"+ classical neck, that might get to be a problem. Note the little lady playing the classical in an earlier post. I watched it all, and never saw her thumb once (maybe she doesn't have one). I don't fret with my thumb but I do find it sticking up beyond the neck, and I'm sure I would be a better player if it stayed in the middle of the neck where it belongs.

Just my $.02

Gary

[dberkowitz]

So in sum you're trying to say that size doesn't matter?

[Sounds_Perfect]

Originally Posted by ScottAllyn

I'd say that technique has more to do with it than anything else. Just watch some videos of Su Meng - she has tiny hands but totally shreds on a classical guitar with a nut width that makes even my 1-13/16" width look narrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pnt4ls9cAU

That video gets out of sync before very long, but it's probably because the camera just can't keep up!

My own technique is rather sloppy, so I'm more comfortable with a wider spacing so that my fingers aren't always bumping into adjacent strings!

If you can take your eyes off her pretty face and eyes long enough, then notice that she has small hands and is playing a 2" wide neck.

so, it can be done., and done well.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foR2K...eature=related

[fitness1]

visually, it looks like Katie is playing some kind of crossover there......I don't think that's a full 2" nut. She's also got it tuned down a half step and capoed at the 1st fret. But, there are many ladies who do play a full blown classical, of course!

[Taylorplayer]

It seems like most folks do have some sort of preference on neck size and / or nut width -- except for the ones that don't. Ah -- choices. Choices are good thing (IMO).

Originally Posted by dberkowitz

So in sum you're trying to say that size doesn't matter?

I knew somebody was gonna say that, I knew it. But I just had to keep on reading anyway! Dang!!!!

[drbluegrass]

Originally Posted by dberkowitz

So in sum you're trying to say that size doesn't matter?

It's not the size. It's the action.


Tom

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by drbluegrass

Very well stated. I too have very small hands but I've found larger necks to be much more comfortable for me. I've adapted really well to the 1 3/4" nut size on my D-1A and on occasion use my thumb (2nd fret) for a complete D chord voicing. And, I've found I actually need the added spacing for my finger picking. So it's a sort of compromise, but a very useful one. I was admittedly a little concerned when I first played the D-1A but very quickly adapted to it to the point where I have total comfort playing it now. In fact I liked it so well I ordered the same exact neck profile on my custom ordered Collings DS3MhAS.
I agree we sometimes get too hung up on certain features thinking we would somehow not play as well with them, when in actuality we may play as well or even better with a different feature/s than we're used to.
My electric Strat and Tele style guitars have identical "V" necks. And when I ordered a Gibson '54 Chambered Les Paul Gold Top I was concerned about the neck profile being really different from the Fender guitars I had played for the last 7 or so years. To make a long story short, I adapted almost instantly to the Gibson...no problem at all. And I've done this countless times over almost 5 decades of playing guitar. My 2 cents worth.


Tom

Specifically you said that ".....we sometimes get too hung up on certain features thinking we would somehow not play as well with them, when in actuality we may play as well or even better with a different feature/s than we're used to."

THAT, right there, is the crux of the problem. Thank you for stating the obvious!

People will measure or otherwise try to ascertain what the spec's of something are, in lieu of actually putting the thing in their hands.

In a flash it's been dismissed as unusable.

The problem, especially with, but not limited to, neophytes, is that they give far more credence to what they read and hear than to what they actually, physically feel.

It's only after wasting lots of time and money that they realize that the answer was in their hands all along.

As I stated many posts ago there are so many variables to how a guitar neck will feel in YOUR hands. Therefore it's imperative to make sure that it's YOUR hands that are the first, and last things that make the decision in what feels good.

If the measurements, or shape, or whatever, are different than what your brain or logic expected, who cares?

Your hands know best. Stop thinking so much.

HE