Small hands 1 3/4 nut?

[Eastbound]

I like to have my main playing guitars the same nut width and string spacing. That way there is no adjustment needed from me as I switch between the guitars. The string spacing at the saddle is critical for me as well, if cross picking, I need really those strings to be where I expect them to be. otherwise Im missing notes or hitting wrong notes

that said, a little time spent with any guitar, a decent player should be able to make the adjustments and play fine. But to just pick up a wildly different guitar and play a difficult piece can be a nightmare

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Daveyo

…But I wonder if there’s anybody out there with small hands like me that plays the one and three-quarter inch nut anyways

Hi David…
All my acoustic guitars have 1¾" nut…except for my Recording King which has a 1¹³/₁₆" nut. My electrics are all 1¹¹⁄₁₆"…I don't play them the same as I do my acoustics.

I have no idea how 'small' your hands are, but I taught intermediate and advanced fingerstyle for 40 years, and in all that time I never found a student (even young teens) who could not adapt to a 1¾" nut.

At every lesson, I always swapped guitars with the student so I could make sure what I was assigning was playable on their instruments (and they played mine while I was doing that). None of them noticed the difference. The other reason I swapped was to monitor the condition of their guitars for playability, and string condition.

Over those years I had three students who had very small hands. One was a surgeon and her hand when aligned with mine were a full joint shorter.

She was one of the top three players I ever taught. And she played every nut width including a 2" wide classical.

Muriel Anderson (classical and contemporary guitarist) has very small hands, and it's never slowed her down.

I'd imagine by fret 2 or 3 on your 1¹¹⁄₁₆" nut width guitars you are already at a 1¾" width (the fingerboard gets wider the further you go up the fingerboard).

A key to adapting to new instruments is to relax as you play.

Have fun playing your new guitar!

[sinistral]

If e.e. cummings were a member of AGF…

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
and yet, even the rain can play a guitar
with a one-and-three-quarter inch wide nut

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by sinistral

If e.e. cummings were a member of AGF…

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
and yet, even the rain can play a guitar
with a one-and-three-quarter inch wide nut

thank you, lefty, for posting a verse I desperately wish I possessed the skills to write. and give thanks for the fact that you do.

david

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

thank you, lefty, for posting a verse I desperately wish I possessed the skills to write. and give thanks for the fact that you do.

david

Well, I just added the last two lines!

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by sinistral

Well, I just added the last two lines!

....which, after all these years, finally reveal e.e.'s hidden intentions.

david

[JackC1]

Originally Posted by Daveyo

I’m gonna try to give it a couple of weeks

I think you need to give it a couple of months. Hand stretching and new positioning isn't something that comes within a couple of weeks.