I'm generally a 1 3/4 inch (44mm) player, but i often find it quite liberating when i pick up my skinnier Yamaha (43mm) and find it's a lot easier to play in some ways. Of course the thinner neck is less precise for finger-picking and it's easier to clip adjacent strings with the left hand fingers, but there are also times when the wider neck feels wider than perfect.
You would think such a miniscule difference would be unnoticeable, but it's actually quite profound, though if you switch between the two for a while you start to get used to it quite quickly.
I've noticed that a fair few guitars now are 1 11/16 which i think is around 43mm like my Yamaha, though 1 3/4 is still the standard.
I was wondering if others here have experimented with different sizes, and what they think of the differences?
I don't know what my guitars measure but there is a noticeable difference. It seems pretty easy to adjust though.
I would have to look at my guitars
I like the wider neck too. It’s a constant battle. My hands are small and the pad of my fingers is lower. To fret on my fingertips is painful, bony. The wider neck helps to stop the deadening of the neighboring strings. The C chord is my bane. To get it to ring clear I have to completely readjust my fingers or it is thud thud.
Something i have never thought about Must check it out on the BR180.
My Martin D-18 has a 1 3/4 nut width according to the specs and it's perfect for me. My hubby has a Guild that has a surprisingly narrow neck and nut, and he's a big guy with long fingers but he likes it. To each their own, I guess. The Guild is too narrow for comfort for me.
Yes, a d18 would be 1 3/4, as is my Eastman E1d. But I recall you had a yamaha before which may have been 1 11/16. My FS (folk small) has 10mm string spacing, whereas the FG (folk guitar) has 11mm string spacing. This is also going to make a difference, even if the nut width is the same.
Another thing to factor in is the depth of the neck. So a fatter neck will require more to clasp your hand around regardless of the nut width. And then there is the different neck shapes: U shape, C shape and V shape, though i'm pretty sure that C-shape is the standard for most acoustics these days.
The C chord is not one of the easiest because it spans 3 frets, though my fingers are fairly happy with it. I've always struggled with the B7 chord and the fretted B, both of which sound lousy most of the time. Devin's version of The Carter Family's Wildwood Flower is a great tune for C practice.
It's interesting that you like a wider neck because your hands are small. It sounds counter-intuitive. But there are other factors at play, like the width of your fingers and how you like to fret. Then there are the points i mentioned to Susan regarding string spacing, neck profile etc.
@dom you’re right it is counter intuitive. I think because my finger tips are too bony and even with callous’ it hurts. I fight to get up on the tips but usually fret closer to flat fingered.
I would think an A chord would give you similar problems, or are you using the index to barre all three strings? I'd say a C chord is easier for me than an A.
No I fret it with 3 fingers. A chord is probably one of my clearer chords lol.
I actually like the B7 chord. For some reason it's just one of those chords that I can do easily. Don't ask me about barre chords though. 😑
@dom I was having issues changing from G to C chord the way Devin fingers the G until I started putting my index finger in place first instead of my middle finger. I had always done the G with an open B string.
Another advantage of thinner nut width guitars is that it is easier to play the F chord by fretting low E string with the thumb. This means you do not need to barre it in the conventional way.
