Steel strung acoustics with wide nuts?

guitarjack66

Tannin said:

48mm is pretty wide, @guitarjack66, but it isn't so much your fingers as your brain. 

It really does depend on what you learned on and what you are used to far more than it does on the size of your hands. 

If you started on (say) a Strat copy with a 42.5mm nut (common enough), 48mm feels huge and, depending on how long you played the narrow-not things for, you may never get used to it. Same story with those Japanese acoustics with tiny necks (Takamine, I'm looking at you.)

If (like me) you started on a classical (50mm) and spent most of your life playing 12-strings (50mm and 48mm nuts) or bass (only 4 strings but set well apart) you'll find getting used to standard 44mm nuts very difficult. I'm still not really used to it despite owning half a dozen 44mm instruments these last four years, and playing them every day. I just collected my new baritone. It has a 46mm nut (nominal, it's probably more like 47mm in reality)  and it is sooooo nice after the 44mm squeezy things. Oddly enough, I'l a little put off by the wider RH string spacing but only a little and I dare say that will pass.

Now look at someone playing a mandolin. Mandolin necks are bloody near microscopic! Tiny even for people with very, very small hands. But people get the hang of them (buggered if I know how) and play them well even with hands the size of soup plates. 

Anyway: main point, the size of your hands isn't the issue. It's how your brain is wired. 

Second point, I don't think barre chords will cause you any problems. You are more likely to discover issues playing intricate open-position fingerstyle stuff. ("Intricate" in this context meaning "tricky by your standards", however high or low those standards are.) Further up the neck (say 7th fret, just to name one) all necks are wider and nut width doesn't make much difference.

Short answer: you'll be fine so far as the barre chords go, but watch out for the other stuff.

I think flat and 48mm sounds a stretch (literally and figuratively) while curved and 48mm would be normal-ish?

Tannin

Perhaps.

If you'd cut your teeth on classical, flat would seem normal to you. Many classical guitars have 52mm nuts (!) and classical players never, ever use their thumbs, so some serious stretches there. 

guitarjack66

Tannin said:

Perhaps.

If you'd cut your teeth on classical, flat would seem normal to you. Many classical guitars have 52mm nuts (!) and classical players never, ever use their thumbs, so some serious stretches there. 

I can't use my thumb on normal acoustics let alone a classical,which I've never tried.

GTC

Tannin said:

Perhaps.

If you'd cut your teeth on classical, flat would seem normal to you. Many classical guitars have 52mm nuts (!) and classical players never, ever use their thumbs, so some serious stretches there. 

There's another good reason why you don't see classical players using a "fretting thumb". It is considered bad technique as it impairs fretting hand mobility. Stretching isn't a problem if you hold the guitar correctly - even if you have small hands (like me).

I've got an injury from childhood in my fretting ring finger which results in the first joint (nearest the nail) tending to collapse whilst fretting, onto the higher string below - rather than arching over it. For me, wider fretboards lessen the chance of this happening due to the wider string spacing.

drofluf

@equalsql @Littlejonny Did you manage to sort something out? If not I’ve got a Furch OM in the classifieds with a 45mm nut. 

guitarjack66

I'm selling my budget Tele in the classifieds due to the skinny neck,but their same branded Strat feels a lot more comfortable (not ideal but comfortable) than the Tele version. Wide nut electrics are an even bigger problem. The bizarre thing is that people are becoming taller and larger yet nut widths are hardly changing. I wonder if they will soon enough?

drofluf

I think the weight of tradition may be against that; I'm primarily an acoustic player so don't understand why nuts are so narrow. Are there some "electric things" that are easier to do with a narrower nut  and string spacing?

guitarjack66

drofluf said:

I think the weight of tradition may be against that; I'm primarily an acoustic player so don't understand why nuts are so narrow. Are there some "electric things" that are easier to do with a narrower nut  and string spacing?

In the words of Ray Davies 'You Really Got me.'