I’ve been shopping for an acoustic guitar that I can play. I have fairly fat (and clumsy) fingers, and I have a hard time keeping them from muting neighboring strings, so I’m looking for something with a wide neck. From what I can tell, almost all acoustics under $1000 have a neck that tapers to about 35mm between the high and low E strings. The better guitars have a slightly wider neck - maybe 39mm. Not much difference, but it matters. My two nylon string guitars measured at 40 and 43mm.
So two questions. (1)Can anyone recommend an under $500 acoustic that has a wide neck? (2) Why the difference in neck widths between the low and high end guitars?
It’s not low-end vs high-end; it’s use and popularity. Most popular steel string guitars - and therefore the more affordable ones - have 1 3/4" necks - I’d have to check the metric equvalent.
Nylon/ Classical guitars have a wider neck by design. You have to look for steel string guitars designed for Fingerstyle. Here’s one listed for $299:
Are you looking for a steel string?
Where are you measuring the width? At the nut or at the 12th fret?
I agree with wordman, ‘fingerstyle’ is a discriptive term for a guitar that has it’s strings a little wider apart, which is achieved, in part, by a wider 1 7/8’’ nut. ‘Acoustic jazz guitars’ also are often built that way, but there may not be many entry level examples.
http://www.rondomusic.com/product5646.html