Are your hands too big for normal guitars?

[GeoffonTour]

Afternoon all, I'm doing a research project for my uni course & I'm thinking of starting a company making electric guitars with wide fretboards because I'm slab handed & I find it really inconvenient to play most electrics.

 

I know warmoth make wider necks, and there are a couple of companies that do wide fretboards, but I'm thinking a premium hand made kind of thing, made to be comfortable for the modern sized guitarist.

 

I realise the second two options may both be factors, but I would like you to choose the most important ie are you most bothered by price or quality.

 

Since it would be a fairly niche product I don't want to kill myself off by going into the $1500-$2500 market which is already quite small however as it's not going to be my only income that may be a better option as it reduces workload.

[Jim_Soloway]

We already do that. We've always offered a longer scale length and more recently we added wider string spacing as an option. I'm playing the wide string spacing on a 25.5" scale length now and it's incredibly comfortable to me. We added 1/8" at the nut and continued the extra width all the way to the bridge so it's 1 13/16" at the nut and 2 3/16 at the bridge. I'm not especially "slab handed" but I am a full time finger picker playing chord melody guitar and the extra space is working out beautifully.

[Citizen_Insane]

Personally, I hate really wide fretboards, but then again my hands aren't all that big.

[John Backlund]

 

....I am a full time finger picker playing chord melody guitar

 

 

This is where I'm at, and I would welcome a little more string separation than what is usualy available. I can't afford custom guitars, but was thinking of picking up a Seagull 'Performer' acoustic/electric due to the wider than normal nutwidth available on that model.

[Willyguitar]

I have large hands, but never had a problem with fretboards really - it perhaps makes you a bit lazy with chords since you can easily hook your thumb around for bass notes.

 

However, I think you MAY find that even those with large to very large hands don't have much trouble since, if they are already playing guitar, they have developed a way of dealing with it, and therefore would be unlikely to need a wider fretboard. I may be wrong of course, but, long fingers are also likely to be an advantage for those bigger stretches over intervals etc.

[razordave]

I have large hands; but, I don't think that's the actual problem. I have large, thick fingers too. They aren't really small enough to fret a string and not kill either the string above or below. I really have to work each chord for hand position so that I'm touching whichever string (above or below) that is fretted higher. Some chords are virtually impossible for me because of this. A little more space between each string would be a blessing for me.

 

rd

[Willyguitar]

^^

Yes - I can see that finger thickness would be a bigger problem. I have hands a bit like ET, or gollum - large but with thin-ish fingers! I sometimes wonder whether my dexterity and speed is a bit affected though, since some of my smaller handed guitarist chums seem to be able to wizz up and down the fretboard with their stubby digits faster than Hamilton and Button.

[Lump]

 

I have large hands; but, I don't think that's the actual problem. I have large, thick fingers too. They aren't really small enough to fret a string and not kill either the string above or below. I really have to work each chord for hand position so that I'm touching whichever string (above or below) that is fretted higher. Some chords are virtually impossible for me because of this. A little more space between each string would be a blessing for me. rd

 

 

 

consider trying an agile "wide". They're 1 3/4's. I know an 1/8th inch doesn't sound like alot, but it made a world of difference for me.

[GeoffonTour]

Thanks for all the replies

 

I thought there may be a couple of custom manufacturers who do wide fretboards, but I don't think there's anyone who does it exclusively.

 

Although, from the sounds of it, that's because it's not really a big enough market.

 

My fingers are abnormally large, I can't make an A shape major chord with 3 fingers, for example I really have to use two. And if one of my fingers is fretting a note it *will* block out one string either above or below.

 

Not usually a huge problem but it has annoyed me for many years. I think I'll just wack a warmoth neck on a fender & do my research on something else

[Angry Tele]

i dont see how this is a problem . Hendrix had huge hands and he did ok. just practice more. play a mandolin for a while and then a guitar will seem huge.

[dughaze]

I don't like a lot of import guitar necks. Asian and Korean fretboard widths are too narrow for my fingers so I've been sticking with American Fender and Gibson guitar fretboards and have been a lot happier.

[SuproSuper Man]

I like wider necks on my guitars because i like to finger pick some times so the wider necks give me more room for my clutzy fingers ...lol.

 

I turned my acusitic twelve string into a six string because i liked its wide neck, i find that it also gives my freting fingers a bit more room to manover about with..

 

I also cut my own nuts and usually will push the spread of the strings to the extreme limits of the fret board to get as much space as i can squeeze out of a neck between strings..

 

I have concidered buying one of those 7 string guitars with the wider necks and then fit it with a very wide custom cut six string nut and use it as a six string...

 

so i guess most of the time id prefer a acoustic or even a electric with a wider neck, but i do still like playing narrow necks too...

 

oh and i dont have large fingers either , my fingers are kinda on the short side , ,,,,,

 

[aenemated]

i dont see how this is a problem . Hendrix had huge hands and he did ok.

 

or SRV? dude's hands were {censored}in enormous.

 

[C-4]

XOX Audio Tools makes a guitar whereon the fretboard is 1/16th wider then the Gibson fretboards at 1 and 11/16th.

It offers those with larger hands what the OP is speaking about.

My hands are just a regular size men's medium, but I have no problem using the XOX Handle at all.

It is definitely a premium guitar, and is totally carbon fiber.

[SliceOPie]

chuck berry has massive hands. he seems to make it work.

[CoqBelliqueux]

What kind of argument is that? Other people don't seem to mind. I'm not other people.

[Angry Tele]

What kind of argument is that? Other people don't seem to mind. I'm not other people.

 

the point is most people dont have this problem. The question is "I have big hands, should I start a guitar company for big handed people?" and the answer is "No, lots of people have big hands and play non-big handed guitars."

 

The other side of this argument is, "I have really small hands, should I start a really small hand guitar company" and again the answer is "no-lotsa people have small hands and play non-small handed guitars."

[CoqBelliqueux]

 

the point is most people dont have this problem. The question is "I have big hands, should I start a guitar company for big handed people?" and the answer is "No, lots of people have big hands and play non-big handed guitars."

 

Would they, given the availability? For a long time I thought I just sucked at chords until I got a wider nut guitar. Now I notice the difference.

[razordave]

 

consider trying an agile "wide". They're 1 3/4's. I know an 1/8th inch doesn't sound like alot, but it made a world of difference for me.

 

 

Thanks! I'll look into those.

[GeoffonTour]

The question is, I want a bigger fretboard does anyone else.

 

Obviously if people are fine with it they're not going to get a different guitar, but I personally find normal guitars quite restrictive.

 

I do have really quite wide fingers though, I can comforably press down two adjacent strings on a classical without getting buzzing or owt

[Jim_Soloway]

 

The question is, I want a bigger fretboard does anyone else. Obviously if people are fine with it they're not going to get a different guitar, but I personally find normal guitars quite restrictive. I do have really quite wide fingers though, I can comforably press down two adjacent strings on a classical without getting buzzing or owt

 

 

My experience so far is that there is a small but viable market but at least for us, it hasn't been people with large hands but rather people who want to apply more classically-oriented techniques to electric guitar. OTOH, that may be more a reflection of the type of guitar that we build and the price level that we sell at.

 

And for anyone who thinks it's a waste of time or money, all I can say is that while it's obviously not for everyone, I'm certainly enjoying it on my guitar.

[razordave]

Here a company already doing this and at a reasonable price too.

 

http://www.biglouguitar.com/index.htm

 

rd

[Hubert Stumblin]

First, I should say that I have no problems with regular sized fretboards in terms of spacing/width and I can still thumb the low E even on fairly fat necks. And I don't have particularly big hands.

 

The reason I'm posting is because it seems from the posts that there are different types of "big" hands. Somebody with long hands, ie. long but thin fingers, might like a regular width fretboard but might prefer a fat neck. Somebody with big fat fingers might prefer the wider fretboard/spacing.

 

But people develope odd preferences. As I said, I don't have particularly big hands but I really like big ol' baseball bat fat necks. Go figure.

[billybilly]

I have a warmoth tele neck that has a 44mm nut. I love it. I have the gibson 59 profile on it as well. Yes, I have big hands and love way more than say your standard electric neck. Why would you ride a child's bicycle when you could ride an adult's? I know you could get used to a child's but you may cramp up like I do playing a standard american strat!

[Angry Tele]

 

Would they, given the availability? For a long time I thought I just sucked at chords until I got a wider nut guitar. Now I notice the difference.

 

 

but Im pretty sure there are wider than standard sizes. available

 

works the other way too, Mosrites have notoriously thin necks.