Narrow Nut Acoustic Recommendation

naustin261

Hi all. A very old, severed and repaired, thumb tendon is coming back to haunt me. I'm struggling to wrap my thumb over the fretboard and fret the E string. I have a lovely Furch Vintage 2 but with a 45mm nut width I think it's time to find something a bit more forgiving. Has anyone any recommendations.

Cheers

mgaw

Atkin guitars tend to have 1 11/16th width nuts, many others as well i would have thought. Slim neck carve may help as well especially if it’s a c shape or v 

Winny_Pooh

Some Yamahas tend to be narrowest, D18s and J45s are in the middle. Atkin are great and sound better that comparably priced Martins.

MartinB

I think the Gibson style Eastmans are 1 11/16" too (a hair under 43mm). That's the ones with ss in the model names. That's just at the point where I notice it feeling narrow, even though 1.725" (a hair under 44mm) is fine for me.

wrinkleygit

Look out for a late 90’s Japan built Takamine , something like an EF261-san.  Think mine is around 42.5mm

Revolutions

My Martin 000-15m has a v slim neck. 

richman6100

I have a couple of Auden acoustics with 43mm nuts. Both punch well above their weight. Furch make some fine guitars and they do models in different nut widths from what I recall, so maybe another Furch with a 43mm nut?

naustin261

Thanks for the recommendations. @MartinB, those Eastman look very interesting. The clips I've listened to of the E10ss sound pretty damn good.

BigPaulie

Is your struggle to get thumb over purely in relation to the nut width? 

Would a slimmer neck help?

Some Eastmans have quite hefty necks on them.

PCT57

There's a nice Brook Lyn in the classified Acoustic £ section on this forum that would suit you. 44mm nut and easy to play  low action. He might accept an offer......

naustin261

BigPaulie said:

Is your struggle to get thumb over purely in relation to the nut width? 

Would a slimmer neck help?

Some Eastmans have quite hefty necks on them.

I think the nut width is main issue. I did have an Eastman E8D for awhile but that neck was a bit too much for me. The Furch doesn't feel as chunky, just too wide.

naustin261

PCT57 said:

There's a nice Brook Lyn in the classified Acoustic £ section on this forum that would suit you. 44mm nut and easy to play  low action. He might accept an offer......

Cheers, but a little far out of my price range.

Shadow

BigPaulie said:

Is your struggle to get thumb over purely in relation to the nut width? 

Would a slimmer neck help?

Some Eastmans have quite hefty necks on them.

I had an E1OOSS SB which had a narrow nut and a slim neck. 

ToneControl

Seriously, I'd just stop using my thumb. I've got lots of injuries/damage, and would rather avoid flaring things up where possible

I'm so used to not using it on classical guitar anyway, so would probably just stop using that trick

Soupman

I remember seeing Richie Havens on Whistle Test or something many years ago, and was amazed at his thumb wrap technique.
Personally I've never managed the thumb wrap technique, ever.
 

 

Shadow

ToneControl said:

I'm so used to not using it on classical guitar anyway, so would probably just stop using that trick

It's not a trick as far as I'm concerned, it's an integral part of my technique. There are songs I couldn't play without it.

guitarjack66

Soupman said:

I remember seeing Richie Havens on Whistle Test or something many years ago, and was amazed at his thumb wrap technique.
Personally I've never managed the thumb wrap technique, ever.
 

 

I've never been able to either. My hands simply aren't big enough.

naustin261

ToneControl said:

Seriously, I'd just stop using my thumb. I've got lots of injuries/damage, and would rather avoid flaring things up where possible

I'm so used to not using it on classical guitar anyway, so would probably just stop using that trick

It's not a trick mate, it's how I play, how I've always played. I would rather find a guitar that allows me to carry on playing the way I've always done and avoid having issues.