cheap fingerstyle guitar

2013cossj · October 2022

any suggestions for something with a little more room than an APX700 for fingerstyle playing ?

DavidR · October 2022

5 Best Wide Neck Acoustic Guitars Plus 21 Runner Ups(1.75"+) (guitaristnextdoor.com)

Soupman · October 2022

The article link from David seems to be American as there's no mention of anything from this side of the pond.
Lowden do 45mm nut as standard, and Furch do at least one model as a friend specifically checked before buying one.
I'm sure there'll be other alternatives suggested shortly.

Good hunting.

Mellish · October 2022

@2013cossj : just a welcome to the FB.

Admins & Mods are listed in New Members, should you need them.

drofluf · October 2022

What’s your budget? And how wide is the APX’s nut?

bertie · October 2022

never really understood association with the the wide fingerboard thing, I do understand not wanting it to be too narrow........... but 43 perfect and 44 is doable for my little bony digits

, in fact any wider and I find it a hinderance TBH

but back OT.............. as @drofluf ; has said, budget and current nut size/string spacing would be useful

oh and welcome from across the pond (@soupman - his local is down as California )

bertie · October 2022

any good ?

BillDL · October 2022

You're fairly spoiled for choice in Fresno, including a fair sized Guitar Center. I was in a couple of guitar shops when I was over there in 2019 visiting a friend who stays out to the West closer to Caruthers. I was particularly impressed by Guitar Center's "own brand" Mitchell Guitars that are made in Indonesia and looked, played and felt like much more expensive instruments. If you are on a tighter budget it would be well worth having a look at at few Mitchell concert/auditorium-sized guitars if you can manage into the store. I believe the one I was most impressed by for the price was the T313CE, but they had a couple of really nice solid top mahogany ones also.

In my opinion you can't go wrong with a Yamaha FS sized acoustic. That's just the smaller bodied FG dreadnought equivalent. I love the FS830. They have a nut width of 43mm (1-11/16"). That's a nice width for me, but perhaps you might prefer a wider nut.

[EDIT] Whoops, I see that the APX700 (and presumably all the APX guitars) have the same 43mm nut width. I've always thought of them as being narrower and more like an electric guitar, or at least that's the way any APX has felt to me.

Tannin · October 2022

Just because people seem to be a bit confused. (Well, OK, only people starting with the letter "B").

LIST OF COMMON (and not-so-common) NUT SIZES

* 42.5mm - rare outside Japan. Takamine still do these alongside their more common 45mm models. Old Gibsons used to also.
* 43mm - quite common, by far the most common narrow nut width. Has gone out of fashion in recent years but still readily available in Japanese and American guitars, less so elsewhere.
* 44mm - the single most common width. Popular with UK and European makers, common in the US and Japan, universal in Australia.
* 44.5mm and 45mm - hugely popular, nearly always called "45mm" which, if it is an American instrument made using imperial tooling is usually incorrect - 1.75 inches is in fact 44.45mm. (Having said that, my US-made Guild, supposedly 1 3/4", measures exactly 45mm!) The 45mm (ish) size is the single most popular one in American guitars, and is also common in Japanese instruments. Other parts of the world use it too.
* 46mm - common in Europe, very rare elsewhere, except Canada where Seagull have traditionally made 45.7mm nuts, though in recent years they have taken to doing the American standard 44.5mm size for many models.
* 48mm - about half of all 12-string guitars use this size.
* 50mm - the other standard 12-string size, and also the standard narrow classical guitar nut size
* 52mm - standard for classical guitars (alongside 50mm).

Summary: in steel strings, 43mm and below is narrow, 44 and 45mm is standard, 46mm and up is wide.

For you, @2013cossj most guitars you can buy today will be wider than your Yamaha, so there aren't too many bad answers. We don't see many of them here in Oz but my American friends have a lot of respect for the Seagull range and say nice things about them. In your shoes, that would be my starting point. Beyond Seagull, you won't find anything much in the USA with a wide neck, you are looking at custom-builds or importing from Europe (where wide necks for fingerstyle are commonplace). But there are any number of 45mm guitars around. Chances are that if you walk into a shop with 100 guitars, 50 of them will have a 45mm nut. And 45mm is much more comfortable than 43mm. Small differences make a big difference! 43mm is squeezy and awkward, 44mm is much better, 45mm better again. Good hunting!

DavidR · October 2022

BillDL said:

You're fairly spoiled for choice in Fresno, including a fair sized Guitar Center. I was in a couple of guitar shops when I was over there in 2019 visiting a friend who stays out to the West closer to Caruthers. I was particularly impressed by Guitar Center's "own brand" Mitchell Guitars that are made in Indonesia and looked, played and felt like much more expensive instruments. If you are on a tighter budget it would be well worth having a look at at few Mitchell concert/auditorium-sized guitars if you can manage into the store. I believe the one I was most impressed by for the price was the T313CE, but they had a couple of really nice solid top mahogany ones also.

In my opinion you can't go wrong with a Yamaha FS sized acoustic. That's just the smaller bodied FG dreadnought equivalent. I love the FS830. They have a nut width of 43mm (1-11/16"). That's a nice width for me, but perhaps you might prefer a wider nut.

[EDIT] Whoops, I see that the APX700 (and presumably all the APX guitars) have the same 43mm nut width. I've always thought of them as being narrower and more like an electric guitar, or at least that's the way any APX has felt to me.

Ditto that for FS/FG range. I have the FG830 and its a great deal. Yamaha fan. You still need a wider neck though as mentioned.

Why don't you just go into your local store/s and ask them to bring you every wide-necked acoustic in your price range. They really won't mind. Then they will probably leave you alone to have a doodle on all of them. Don't ever feel a nuisance in stores these days. It's an important purchase. I have a friend who just bought a Gibson J185 from a dealer in the UK and, within a month, he had permanent problems with his right shoulder from the size. Luckily, he took it back and swapped it for a smaller instrument. But it's all hassle isn't it. Try before you buy. Not only is it important with acoustics but it's good fun!

Seek out that Seagull S6!

BillDL · October 2022

It appears that the OP has left the building with Roland's assistance.

Roland · October 2022

Nah, with the assistance of several members who he PMd with the popular “my friend wants to sell the same guitar you want to buy. Here’s his email”.

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