If you’ve got smaller hands and you’ve been struggling to find a guitar that feels comfortable, you aren’t alone. Many players, particularly younger guitarists and women, can have a tough time finding the perfect guitar. Selecting a guitar that fits you comfortably can make a huge difference not only to your technique, but to your enthusiasm to even pick it up and practice. Those two key factors can determine your overall improvement.
While testing these guitars, we primarily looked at comfort and ergonomics to see which guitars were most suitable for smaller-handed players. In addition, we’ve compared tones and overall build quality to give you a full 360-degree view of these instruments. (You can also check out our roundup for electric guitars as well as our overall choices.)
In this Guide, we’ve done the legwork for you and reviewed the 5 Best Acoustic Guitars for Small Hands. Keep on reading to learn:
Best Guitars For Small Hands
Our Top Pick, the Martin D Jr-10E is a 15/16 scale guitar with a classic Martin Dreadnought profile. This guitar is packed with premium features, including a solid Sitka spruce top, sapele back and sides, scalloped X bracing, a sustainable Richlite fretboard and a Tusq saddle. The sound is very warm, and very full, which is rare to find in a scaled-down guitar. It has a great, slim neck that’s ideal for players with smaller hands.
The Fender Sonoran is our Best Budget option. It boasts a solid spruce top with mahogany back and sides, which give it a bright, almost peppy tone. The neck on the Sonoran is one of the particular highlights. The nut width is perfect for players with smaller hands, and the compact body also makes it a comfortable choice.
The Taylor GS Mini-e Koa Plus from Taylor Guitars was our Editor’s Pick winner. It’s a ¾ size Grand Symphony made with a solid koa top and layered koa back and sides. It looks spectacular and is tonally unmatched when it comes to smaller-scale instruments, with its bright, clear sound. It’s comfortable to hold and play, and is equipped with onboard pickups for easy recording and PA/amp connection.
Best Guitars For Small Hands (acoustic & Electric) In 2023
With this Martin you're getting the result of almost 2 centuries of guitar making experience. It offers exceptional tone, wonderful quality, and fantastic comfort for players with smaller hands.
It’s always a pleasure to test any Martin Guitar, and we found that the D Jr-10E was really no exception. As one of the few true dreadnought guitars in a scaled-down size, this Martin offers a means for players with smaller hands to play what is traditionally considered one of the more unwieldy body styles.
First impressions were excellent, as we find with almost every Martin. It comes with a semi-rigid gig bag, which was genuinely one of the best we’ve ever seen. The scale length is 24” and the body is 15/16ths the size of a full-size, so it plays very similarly, but the comfort factor for smaller-handed players is much improved.
Best Electric Guitars For Small Hands
The select hardwood neck is a Dreadnought Jr shape, making it specific to this series of guitars. The nut width is quite large at 1.75”, however, the performance taper makes this neck very quick playing and the profile makes it easy for small hands to reach all 14 of the exposed frets. String spacing is 54.76mm, which is a great middle-of-the-road setup for any guitarist.
We found both strumming and fingerstyle were comfortable, as were runs up and down the neck. The fretboard is finished in Richlite, which might upset some purists, but we think any disdain toward this wood-alternative is unwarranted. It was comfortable, looks just like ebony, and it’s just as hard-wearing.
As far as tones go, it did lose a little of the fullness of a full-size dreadnought, but it’s barely a noticeable difference. We found it to be well-defined, with great midrange presence and bright highs. The Fishman Sonitone electronics worked well, and really kept the guitar’s inherent character even with amplification.
Ultimate Guide To Guitar For Small Hands: What You Need To Know
Verdict: The Martin D Jr-10E is a great choice for players with smaller hands, although it’s still comfortable for almost everybody. Its slightly smaller than full-sized body ensures you get a real Martin sound, but with ergonomics better suited for smaller-handed playres. We found the build quality to be excellent, with premium appointments used throughout.
If you're looking for a comfortable, reliable, and stylish guitar from a well respected brand at a price to suit all wallets, this reduced size Fender is guaranteed to please. It sounds wonderful, and features surprisingly high end materials and hardware considering its price.
The Sonoran Mini is one of the newest guitars in the Fender lineup and it’s certainly an impressive addition. With Fender’s electric line, we don’t see any models at this kind of price point (besides Squiers), but with a Fender Sonoran Mini, you’ll get a comfortable guitar with the iconic Stratocaster headstock, including Fender branding.
Best Acoustic Guitars 2023: Options For All Ages And Abilities
We really loved the looks of this guitar. The spruce top is accented by a caramel-colored pickguard that gives a retro, yet contemporary vibe. This is a reduced-size guitar (3/4 size) with a parlor-style body (there are also 1/2 size guitars available). It features a 24.1” scale, and a super narrow 1.615” nut. We loved how easy it was to reach for complex chords, and extended scale runs were a joy to play. Despite the narrow nut, the strings were adequately spaced, giving us room for comfortable fingerstyle playing as well as strumming.
The short scale also helps with reduction of string tension, which tends to increase comfort, since less effort is required to depress strings. This is always a big help for players with smaller hands.
The neck profile is a comfortable and modern C shape, which really promotes a neutral grip, allowing smaller-handed players to reach the frets without having to compensate. The neck itself is made of Nato wood, and the fretboard is finished in walnut, which not only looks great, but it’s hard-wearing and very responsive.
Best Guitar For Small Hands
It comes with a gig bag, which is surprising considering the already low price of this guitar. It isn’t quite up to the standard of the Martin and Taylor gig bags we got with the D Jr and the GS Mini, but it’s more than sufficient for storage or taking your guitar to and from lessons.
Verdict: The Fender Sonoran Mini is a genuinely wonderful guitar. If we weren’t aware of the low price, we’d assume it cost upwards of twice as much as the MSRP. It’s made with quality tone woods and the vintage looks check all the boxes. We found that the neck is slim enough for both kids and adults with smaller hands. Because of that, the Fender brand prestige, and the low price, this guitar makes a great gift option!
Players with smaller hands who won't accept compromise should definitely take a look at this Taylor. It's compact, and offers wonderful ergonomics, making it comfortable for every player, and it's made with the finest woods, resulting in a sweet tone unmatched in this category.
Best Guitars For Kids And Players With Smaller Hands
Buyers without budget limitations should really be considering the GS Mini-e Koa Plus (or its cheaper cousin the GS Mini Mahogony). We were floored when opening this guitar! Koa is undeniably one of the prettiest tone woods, and the top was stunning. It came with a semi-rigid Taylor gig bag, which provided ample protection and plenty of space for accessories.
The scale length is a short 23.5”, further reducing the string tension, even over the extremely comfortable Fender Sonoran Mini. It’s a ¾-size body with 20 frets on a slim, soft V profile, mahogany neck. The nut width is just 1.6875”, making it easily manageable for those with even the smallest hands. The fretboard is made from solid ebony, which is visually very appealing and felt great under the fingers.
Playability was superb. We found that the neck was fast and we were able to play fingerstyle, quick runs, and complex chords without any struggle whatsoever. The action was nice and low right out of the box, and we found the body to be very comfortable for smaller players.
Top 30 Acoustic & Electric Guitars For Small Hands In 2023
The electronics are Taylor’s in house ES2 (expression system 2) pickups. The volume and tone controls are easily accessible without being intrusive, and we found that the pickups keep the organic acoustic tones very well.
Tonally, the GS Mini-e Koa Plus had a rich, bold sound, which you’d never guess came from a ¾-size instrument. The bass end is powerful and warm, but the clarity and brightness we got when fingerpicking was amazing. Overall, this is a very versatile guitar that plays like a full-size Taylor, while retaining the comfort of a smaller guitar (full review here).
Verdict: Players with smaller hands have been turning to the Taylor GS Mini-e Koa, and the rest of the GS Mini family of guitars, for years now. We can’t recommend this particular model highly enough. We really loved everything about it, especially the depth and character that comes with the beautiful koa top. The neck was among the very best for players with small hands and the body size makes it very easy to handle.
Best Acoustic Guitars For Beginners, According To Experts
If
0 Response to "Best Guitar Brands For Small Hands"
Posting Komentar