Here I have created a list of some of the best acoustic guitars with thin neck to consider in 2023 that I have personally tried and tested, containing detailed information along with relevant cons that will help you conveniently select the most suitable model based on your needs – the ultimate thin neck acoustic guitar for small hands guide.
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Guitarists are undeniably the coolest musicians around – unfailingly attracting crowds (mostly women), lifting spirits, and just looking good without having to try too hard.
Being a guitarist, although a seemingly effortless gig when it comes to creating music, is a lot more work than one might think.
Handling a guitar, for instance, can become an eternally exhausting task depending on your choice of guitar. Choosing the right one is a completely different struggle altogether, but don’t fret (pun intended), we’ve got your back.
Things to know
Why go for a Thin Neck Guitar?
A thin neck improves agility, increases speed and swiftness in motion while switching chords, and makes sure that your hands don’t strain as much.
Tips for buying one
For maximum comfort look for a guitar with smaller scale length, narrow nut width, lower action & lighter gauge strings - learn more about this towards the end.
In short, it gives you more control over the instrument, a boon for beginners and professionals alike.
This was the excellent segue to the main topic of discussion in this article – acoustic guitars designed with thin necks.
The definition of the ‘best acoustic guitar with thin neck’ depends on innumerable factors, and is quite subjective
I tested 11 guitars and decided that this Jasmine S34C NEX is the best thin neck acoustic guitar for most uses.
The definition of the ‘best acoustic guitar with thin neck’ depends on innumerable factors, and is quite subjective.
So if you are looking for maximum playability, this guide will definitely help you (you can also find thin neck guitar sizes below). Let’s begin!
If you have specific size of smaller guitars in mind then definitely check out these blogs –
Quick Summary
| Sr. No | Best Thin Neck Guitars | Width at Nut | Check Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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1. |
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1.74" |
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2. |
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1.68" |
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3. |
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1.68" |
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4. |
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1.45" |
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5. |
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1.68" |
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6. |
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1.69" |
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7. |
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1.68" |
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8. |
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1.8" |
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9. |
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1.75" |
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10. |
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1.87" |
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11. |
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1.69" |
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Here are the Best Thin Neck Acoustic Guitars
Looking for the perfect thin neck acoustic guitars for small hands is as hard as they say, but finding one that is the standard size AND cheaper than the rest? That’s just a different struggle altogether.
But the Jasmine S34C is one rare specimen that fits the description. If you’re a beginner, or are looking for a thin neck acoustic guitars for your kid, this is the one you want to choose.
How does it sound?
It comes with a cutaway, crafted with a laminate spruce top, and Sapele back and sides. The cutaway gives this piece access to the full range of crisp tones.
The bridge is done with rosewood, and there is a notable abundance of volume. The smooth mahogany neck is a thing to admire, which is slim and grants flexibility.
If you’re going to go with a super cheap guitar such as the Jasmine, you must be prepared for some obvious tradeoffs. It might need a professional setup if you wish to make the best out of it.
How does it feel?
It’s a jumbo guitar, I kid you not, but quite slim and handy when compared to other modern day acoustic guitars (which are mostly dreadnoughts) owing to its grand orchestra layout. It also makes for a good choice for teens (Read more about guitar size for kids).
All in all, it’s an option worth considering if you’re on a tight budget. Finding one as good in the same price range is next to impossible – you’ll find a loyal buddy in this basic beauty.
Pros
- Standard size acoustic with thin, smooth neck
- Affordable
- Cutaway provides access across varied tonal ranges
- Great choice for kids
Cons
- Not distinguished in terms of looks
- Several complaints of its lack of mid-range presence
This compact little number gives you the signature quality and output of the Yamaha APX500, one of the most popular Yamahas ever created.
Another travelling favorite, this guitar’s ¾ size is just perfect for small hands – its size enhances agility, and overall speed and smoothness in playability.
How does it sound?
Its natural acoustic music is a consequence of its spruce-topped meranti design, which helps to achieve a balanced, clear tone. Its built-in tuner helps with accurate, quick tuning, without the need of any extra gear.
How does it feel?
Complete with the onboard ART-based pickup system, Yamaha really upped the game with this comfortable, easy-to-carry creation.
Basically, the only notable difference is its size – the rest of this thin-neck acoustic baby is a worthy twin of the APX500! It also comes with a sturdy gig bag. What else could an on-the-road guitarist ask for?
Pros
- Same output as the popular Yamaha APX500
- ¾ size is super comfortable for those long road trips/gig nights
Cons
- Not many complaints out there – it’s a cute little Yamaha, what could go wrong?
Taylors are widely known to be created to make the guitar playing experience as easy and effortless for the musician as possible, and this one is a celebrated favourite amongst recording engineers – so it undoubtedly had to be on the top of the list (even though this list isn’t hierarchical in any sense of the word).
It is quite an expensive choice, but what it lacks in terms of being budget-friendly, it makes up for with its exquisite sound and overall feel, making it worth the investment.
How does it sound?
It has a Sitka spruce top, with rosewood back and sides, giving it a balanced, open tone quality of rosewood and a warm, crisp sound. The neck is mahogany, which makes it strong and sturdy and enhances the beauty of the guitar.
The fingerboard and bridge is ebony. Its Expression System 2 is equipped with easy-to-use volume, bass and treble controls which ensures amplified and exceptionally enhanced tonal output. You can actually see the myriad shades of colour in the notes as you play a tune with this graceful instrument.
How does it sound?
This instrument is sleek, and its grand auditorium body is equipped with immense depth, while also ensuring agility owing to its tapered contours. Its thin, slender neck ensures smooth, fluent playing and is an excellent choice for any style of playing.
Pros
- Every note is clear and resounding
- Excellent quality and durability
- Sitka spruce top ensures excellent tonal response
Cons
- Expensive, but known to be totally worth the price
Another one of perfectly compact little thin neck acoustic guitars, this ¾ sized instrument has a remarkable classic design and is pretty popular amongst beginners, players with smaller hands (particularly kids) and travelling musicians.
How does it sound?
Its strong, solid sound quality is like that of any expensive dreadnought, with punchy and resounding bass balanced impeccably with its trebles – it does justice to an acoustic despite being a lot cheaper than most high-end models.
Its chrome-sealed tuners are known for their exceptional strength and their ability to keep it tuned for long durations – something that isn’t common in many well-known acoustics.
Tone richness isn’t something to write home about, but according to its price, its tonal output is pretty decent. It is, however, a great choice if you’re still a beginner and aren’t looking to spend money on an expensive acoustic guitar just yet.
How does it feel?
Crafted with a laminated select spruce top layered with catalpa on its back and sides, backed with a high-quality gloss finish gives this guitar an exotic look and makes it scream ‘classic’! A strong, thin mahogany neck along with a rosewood fretboard gives its body a beautiful overall look.
It is, in conclusion, a pretty good, affordable option in case you’re looking for a small, easy-to-handle acoustic guitar with thin neck for your kid’s beginner classes.
Pros
- Perfect choice for kids and beginners – easy to handle
- Its ¾ size makes for an ideal travel buddy
- Classic look, punchy bass
- Very cheap, easily available
Cons
- Lacks in richness of tone
- Not as qualitative as a more expensive acoustic guitar
Taylors are bound to melt the heart of anyone looking for tonal quality, open sound, and endless aesthetic satisfaction in one acoustic guitar.
How does it sound?
This ¾ size dreadnought is like a dream, with its tropical mahogany top, which every guitarist knows produces strong tonal clarity and intricately woven notes.
The authentic acoustic feel is achieved by its layered Sapele body, ensuring durability and crisp resonance of sound. It is simply one of the best sounding thin neck acoustic guitars.
How does it feel?
This guitar is undoubtedly travel-friendly, owing to its comfortable size and exotic blend of looks and sturdiness. As I know, a Taylor has never been known to let its owner down, and this one comes with that famous vibrant, cheerful tone that Taylor puts out.
The layered wood might pose a problem for professionals who prefer the complex, rich tones of solid wood. However, an appreciable benefit of layered wood is its resilience in humid climates, which adds to the pros of why it is the perfect choice for travelling musicians.
Pros
- Compact ¾ size dreadnought
- Travel-friendly
- Signature vibrant Taylor tone
- Layered wood offers resilience in the face of fluctuating climates
Cons
- Layered wood – not as rich in tone as solid wood
This model is an upgrade to the aforementioned APXT2, another excellent travel companion.
How does it sound?
Its exotic wood finish and mango-topped meranti gives it a balanced and clear tone, along with that natural acoustic sound found in every Yamaha instrument, and also makes it pop onstage.
It’s a smart buy in its price range, and is highly recommended for travellers as well as beginners alike.
How does it feel?
Yamaha equipped this APX500-based thin neck guitar with a System 68 TR contact pickup and the classic onboard ART-based preamp, and also gave it one of their signature tuners which enables easy, quick tuning.
The back and sides are crafted with topical tonewood, and the fingerboard and bridge is done in rosewood. Its slender neck is carved in Nato wood.
Complete with a gig bag, you’ll be good to head out on your road trip with this conveniently sized instrument.
Pros
- Equipped with Yamaha’s signature tuners
- Loved for its natural acoustic sound
- Comes with a sturdy gig bag
- Pretty affordable, a good bargain for a Yamaha
Cons
- No notable cons
This guitar is easily one of the cutest, most compact instruments you could ever come across, making it a perfect choice for beginners, travellers, or kids.
Part of the Martin Travel series, it’s a small acoustic thin neck guitar with smaller scale length – approximately two inches shorter than the normal scale length. Martins also make a great guitar for playing folk music on. It ranks first in our best folk guitars list.
How does it sound?
Although small, do not underestimate its tonal quality, for this guitar is highly versatile and broad when it comes to tone.
A notable problem might be with its sound, which, although rich in quality, might not be the absolute best out there for professional artists. But if you’re looking for a thin neck acoustic guitar which is affordable and a handy companion for your road trip adventures, you should definitely go for this one!
How does it feel?
This efficient, conveniently small-bodied instrument is an ideal choice for students, beginners, and travelling musicians who are always on the road and want to pack light.
It features a Sitka spruce top and mahogany pattern HPL back, sides and top, and has a richlite bridge and fingerboard.
Pros
- Small-bodied, easy to handle, making it perfect for kids and travellers
- Sitka spruce top enhances overall quality of sound
- Affordable
Cons
- Not the best choice for exceptional sound output
This guitar beautifully mirrors a highly expensive one in terms of quality and sound, but at a cheaper value to make it more accessible to guitarists who simply cannot afford the luxury of a pricey instrument.
How does it sound?
This is one of those thin neck acoustic guitars that encompasses a wonderful blend of rich tones, having a three-layer hardwood laminated body of maple wood and a solid spruce top, giving it a dynamic tonal responsiveness.
Its thin neck is composed of silver leaf maple, and flame maple is used as the veneer. The body is given a solid high gloss custom polish finish to ensure rich quality of sound.
How does it feel?
An affordable guitar created with expert craftsmanship and the little nuances and features that make an expensive guitar unique, this elegant thin neck acoustic piece is worth a try if affordability and playability are your top priorities.
There have been a few problems noted by guitarists on the resonation front when compared to its more expensive counterparts.
It is also equipped with an Indian rosewood fretboard and bridge.
Pros
- Cheap, affordable
- Qualities of expensive guitars
- Thin, easy-to-handle neck and body
- Great choice for simple practice and everyday use
Cons
- Some issues with resonation and clarity of sound
This lesser known thin necked acoustic beauty is crafted with a solid Adirondack spruce top with scalloped braces, which provides a superior note clarity with resonating volume.
Not to mention, every Blueridge comes with an exclusive padded Blueridge logo gig bag!
How does it sound?
Easy on those hands and the audience’s ears alike, this a smart choice for any guitarist seeking qualitative clarity in each note for a fair price range.
It is easily the most affordable acoustic guitar with thin neck on the market of the same exceptional quality and feel – undoubtedly worth every penny you spend.
How does it feel?
Finished with a mahogany thin neck, this instrument ensures flexible, smooth action and stable playability. Its fingerboard is made out of rich Choice East Indian rosewood, which offers silken functioning, ideal for that memorable gig night.
Pros
- Affordable
- Exceptional quality despite the low price
- Handy, convenient access
- Comes with a sturdy gig bag
Cons
- Might lack in rich or consistent in tonal quality
The Artist Series of Alvarez guitars are well-known for their sturdiness and incredible sound.
This particular guitar in the series was created keeping in mind the factor of affordability, and the company’s goal to integrate and successfully encompass all essential qualitative elements that can be found in a more expensive counterpart. Its exceptional playability is commendable despite it being one of mid priced thin neck acoustic guitars.
How does it sound?
Its warm, open sound and the clear balance it strikes in the treble and bass registers speak for itself. The body has been put together to yield maximum quality in resonance and vibration. The thin neck ensures quick and stable functioning.
This model is known to require constant tuning. Some guitarists have also complained that it occasionally sounds flat and might not be the most consistent sounding guitar out there.
How does it feel?
A 12-stringed sibling of the best-selling AD60, this acoustic number is equipped with a solid sitka spruce top, and mahogany back and sides. This thin neck acoustic guitar is extremely comfortable to play.
Pros
- Highly affordable
- Sturdy body
- 12 stringed, mahogany back and sides
- Clear balance between treble and bass
Cons
- Requires repetitive tuning
- Known to sound flat
- Inconsistency in sound
This six-string acoustic-electric beauty might be the most ‘electric looking guitar’ on this list, with its svelte, thin contours and a dashing dreadnought body – you can tell by simply looking at this guitar that it was built to enhance speed.
How does it sound?
Don’t worry, this guitar isn’t just a pretty boy – its onboard pickup is optimized for the AEQ2UT preamp, which is equipped with a volume knob along with a 2-band EQ for level control and tone sweetening.
All in all, its playability is wonderful, it has a unique bass-fueled tone which can hardly be found with other acoustics, and it looks amazing. Pretty neat, right?
How does it feel?
The ash-topped Sapele tonewood body is a marvelous sight, and just looks amazing even before issuing its first note.The thin satin-backed maple neck is one of the smoothest, most fluent ones out there.
Its light, agile body enhances performance duration and is super easy on those muscles in your hands. The effortless access made possible with a glorious compact cutaway will make you seal the deal with this superbly gorgeous thin acoustic guitar.
Pros
- Exceptionally beautiful body, stands out in appearance
- Easy to get used to for electric guitar players
- Satin-backed maple neck
- Optimized for AEQ2UT preamp
Cons
- Not many complaints out there
How we Pick & Test our Guitars
A simple search on the internet will give you tonnes of lookalike lists about thin neck guitars, many constructed of cheap & non-durable materials. So, my criteria while creating this list was:
- Narrow nut width
- Has a lower action
- Affordable guitars by popular brands
- Available on renowned marketplaces with a good return policy
The testing was simple. I’ve been playing acoustic guitars for years so I know what’s the optimal configuration for different type of guitars. I obviously chose and tested the ones with narrow nut width for this list.
My only concern was that the playability of the guitar shouldn’t be affected due to the narrow neck and that’s what I took a note of.
Small disclaimer: I can bet my money on these guitar sounding great but I also recommend going down to a local music shop and testing it out yourself because guitars aren’t one-size-fits-all, you might find out a guitar that fits your body-type perfectly.
Why are Thin neck guitars important for small hands?
Comfort is extremely essential while playing this majestic instrument, otherwise it’ll just feel like any other tedious chore and you might eventually get tired, making it really difficult to play for longer durations, or worse, you might give up on the craft altogether, falling under one of the common misconception – that the way a guitar is designed isn’t meant for your small hands.
However, despite having broad, long hands, people may experience difficulty with rapid finger movements while learning to play this tricky instrument. That is why smaller, more compact guitars are recommended for beginners who need to brush up on their basics before they worry about achieving perfection in their complex strumming and note-switching skills.
So, instead of forcing yourself to adapt to a specific shape or size of an acoustic, consider the fact that there are countless possibilities when it comes to picking the ideal guitar for yourself – there is a guitar for every kind of player out there!
Why go for acoustic guitar with low action and thin neck?
It’s obvious that when you begin playing the guitar, you look for maximum playability and sore fingers as the primary concern. I want to assure you that this is totally justified and that you are not alone to think this way.
When you get started with a new hobby and your enthusiasm is in full swing, taking a break for giving your fingers rest is the last thing you want to do.
So the perfect option for you would be to look for certain qualities in the guitar. Some of these qualities being – low action, short scaled, small body, gauge strings.
To clarify things, the space between the strings and the fretboard is called its ‘action’. A guitar with high action would mean you need to press down harder on the notes compared to that on a guitar with low action.
Why are guitars with low action and thin necks so hard to find you ask? It’s because such guitars are difficult to manufacture. Their biggest enemy being – fret buzz. The distance between the string and the neck on low action guitars is extremely less (making it that much easier to play). And so, manufacturers take the easy way out and produce guitars with medium to high action.
A lot of the guitars in this guide are guitars with low action and thin neck which is perfect for any beginner since these are one of the few ones that do not create a nasty buzzing.
Learn about lighter Gauge strings for acoustic guitar
Another great addition to make playing guitars easier for you would be to use lighter gauge strings. Now, the whole purpose of lighter gauge strings is to make it easier for the guitarist to play notes and bend the strings effortlessly.
Lighter gauge strings are usually used by pro players since they have to play continuously for hours at a time, causing problems in their fingers, elbows, wrists, or hands. So they resort to using thinner strings allows them to keep playing for as long as they like.
Here are some of my quick recommendations for lighter gauge strings – D’Addario EJ10, John Pearse 600L Phosphor, Gibson Masterbuilt Premium.
Conclusion
Well, here you are! Each guitar on this detailed list has been looked into carefully, keeping in mind the different preferences and concerns of a huge number of guitarists across the internet who can’t seem to find a precise (and an arguably concise) one-stop guide that addresses all those queries.
This list will surely help you pick the best thin neck acoustic guitar by comparing varied options, depending on a wide range of priorities which I was constantly mindful of while creating this guide, because every player wants something specific and is looking for an ideal musical companion that suits their conditions.
Be it affordability, playability, overall feel, tonal response, or just the aesthetic element – this extensively researched list of thin neck guitars includes every possible factor that might pop up in your mind while searching for that perfect acoustic buddy for your late-night gigs or long road trips, or simply for that first guitar class you finally decided to join. Strum away!
Cedric Philips
Hey there, I am Cedric and I've been playing guitar professionally for 9+ years. I also work in a music shop so I can get my hands on a lot of different guitars. And so, I like to share my take on these fantastic instruments here. Cheers!
Amazing site. Lots of beneficial info right here.