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> After playing a nylon strung classical guitar today at a shop, I have
> a question to ask of those who are familiar with guitar making in
> general who can provide insight.
>
> Why is it that steel strung acoutic guitars have slimmer necks (or
> should I say... smaller frets) than their classical nylon strung
> counterparts? Why aren't don't steel strung acoustics generally made
> with the same kind of jumbo-sized frets (and neck width) as is the
> case with many nylon strung classical guitars?
>
> Something that I noticed while playing a nylon classical guitar is
> that, because of the fact that the frets are larger, certain chords
> such as the small F are much easier to play than they'd normally be on
> the typical steel strung guitar. At least for me, anyway. On a
> steel strung guitar, I would have to roll my index finger on its side
> so as to sound all the notes of the little F chord clearly.
> However, because of the bigger frets on the classical guitar, I don't
> have to worry about such "finger gymnastics" in order to get all the
> notes of the chord to ring clearly.
>
> It would seem that playing certain kinds of chords would be much
> easier if the steel strung guitars had similar necks as the classical
> guitars I've seen...less chance of accidentally muffling adjacent
> strings on the fret board.
>
> Are there guitars designed for steel strings that have the same kind
> of neck width and fret size as the classical acoustic guitars, and do
> a lot of players prefer to play them over the standard steel strung
> acoustic? I haven't seen any steel strung acoustic guitars like
> that.
>
> I once heard of an nylon classical guitar that was also designed to be
> strung with light steel strings. I recall seeing old concert videos
> of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull playing such a type of guitar. It was
> a Martin, but don't recall the exact model # off the top of my head.
>
> But I don't think I've seen anything similar at the local music
> stores, but maybe I'm not looking in the right places,
>
> tysteel