Best Acoustic Guitar for Small Hands (top 2 picks)

Many of the best acoustic guitars for small hands are simply some of the best overall, without regard to size. While they're more accommodating to small hands and shorter fingers, they're just solid acoustic guitars, in general. From beginner to advanced, these acoustic guitars are great options. We'll cover two of our favorites.

The smaller design, while beginner friendly, is intended for all skill levels and not something we consider an exclusively beginner guitar. It's dimensions are just ideal for smaller hands and/or shorter fingers. Specifically, those dimensions are the following:

• Fingerboard width at 12th fret: 2 1/16"
• Fingerboard with at nut: 1 11/16"
• Scale length: 23"

The LXK2 doesn't have built in electronics, so you're saving money in that area if a preamp isn't something you were interested in. If you like the guitar, the price and want to amplify it, a simple solution like the Seymour Duncan Woody acoustic guitar pickup will do the job for under $40.

As you can see from the photo, this type of pickup simply fits into your guitar's soundhole (one size fits all) and includes a connected cable that you can then run to a preamp or PA system. This is your easiest (and cheapest) option for amplifying the Little Martin.

If you don't want to amplify it, the Little Martin is good to go right out of the box, shipping with a set of Martin acoustic strings and a soft gig bag. The screenshot below gives you a better feel of the guitar's actual size. 

The neck is quite small, making the fretboard a breeze to play on. Moreover, there's nothing at all bulky about the guitar's body which keeps the weight low and provides easy access for your strumming hand.

The Little Martin's tone is surprisingly full and resonant for such a small guitar. It's warm, with an airy quality to it, reminiscent of a mix between the larger Martin dreadnoughts and nylon string classical guitars. The body of the guitar is a laminate made out of Hawaiian Koa tonewood while the neck is Birch and lightly colored on the back.

Retail hovers around $300, which is an amazing bargain for someone in the right situation who needs or simply prefers the smaller body size. Other features include a Spruce bracing, non-scalloped X-bracing construction and a 20-fret neck.

It also comes in a left-handed version.

Most notably, the BT2 does come with a preamp that allows you to plug the guitar in. It's a well-designed pickup system with tone and volume controls as well as a tuner, which preserves the natural resonance of the guitar perfectly when plugged in. There can often be a significant difference in tone between an amplified acoustic and an unplugged acoustic. However, that's not the case with the Baby Taylor. In either scenario, the BT2 sounded excellent and totally natural.

Additionally, the BT2 body sports a solid Mahogany top, while the Little Martin is entirely laminate. Lastly, the BT2 (as with all Taylor acoustics) ships with Elixir strings.

You can see, there are a lot of perks offered by Taylor that we don't see with Martin's LXK2, even as the BT2 maintains a similar under $500 price point. It's just a fantastic value for a robust and functional acoustic guitar. Folks with difficulty stretching, injury issues or small fingers stand to benefit tremendously from the BT2, not only as a great starter guitar but a solid instrument in general, worth owning in any situation.

You're going to get a brighter tone from Taylor guitars, that sounds best in a finger-picking context. The preamp's tone control functions essentially like the tone knob on an electric guitar, giving you basic shaping options that emphasize either low or high end. I found it to be most functional when kept at the halfway point.