van lingle,

Thanks for those YouTube references. I am curious to see anyone play those high-speed country genres fingerstyle rather than using the much more customary flatpicking method. Those ultraquick up-and-down strokes just seem impossible with a thumbpick, and the fingerpicker's alternative, to alternate thumb/finger as quickly as possible, just seems to have a built-in speed limit.

The "hybrid" style favored by a few country virtuosos, using a flatpick plus middle and ring fingers, solves all problems and opens up all possibilities ~ IF you can do it!

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I don't doubt that you find lefthand fingering easier on your OM than on your dread; but wouldn't your lefthand comfort levels on the two instruments be pretty much the same regardless of your righthand picking style?

Now, I can see how body size (and shape, too) might have an effect on fingerpicking vs flatpicking/strumming, especially for a relatively small person. Wrapping your right arm around that big dreadnaught box can certainly affect the angle at which your right-hand fingers approach the strings, how far you have to reach, how comfortable you are, etc. I don't doubt that you find it easier to pick the OM than the dread, but my guess/analysis is that it's the smaller and shaplier body that is making the diffrence, not the neck width...