Ned - maybe your neck's too big for your hands! Seriously: some guitars are built with wide, flat necks - typically classical guitars are, and some with narrow, curved necks - rock electrics tend to be that way. The typical folkie fingerpicker's guitar is somewhere in-between, but you can get different widths, and, as an inveterate and unappologetic wrapper, I commend anyone to be crafeul about the profile and width of any new purchase.

I'm sure rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic will have loads to say on the subject...