Funny thing, John, but the smallness of the mandolin neck makes it even HARDER to play than the guitar, given my osteoarthritis in my left hand. In particular, my left index finger does not like to bend at the 2nd joint--which gives me a preference for barre chords (which I never played for the first 20 to 25 years I played guitar) but makes playing teensy-necked instruments harder. Classical guitars are easier in one way, given their nylon strings, but they aggravate the arthritis by making me "overstretch" to adjust to the wide neck.

As I said above, the 00018 is pretty comfortable for my hand. But a guitar with a neck that is slightly slimmer than that -- I'm talking total circumference here -- would be even better.

I am, however, considering learning the dulcimer or banjo (with the banjo open tuned) as a "side" instrument. Either that or maybe a lap-style guitar.

In any event, I'd like to find a really narrow necked guitar. I'm told that Bonnie Raitt designed (an electric) one for herself, because she couldn't find one on the market that was the right size for her.

Genie