Fly Away Neck

Like mkb712 when I play my dreadnaught I look somewhat like

https://ibb.co/njWhW5

If I remove my fretting hand from the neck, it will fly away (slowly) from my body from the force of my picking arm resting against the guitar body. To keep it from doing this, I must slightly place my thumb or index finger on the fretboard. If I'm fretting a note, the force of the finger pushes the neck back in and against an opposing thumb. But then if I need to play an open higher string, I need to clasp the neck with my thumb. But when playing open and fretted higher strings, I don't have time to move my thumb back and forth, so it ends up staying over the top sometimes leading to fret buzz.

Any suggestions for my dilemma?

Yes. Ditch the Dread! 👎 Go slimline cutaway (or fuller body if preferred) but Concert! 👍 🙊🙉🙈

But then I readily confess to the personal unashamed bias of detesting Dreadnoughts for numerous reasons, their awkwark bulk being one factor.

They have their place, but not on 'my parade'. Of course, the always respectful caveat OMMV. 🐒

Hi,

I have a similar dilemma with my Gibson SG Standard - it’s a little top heavy but I love it for the tone it gives (and the look obviously!).

Id probably suggest going to your local guitar store and trying out a few. See how they feel. You can then either take one away or at least you’ll know what you’re looking for and can shop around.

When starting out, you relally don’t need to be battling with more than the actual process of learning. That’s tough enough. Reduce the problems as much as possible and ‘ditch the dreadnought’. You can always go back to playing it when you’re more experienced and able to work around the weight issue.

Sounds like I need to spend some time at Guitar Center. The trick will be to convince the wife that I need another guitar when I can't play the first.

If you've identified another better suited acoustic for learning on - continued through intermediate playing and arguably beyond, is where you want to go, I'd avoid ego's surfeit spend. KISS and inexpensive & you'll be doing yourself a favor two ways with, A. a wife who won't 'hate' you and, B. a practical tool for the job at hand.

With that said, I might make a recommendation? Do consider/look at Cort's inexpensive but remarkable AF510 Concert body acoustic. Its low price is on no way indicative of its playability or performance. The price might collapse any resistance from your wife. I have one (was playing it last night as it happens), bought [u]after playing them[/u] quite frequently and realising just how good they are, and for so little money I couldn't not. Not said out of any misplaced ownership pride. My AF510 is complimentary to my two other acoustics including a Yamaha APX600 I've had for just over a year now that I am still delighted with. That's my datum for basis of 'user friendliness' comparison, which is accolade indeed for Cort and their venerable AF510. The suffix E of the one in the first vid above is just the pre-amp fitted version. Acoustically they sound the same.

Everything about this little beauty, especially its neck profile, fingerboard radius, string spacing, scale length, nut width, action is friendly, and its mahogany body renders a bright but warm tone with superb projection for its full Concert body size. You could easily pay triple its price for something not near as good. If you can afford to go there, or with something truly equivalent, it may address what you're struggling with if the cause is the Dread's length, bulk, and (CofG) balance. Truly, IDK why anyone less than 6'6" with proportionate arm and finger lengths would ever opt for a Dread in the age of onboard pre-amps, affordable amplification, the PA mixer. Certainly not for home use or learning. Large auditorium for acoustic only or mic'd projection of fingerstyle or pure acoustic country/folk festival perhaps.

May be a viable solution for your circumstance? Cheers. 🤔