Hey & welcome to GT!

Originally Posted by: alljerseystudiosnj

1) Learn to play using alternate fingers and/or better control. I suspect that there are many others with large fingers are great guitarist.[/quote]

Yes, there are. A lot of beginner guitar struggles are solved by repetitious practice. :)

Originally Posted by: gregmchir[br]2) Switch to a nylon string guitar since it has a wider fretboard. I may still need to deal with my index finger but should give me more clearance. I read that a wider spacing makes it harder to reach chords but my hands are larger as well.

[/quote]

This is a good option. Classical nylon string guitars do typically have much wider string spacing. But before you buy any guitar you should try as many as possible. Go to some music stores & explain that you are looking for guitars specifically with wide string spacing to accomodate big fingers. Try as many guitar as possible to see what feels good in your hands. It's not necessary to be able to play a lot or play well yet in order to judge this.

[quote=gregmchir][br]3) Buy a 12 string steel guitar and remove each duplicate string. Since the fretboard wider, with the extra strings removed, I would have more space between the remaining 6 strings. Is this crazy?

I'm not convinced that any given 12 string guitar will solve your problem. Many of them have the same fretboard width as other guitars, they simply cram more strings in the same space. The idea behind the 12 string is that you can adjust normal playing technique so that any finger that covers one string will also cover 2 strings.

I suppose it's possible, but seems unlikely as a solution.

[quote=gregmchir][br]4) Time to consider another stringed instrument.

Bass guitar has much wider string spacing. But I encourage you to shop for a wide neck before you give up completely on guitar.

Hope that helps! Best of success!