Key spacing, at least on standard typewriters, is fairly standard regardless of make/model, usually around 17 cm pinky-to-pinky on the home bank. The keys themselves can vary in size though, which might have an effect on your comfort and use. 

You haven't indicated where you're located in the world, but the Olympia SG1 is available in many countries and is considered by many collectors to be one of the best typewriters ever made. More important its keys are spring cushioned, which might be a benefit for you.

Thanks, Uwe. Sort of along that line of thinking, I bought a nice looking SG1 this morning for $50. I hope it arrives without major problems, I'm probably not ready to dive into one of those yet. Out of curiosity I just measured the Microsoft keyboard I'm writing this on, and it's 20 cm from the left side of the "A" to the right side of the semicolon. That additional 3 cm feels significant, at least to my fingers. I hope the SG1 is at least a little roomier than the SM9, which is really butter-smooth to type on (once my brain gets past that long stroke), but on it my fingertips almost touch each other when on the home keys, and that drives me batty. 

I have a Remington noiseless and this is actually one of the things I notice most when using it. The keys seem to spaced a little farther from each other than on other machines. 
It could be a function of my own hand size, my typing style, etc, but I notice it every time.

It's this one here.

picker77 wrote:

... I just measured the Microsoft keyboard I'm writing this on, and it's 20 cm from the left side of the "A" to the right side of the semicolon.

​
​I wonder if your keyboard is wider than normal. My PC keyboard is 18.5 cm using your measurement parameters, which not surprisingly happens to be exactly the same for the SG1.

schyllerwade wrote:

... Remington noiseless ... The keys seem to spaced a little farther from each other than on other machines.

​They aren't. Pinky-to-pinky (center to center) it's 17.5 cm just like on most machines. The keys on that model are a little smaller than on some other typewriters so maybe that's giving you the impression they're spaced further apart.
machines.

picker77 wrote:

I have a little Coronet Automatic 10 portable (with Elite typeface, don't know where they got the "10" from) ... maybe I've just outlived using manual typewriters.

​The '10' most likely indicates the width of the platen (there was a '12' version too).

​As for the rest of your comments, I can only suggest that you have a little patience. How many years have you been typing using a computer keyboard? It's simply what you're used to. With manual typewriters technique is key (pun intended), and good technique will come with use. It doesn't matter how much you used to use a typewriter; the electronic keyboard has unlearned all of that by now.

Given enough time and use you will become accustomed to using almost any manual typewriter - and become comfortable with its action and the feel of its keyboard. I use manual machines daily, and far more often than a computer keyboard, and actually prefer the more tactile experience of a mechanical machine than one gets from tapping those cheap, little plastic keys used to input text on a computer.