Ergonomic guitars (Was: Buying/commissioning knockoffs)

[mathias]

I think the footstool is probably going to be my immediate fix. I can’t cross my legs because I tap my left foot and I’d start bouncing everything.

[mathias]

Should’ve just called this an ergonomic guitars thread and not brought up my consideration of getting a knockoff.

What other guitar ergonomics stuff is out there?

[goroth]

Maybe using a pick like a gravity pick or some of the new funky looking ones will make your picking hand relax a bit?

I'm also a fan of standing up to play. Once you get used to it it's pretty good, and if your guitar is balanced well it can at least be a way of varying your body position while playing, and at best be something that is more ergonomic in its own right. If you're just playing at home you can DIY a Steve Harris shoulder strap and really reduce the stress on your shoulder. Or you could go totally bonkers and get one of these: https://www.richterstraps.com/screen/pa ... anguage/en

But yeah, a classical guitar foot rest is a good investment.

[mathias]

Standing is a good point. I think as soon as I got a decent chair in my practice space I defaulted to just sitting. As described earlier, this doesn’t work with every guitar body for me (Strat size body in particular), with recent injuries.

Luckily, I think my left wrist is coming back. I just have a tiny bit of pain towards the elbow left when I use my left hand for things. I stopped using a wrist brace, because it actually lets my hand bend backwards which sets off the still-sore muscle. All the muscles that would pull the palm towards me benefitted from wrist braces. First I wore them 24x7 then just at night to ensure I wasn’t sleeping funny on it. Sharing this here just in case it helps someone.

Being a cheapskate, I’m actually just using a Boss Katana battery amp as a foot raiser for now. I may invest in an actual foot rest soon.

[oldangelmidnight]

I recently adjusted my strap height and I'm finding it a very different ergonomic situation for my left wrist. It was a bit of a surprise.
Having the guitar higher meant easier access to the higher frets but more strain on my left hand when playing in first position.
Lowering the guitar meant I could get to the lower frets at a more comfortable angle but it makes playing the lower strings up the neck harder.

[mathias]

Quick follow up: I am not familiar with the gravity picks, but I did a bit of research this morning and impulse bought some new picks from https://bogstreet.com/ since I’ve literally been working my way through an Altoids tin of 100 Jazz IIs for years now and could probably use a change. Other suggestions to try are welcome.

(It is my left hand / fretting hand and my right shoulder that seem to be the main complaints lately. Maybe better pick will help my shoulder, but I think that has more to do with sitting and playing a Strat sized body, personally.)

[niftyprose]

Pick recommendations are problematic because everyone has their own preferences, but I really dig Hell Super Blacks:

https://www.hellparts.com/super-blacks-picks.html

These are direct-from-the-factory knockoffs of those high-end picks made from a material that impersonates tortoiseshell, complete with permanent slightly greasy slipperiness. I got into them when I was playing mostly mandolin (which can be very clicky with the wrong pick) and now won't play anything else.

I'd guess that they might be good for in a recovery strategy because they're, ah, substantial but don't slow you down.

Best, NP

[John Matrix]

Neck thickness seems to be the issue for me. I didn't even think about it until I got something with a thinner neck (Jackson) after playing an LP style guitar for a long time. The thinner neck forces me to pinch a lot more when playing chords and my hand and forearm get really cramped up after a while. Also, the guitar itself is a crazy shape which makes it hang in a totally different place when I stand.

[mathias]

Thinking about trying a short scale guitar with a lighter/smaller body and just standing up. We'll see how it goes, I've got a 60's student guitar that fits the bill (plywood body! LOL. But it sounds great because teh faux-Bigsby trem gives it a ton of mass at the bridge.) but might also try to get someone to build me something.

[backwardsvoyager]

I may have bought a Strandberg Sälen..

They have a local distro now, and 2 week free return policy, so I figured I'd take the dive.

Will post my thoughts once it arrives if anybody is curious about 'em.

[mathias]

I haven’t heard anything bad about Strandbergs yet in terms of design, finish and setup, setup etc.

The complaints I hear are about pickups (different folks, different spokes, also — different genres require more or less output and your opinion on how expensive and handmade your pickups should be seems to vary from person to person.)

And the only other being generic headless guitar issues: tuning it and/or setting it up with new strings, not being able to hang it on most guitar hangers, minor stuff.

[backwardsvoyager]

This one will have Suhr Alnico V tele pickups. The humbuckers they use on the other models never sounded that nice to me in demos, but these seem promising.

It's probably just the neck shape that will make it or break it for me. I tend to play with my thumb wrapped over the top edge of the fretboard and I've heard conflicting reports as to whether the endurneck accomodates that well. Time will tell.

[mathias]

Yeah, the guitars with the Suhr pickups are nice. They’re also all the more expensive models.

[fcknoise]

This one will have Suhr Alnico V tele pickups. The humbuckers they use on the other models never sounded that nice to me in demos, but these seem promising.

It's probably just the neck shape that will make it or break it for me. I tend to play with my thumb wrapped over the top edge of the fretboard and I've heard conflicting reports as to whether the endurneck accomodates that well. Time will tell.

I've played a guitar loaded with some suhr pickups, and they sounded fantastic. But then again, so did probably the amp and the pedals I played so

[backwardsvoyager]

Strandberg arrived today. Actually really impressed right off the bat.

The EndurNeck took basically no adjustment at all. It kind of just conforms to the joints of your thumb, with the pad resting on a flat plane instead of a curve. Really stunned with how natural it feels. Smooth and fast like a shredder neck yet way thicker.

The multi-scale threw me way off at first, and certain chord shapes seem to require more stretching, but the more I play the less unnatural it feels

Tuning stability, intonation, note separation/clarity is wicked good. Frets/nut etc are flawless. Pots feel nice and have a nice smooth sweep. Thing sounds like a tele but a bit louder and clearer/more 'hi-fi'. The bridge hardware is solid and super comfy to palm mute against. Oh, and it's light as hell (2.4kg?).

The only cons are:
- The wood grain isn't very pretty, and the finish on the body is on par with say a MIM Fender. It would pass for MIJ/MIA quality if not for this.
- No forearm contour feels kind of odd since every other aspect of the guitar is insanely ergonomic. Minor gripe and YMMV.
(I won't complain about it being too expensive, because proprietary hardware costs / huge-ass Swedish taxes can't be helped)

I was half expecting to hate it, return it and be happy to have gotten the idea of playing one of these out of my system, but I think it's a keeper