My Guitar Build @ Building The Ergonomic Guitar

Hi Everyone! I'm new to the forum and thought I'd introduce myself along with my nearly completed first guitar build. It is based on the Klein Electric Guitar - a design noted for its ergonomics.

I became interested in ergonomic guitar design as a result of many years of chronic back pain (now largely under control) as well as my more recent development of Repetitive Strain Injury or RSI. The most common form is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome but RSI takes many shapes. As a result, I decided to explore the subject of guitar ergonomics through my blog Building The Ergonomic Guitar and through guitar building.

Taking on a guitar build was a challenge since I lacked any serious woodworking skills coming into the project. As a result, I decided to focus on the body and keep the finishing simple by using Danish oil. The neck, bridge and headpiece came off a Musicyo Steinberger purchased for the project. Despite a few flubs here and there, the guitar is quite functional and playable and I'm pleased with the results. Here is a closeup of it in its current state:

And, here is a full length view:

With the holidays now over, I'm hoping to finish the last few details and begin planning my next build.

Regards,

Robert Irizarry

That looks very comfortable.

It looks like it would hold the neck elevated. Good for lead work.

I'm gonna check out your links.

I have made guitar picks for a number of people with various hand problems.

At some point in the near future, I'll take some images with the guitar to further illustrate.

Also, I'm curious about your guitar picks. Are they similar to this from Big Rock Engineering?

Regards,

Rob

No.

At least one was a Tricorner, with a hole in the middle

and a few other people got theirs modeled on the Jack Grassel Holy Bullet.

Instead of the usual length of 1&1/8" or so, they were 1&1/2" or 1&3/4"

which doesn't sound like a big difference but is a BIG pick.

I also made one that was over 2 inches.

The combination of the large size and the hole seems to help.

Everyone was very enthusiastic about their pick.

I dreamt up a design for an ergonomic guitar, about 2 years ago.

I like to design things where the form is entirely dictated by the function.

I made it fit my leg and streamlined the other side of the guitar

Then I stumbled across the Fernandes Nomad.

It looks just like my design.

That kind of takes the wind out of your sails.

I am now planning a guitar that is very minimalist.

It has to be, because it is a thruneck of uberdense Cumaru (Brazilian Teak).

3 times as dense as Traditional Teak.

Finished guitar will probably be over 10 pounds.

The first Cumaru guitar will be a combination Fretless/Slide guitar,

just to simplify the entire project by a few magnitudes.

I worked with large pieces of cardboard and have a unique new shape.

I've already got the fingerboard

Did you make the fingerboard yourself?

That's quite impressive

Did you make the fingerboard yourself? That's quite impressive

No, I wish I could produce art like that.

That is 3 weeks work.

You have to go to Asia for that stuff.

It really goes against the character of the guitar

which is no frills... but I can't resist it.

I dreamt up a design for an ergonomic guitar, about 2 years ago. I like to design things where the form is entirely dictated by the function. I made it fit my leg and streamlined the other side of the guitar Then I stumbled across the Fernandes Nomad. It looks just like my design. That kind of takes the wind out of your sails.

The Nomad also has a similarity to the Bardophone I wrote about in the early days of my blog when I put together a post on guitars with ergonomic features - A Gallery of Ergonomic Designs.

A new guitar design sounds exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing more. Oh and that fingerboard is amazing work? Did you make that?

Regards,

Rob

Asian fingerboard.

Takes 3 weeks to make one.

I'm really into this ergonomic design.

The improved playing angle is sweet.

It looks odd... but once it's in my lap, it looks less odd.

It looks like an extension of my body.

It's like some kind of undeveloped mutant Siamese twin.

I've brought home some 12' planks of Cumaru

and I'm going to cut the rough shape this week.

1" is all the thickness I'll need or can use, due to the intense weight.

The neck, headstock and body will all be one solid carved piece of Brazilian Teak.

I have a similar experience with the Klein. It isn't what you expect but when you sit down to play it, the only thing that matters is how significantly more comfortable it is to play. I can't wait to start the next one. I already have a few ideas to improve on the already excellent ergonomics.

I'd love to see what this wood looks like. Personally, I couldn't handle that much weight in a guitar. I also wanted my build to be comfortable standing and it is while barely weighing in at 6 lbs. Four pounds can make a tremendous difference. Regardless, I'm looking forward to your build thread.

Regards,

Rob

I'm giving 'fit' and tone priority on this one

but I will be able to hollow out the back of the body,

to continue to trim weight, until just before it becomes neck heavy.

The wood is straight grain, from light to medium brown.

Weathers to a gray, outdoors and untreated.

I'll take a picture of a pedestal I made last year.

Indoors, it remains looking as it did when I first made it.

The uberdense woods only require progressively finer sanding,

until they get a beautiful sheen, that requires no finish,

other than a little beeswax maybe.

When they had to repair the Atlantic City Boardwalk, 30 years ago,

they chose Cumaru and Ipe. It's not showing much wear yet.

http://surfpick.com/hardness

Things have been a bit quiet with the last few details due to life - holidays, vacation, promotion, etc. However, I expect to finish up in the next couple of weekends and then start planning guitar build #2.

I did manage to recently upgrade the blog to new Blogger functionality which supports labeling posts. It's great because now I can have consolidated views of different subjects - click on a label and it brings up all the posts tagged as such. For example, now I have an easy way to access all the guitar build #1 posts.

Regards,

Rob

Holidays

Vacation

Promotion

These kind of distractions I could use!

Aren't the parker flys ergonomic?

How about an increased workload due to the promotion? Does that offset things a bit?

Regards,

Rob

It's been a while since I last posted but the guitar is essentially complete. I decided I didn't particularly care for the white pickups so I painted them black with a Krylon paint made for plastic. It worked out well and I think it helps pull the look of the guitar together.

Most of the build steps are documented here - guitar build #1

Regards,

Rob

I like the idea you have, but the shape is damn ugly . Looks like you found a piece of wood from an old barn and slapped a neck and some knobs on it . Sorry man, I really don't mean to be cruel or anything, but it is ugly! I would refine the looks and maybe put a more sweeping nech joint in to kind of flow things together in a more continuous line. Good luch though. Sorry, don't mean to be hurtful.

To each his own. Aesthetics are personal and the shape is certainly different. However, the main goal of the design is ergonomics which is clear from this thread as well as the build thread I included.

No offense taken over your comments but if you had even glanced through this thread and/or the build thread before commenting you would have seen...

1. The shape is not mine - its based on the Klein Electric. I intentionally based the build on a design recognized for its ergonomics which was the point of the build.

2. The various steps taken in actually building the guitar including a picture of the standard alder body blank used

3. The decision to go with a simple finish rather than layers of paint.

In the future, I will explore designing my own shape but for now this build has successfully achieved its goals.

Regards,

Rob

how heavy is it - the body looks quite big - but it could just be the pic?

interesting project tho, looks pretty slick!

Hi Everyone! I'm new to the forum and thought I'd introduce myself along with my nearly completed first guitar build. It is based on the Klein Electric Guitar - a design noted for its ergonomics. I became interested in ergonomic guitar design as a result of many years of chronic back pain (now largely under control) as well as my more recent development of Repetitive Strain Injury or RSI. The most common form is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome but RSI takes many shapes. As a result, I decided to explore the subject of guitar ergonomics through my blog Building The Ergonomic Guitar and through guitar building. Taking on a guitar build was a challenge since I lacked any serious woodworking skills coming into the project. As a result, I decided to focus on the body and keep the finishing simple by using Danish oil. The neck, bridge and headpiece came off a Musicyo Steinberger purchased for the project. Despite a few flubs here and there, the guitar is quite functional and playable and I'm pleased with the results. Here is a closeup of it in its current state: And, here is a full length view: With the holidays now over, I'm hoping to finish the last few details and begin planning my next build. Regards, Robert Irizarry

looks cool, man. i think, though, one of the main culprits in a guitar NOT being ergonomic is the flat neck. if you could pivot the neck EVEN a little bit downward toward the bottom, it would GREATLY reduce the risk of carpal tunnel. good work

It's the pic really and the headless design as well. Overall, its just over 30" long so the proportions are quite different from a conventional guitar. The overall weight is a hair over 6lb. It's an alder body which is a relatively light wood. I chose a thickness of 1.5" rather than a more conventional 1.75". And, the contouring (belly cut and forearm contour) as well as the largish control cavity all help. It was a build goal to keep it light and I'm very happy with the results.

And, thanks for the questions!

Regards,

Rob

i guess if you really wanted to go lightweight you could cavity route the body and put a cap on, super orthopedic style!

does it play well?

i cant believe i've never played a proper trans trem, i'd love to. is that what this has? it kind of looks like the model that locked but wasnt the actual trans trem as such?

i had one on a steinberger copy that i wrecked years ago. that thing was a bat...literally...think i may have had delusions of 'hot summer nights'... the tune was much easier to play on a lp that that thing. still, you could whack the bass player with it if he got in the way of my 1000ft 'over the crowd' ego ramp...result.

I've been exploring that idea as well. For this first build, I decided to work from an existing design recognized for ergonomics and then use what I learned here to explore it further.

There are several excellent examples of instruments that have taken the idea of turning down the neck in order to reduce wrist flexion. Jerome Little of Little Guitar Works, for example, builds a neck with a twist at the lowest fret that flattens out as you move up the neck. Here's a great example of a custom bass guitar he built for Xavier Padilla who suffers from tendinitis - Padilla's ergonomic electric bass guitar. I had the pleasure of discussing the design with Jerome who worked off of six months' worth of input from Xavier in order to arrive at the design.

Regards,

Rob

I've been considering a chambered body for my next build. This one weighs only 6 lb so a chambered guitar would be incredibly light weight. However, I'd have to be careful with the actual approach to avoid impacting overall instrument balance.

I'm quite happy with the way it plays. The balance is excellent, it sits well in classical or casual sitting position and the action is relatively low.

This is actually the Steinberger R-trem bridge - not the Trans Trem. The Trans Trem costs a small fortune. I ended up stripping one of the lower cost Musicyo Steinbergers for the bridge, neck and headpiece.

Regards,

Rob

cool, you've done really well there. it'd be interesting to take the idea of an ergonomic guitar as far as you can with maybe a ply body that can be used as a prototype.