As you can see, I kept the guitar’s electronics simple. Gold Lace Sensor pickups are at the neck and bridge position with a 3 position Gibson style switch to control them. I opted for a single volume control with no tone control although there is room to add one later on. Finally, the output jack is surface mounted so that it isn’t in the way when sitting in classical position. The guitar will be complete once I…

• adjust it for intonation
• adjust the pickup height
• make a control cavity cover
• shield and wire the control cavity

Here are a couple of full views – front and back:

Once I complete the remaining tasks, it will be time to start planning the next build…

Here are posts on the rest of my first guitar project:

• Danish Oil Finish Applied
• Control Cavity and Pickup Routes Complete
• Guitar Belly Contour and Forearm Cut Complete
• Guitar Neck and Steinberger Bridge First Test!
• Guitar Neck Pocket Complete
• Guitar Bridge and Neck Arrived
• Guitar Body Flush Trimmed and Edges Rounded Over
• Cutting Out The Ergonomic Guitar
• Making The Ergonomic Guitar Template
• Project Guitar Topic Thread: First Project Attempt – Ergonomic Guitar

Before starting the finish, I had a few small dents in the guitar body that I wanted to address. I used a heated soldering iron along with a damp cloth placed over the spot to raise the wood. That worked well and went quickly. Then I finished sanding with 150 grit.

Applying the Danish Oil was simple. I followed the instructions on the container to apply generously, rewetted any areas that dried and allowed that to sit for about 30 minutes. Then I reapplied, waited about 15 minutes and wiped dry. Finally, I let it dry overnight.

The next day, I applied one more coat and let it dry overnight as well.

Overall, I like the results. I like the color and the smooth feel. The finish dries in the wood so it should hold up fine to normal wear and tear. However, it isn’t a hard coat so its not intended to stand up to a lot of abuse. For those of you who are into relicing guitars, consider it pre-reliced.

The real advantage though is that it is easily reapplied and renewed when necessary. BTW – Danish Oil comes in a variety of shades. I chose the “natural” finish but as you can see, it definitely changed the color of the wood so test on scraps before applying. The end result is something of a butterscotch.

More on my first guitar project:

• Guitar Build – Control Cavity and Pickup Routes Complete
• Guitar Build – Belly Contour and Forearm Cut Complete
• Guitar Build – Neck and Steinberger Bridge in Place for First Test!
• Guitar Build – Neck Pocket Complete
• Guitar Build – Bridge and Neck Have Arrived
• Guitar Build – Guitar Body Flush Trimmed and Edges Rounded Over
• Cutting Out The Ergonomic Guitar
• Making The Ergonomic Guitar Template
• Project Guitar Topic Thread: First Project Attempt – Ergonomic Guitar

For the pickup cavities, I made a pickup template out of MDF by forming a rectangle to the dimensions of the pickup. I took advantage of the fact that the router bit can’t get into the corners which results in radiused corners for the pickup cavities. There was no need to complicate the template by trying to radius its corners as well.

Before starting the control cavity, I chose the locations of the controls and used Forstner bits to drill through the top of the guitar body and out the back. The holes then provided a point of reference for the location of the control cavity. I made a control cavity template by gluing up scrap pieces of MDF into the shape I wanted. Once again, I took advantage of the fact that the router bit would leave radiused corners.

The guitar body with all of its routing complete now weighs a mere 3 lb 2 oz. Next up is applying the Danish oil finish.

More on my first guitar build:

• Belly Contour and Forearm Cut Complete
• Guitar Neck and Steinberger Bridge in Place for First Test!
• Neck Pocket Complete
• Guitar Bridge and Neck Have Arrived
• Guitar Body Flush Trimmed and Edges Rounded Over
• Guitar Body Cut Out
• Making The Ergonomic Guitar Template
• Project Guitar Topic Thread: First Project Attempt – Ergonomic Guitar

The electric guitar build is proceeding well – the forearm cut and belly contour are complete. In addition, the angled lower strap button area is done.

For the belly contour I used a combination of an 80 grit sanding disc on an electric drill to take away the bulk of the material followed by hand sanding to smooth it out and round over the edges. A number of builders use an angle grinder to achieve the same effect. However, not being experienced with one, I opted for a slower approach.

For the forearm cut, I clamped a straight piece of wood at an appropriate spot so that I wouldn’t sand too far into the face of the guitar. Then I used the sanding disc and hand sanding to complete the task.

Note that finish sanding remains.

More on my first guitar project:

Guitar Build – Neck and Steinberger Bridge in Place for First Test!

Guitar Build – Neck Pocket Complete

Guitar Build – Bridge and Neck Have Arrived

Guitar Build – Guitar Body Flush Trimmed and Edges Rounded Over

Cutting Out The Ergonomic Guitar

Making The Ergonomic Guitar Template

Project Guitar Topic Thread: First Project Attempt – Ergonomic Guitar

Last night, I completed the bridge route, mounted the Steinberger bridge, reattached the neck and strung up the guitar for the first time. There are some minor cosmetic issues around the bridge route area but no functional issues whatsoever. String alignment looks good as well.

I strummed it a bit last night but allowed the neck to settle in over night since it hadn’t been under tension for several weeks. This morning I picked it up, tuned it up and tried it out. I was happy with the results. Strummed acoustically, the guitar is rather loud – a good indication that the bridge and neck are solid. Despite still needing a final set up, the action was good as well. There was a bit of buzzing on a couple of strings which will go away once the bridge saddles are adjusted as part of final steps in the assembly.

From an ergonomic perspective, I’m thrilled with the results. I prefer a classical sitting position and the guitar’s geometry places the neck at an upward angle with absolutely no effort from the player. It literally sits in the lap in an appropriate position. Meanwhile, the right arm gets great support from the expansive upper bout area without getting in the way.

BTW – Much of the contouring is near completion including the forearm cut and belly contour. I’ll play around with the guitar over the next several days before deciding whether they need any further shaping. Based on my initial impressions, I think the belly contour is good but I may increase the angle on the forearm cut. I’m also looking at thinning out the neck joint to make upper fret play easier. Based on my research, I have the opportunity to thin this out quite a bit. As it stands, its already thinner than a typical Klein since I began with a .25″ thinner body and made use of ferrules rather than a neck plate. However, I’m still working that out. Final contouring will be the subject of its own post.

One final note – since weight is an important factor as well, I thought I’d make a note of it. The guitar, in its present state, now weighs a mere 6 lb 1 oz! Still remaining are pickup and control cavity routing so the guitar is on its way to a completed weight in the low 6 lb range. The lightest production guitar I’ve come across is the Yamaha RGXA2 at 5.5 lb.

More on my first guitar project:

• Guitar Build – Neck Pocket Complete
• Guitar Build – Bridge and Neck Have Arrived
• Guitar Build – Guitar Body Flush Trimmed and Edges Rounded Over
• Cutting Out The Ergonomic Guitar
• Making The Ergonomic Guitar Template
• Project Guitar Topic Thread: First Project Attempt – Ergonomic Guitar

Here is the setup I used to make the neck pocket. It’s derived from Martin Koch’s Building Electric Guitars.

A few passes with the DEWALT 2.25 hp Router and the neck pocket is complete:

Although the jig worked, it took more time to set up than I would have liked. This is no reflection on the idea but simply a matter of not having enough clamps on hands. For the future, rather than purchase additional clamps, I will build this neck pocket jig designed by David Myka of Myka Guitars:

This should reduce setup time and ensure a stable base from which to work. And, BTW, if you are not familiar with Myka Guitars, take a look. David does beautiful work!

More on my first guitar project:

• Guitar Build – Bridge and Neck Have Arrived
• Guitar Build – Guitar Body Flush Trimmed and Edges Rounded Over
• Cutting Out The Ergonomic Guitar
• Making The Ergonomic Guitar Template
• Project Guitar Topic Thread: First Project Attempt – Ergonomic Guitar

I had briefly contemplated building the neck but decided against it. The most important aspect of this guitar build is producing a playable ergonomic guitar. I decided that building a neck would push this out too far. Neck building will have to wait until I have had the opportunity to review potentially beneficial features.

That said, I proceeded to dismantle the Musicyo Steinberger removing its neck (with headpiece) and bridge. I then began taking measurements in preparation for the routing needed for the neck and bridge. I also spent time drawing in contour lines and a center line.

As weight is an important factor (see Important Elements For An Ergonomic Guitar), I weighed the major components of the guitar. Here are the results:

Neck (including headpiece) – 1 lb 4.6 oz
Bridge – 1 lb 5.1 oz
Body – 3 lb 12.6 oz

I’m particularly happy with the weight of the guitar body. By comparison a lightweight Strat body is about 4 lb with most bodies weighing in around 5 lb. At this stage, the only action I’ve taken to reduce weight has been to begin with a body blank that is .25 inches thinner than the standard 1.75″ body blank. I would have considered going thinner but I was limited by the depth of the bridge route required for the R-trem bridge. The body will become even lighter once I route for the bridge, neck, control cavity and pickups. Comfort contours will also cut weight.

Finally, I took a moment to clamp on the neck and sit the guitar in my preferred classical position. I was happy to find that it balances well needing no support from my hands in order to sit in my lap with the neck angled up. It was also comfortable in conventional playing position.

My next steps are routing the neck pocket and bridge area and then test fitting the neck and bridge. Once complete, I will move on to the remaining routing and shaping.

More on my first guitar project:

• Guitar Build – Guitar Body Flush Trimmed and Edges Rounded Over
• Cutting Out The Ergonomic Guitar
• Making The Ergonomic Guitar Template
• Project Guitar Topic Thread: First Project Attempt – Ergonomic Guitar

Here is the latest on my guitar build – the guitar body is flush trimmed and I’ve radiused all the edges with a 5/16″ round over bit. The body sits on my homemade router table with the DEWALT 2.25 hp Router under it. Here is a closeup of the guitar body:

Tools

Here is the list of tools I used:

• 2″ cut length flush trim bit I could have used a pattern bit but with the bearing on the bottom rather than the top, I didn’t feel it was as safe as a flush trim bit. The flush trim bit only exposes as much of the cutting edge as is necessary unlike the pattern bit which exposes the entire cutting surface. I purchased the bit from MLCS.
• DEWALT 2.25 hp Router – The quality is excellent, the height adjustment mechanism is smooth and installing router bits is fast and simple.
• Router table – I decided to build my own and I’m glad I did. Not only was it inexpensive to build but it is very solid (unlike the cheaper bench top models on the market) and it gave me another opportunity to work with the router. The materials list is very simple. It includes a 2×4 sheet of oak veneered plywood, a handful of drywall screws and plain pine for the feet to provide a clamping surface. The whole thing cost just a few dollars.
• Safety goggles or glasses – This is imperative. Routers bits spin at tens of thousands of RPM’s. A bit that catches can send a dangerous piece of debris toward your eyes.
• Respirator – The whole process kicks up a TREMENDOUS amount of wood dust and chips. Protect your lungs.
• Vacuum – The vacuum not only picks up some of the heavier debris, it reduces the amount of airborne dust.

Safety

As a beginning woodworker, I thought long and hard about safety and came up with the following for myself:

• Don’t work with the router unless you are focused on the work – That means being alert and working in an environment devoid of distractions.
• Always be conscious of where your hands are relative to the cutting surface – It doesn’t take much to end up with mangled hands.
• Always maintain visibility – Stop frequently to clear away dust and chips.
• Disconnect the router whenever it’s not in use – stopping to clear away debris, stepping away, examining progress, changing bits etc.

To improve safety, I will be adding a fence with a dust collection port and a guard over the bit.

The Process

Here was my “script” for working on this phase of the guitar build:

• Screw the template to the body – Locate the screws where the holes will be hidden or routed away. I chose a future pick up position and the future bridge route position.
• Make sure the router mount is solid – Vibration will loosen the screws holding it. Check it before starting any work. Besides issues of safety, it ensures an accurate cut.
• Set the router bit to the appropriate height.
• Put on eye protection.
• Put on the respirator.
• Plug in the router.
• Start the router.
• Route from right to left, smoothly and steadily taking off small amounts at a time – do not put excessive pressure on the piece to push it into the router bit. Allow it to do its job.

While flush trimming, I had an accident on the upper bout. The cutting edge caught the body, tearing out a chunk and fracturing a section of the edge over a span of about 2″. Fortunately, I was able to repair this with hide glue and a well-placed clamp. Once it dried, I used wood filler to fill in gaps. The repair restored the lines of the design. If this hadn’t worked, plan B was to slice off the damaged section, glue on a piece from the left over scrap and re-work the area. The only visible sign on the face of the guitar body is a glue stain.

All in all, I’m very happy with the results. It’s actually starting to look like a guitar.

My next steps are the neck and pickguard. Coming into this phase of the project, I had considered purchasing a low end Steinberger and using its neck. However, I’m encouraged by my success to date so I will attempt to build one instead. As far as the pickguard, I don’t care for the original design so I will design my own. Stay tuned.

More on my first guitar project:

• Cutting Out The Ergonomic Guitar
• Making The Ergonomic Guitar Template
• Project Guitar Topic Thread: First Project Attempt – Ergonomic Guitar

I was a bit concerned with this step. My first thought was that I would have to cut very close to the tracing. Not being particularly skillful with a jigsaw, I knew this would be problematic. I then turned to the fine folks at Project Guitar Forum for advice. Their suggestion was to leave extra material all around which the router would later remove during the flush trimming step.

With that in mind, I left approximately ½” of material all the way around. Below is the body after the initial rough cut with a jigsaw:

I then used a four in one file to smooth the rough shape. Here is the body after some clean up work:

To further illustrate where I left off with this step, here is the template sitting on top of the body:

This step took about an hour and, overall, I’m happy with the results. However, I had to angle the template on the body blank in order to fit the dimensions of the Klein body. Typically, you want the grain to run lengthwise and this hadn’t occurred to me when looking into body blanks. That said I’m not concerned with the slight angle. Other guitar makers have had to do this in order to fit certain shapes onto available blanks and suffered no ill effects. I even found one guitar builder, Byrd Guitars, which intentionally runs the grain at an angle.

Now, onto the next step – routing the guitar body flush.

More on my first guitar project:

• Making The Ergonomic Guitar Template
• Project Guitar Topic Thread: First Project Attempt – Ergonomic Guitar

When I undertook this guitar project earlier this year, one of the things I spent a great deal of time on was tracking down how to make a template. It took a combination of searching and asking questions on the Project Guitar forum to get a sense of where to start. Given that, I thought it would be helpful to other newcomers to document a bit of the process. Hopefully, it will prove useful to someone.

The first thing, of course, was obtaining some sort of guitar plan. With some of the more popular guitars (such as the Les Paul and the Stratocaster), plans in AutoCAD format (DWG and DXF files) are commonly available. Guitar plans are sometimes available in other formats as well such as Adobe Acrobat (PDF files). You may even be able to purchase templates from an outfit like GuitarBuildingTemplates.com. Others exist as well.

In cases where none exist, some have taken an image, determined a known distance on the guitar such as a neck width, scale length, or bridge dimension and used that to scale up the image to the appropriate size.

In my case, I was fortunate enough to find that Steve Klein, the designer of the Klein Electric Guitar, had published a plan available from The Guild of American Luthiers so I started there.

A more recent alternative is provided by Eric Olds who drew up Klein based guitar plans and made them publicly available through BTEG. See Eric Olds Klein Electric Guitar Project – Part 1 and Eric Olds Klein Electric Guitar Project – Part 2 for the plans.

The second thing I had to determine was a means of transferring the plan drawing onto the template material. I came across a number of ideas including tracing the image onto the drawing. This particular idea called for scribbling all over the back of the drawing in ink and using that to transfer an impression onto the template material by tracing over the lines of the drawing. That seemed unnecessarily sloppy and introduced the first opportunity to deviate from the actual plan – hand tracing the pattern. Instead, the idea that seemed most straightforward was to simply glue the plan to the template material so that’s what I did. I obtained a container of spray adhesive, sprayed it all over the template material and carefully laid down the plan onto it working slowly from one edge to the other to avoid wrinkles.

Third, I had to determine what sort of template material to use. Templates are made from a variety of materials including plywood, acrylic and MDF. After reading about them, I chose MDF because I felt it was the easiest for the inexperienced. Here are some of its advantages:

MDF is completely uniform with no grain to worry about and no knots in the material to throw you.
MDF cuts easily. A jigsaw run at low speeds makes clean cuts and is easy to control.
MDF files and sands easily resulting in a smooth edge with a relatively small effort.

The next steps involved actually cutting out and shaping the guitar template.

First, I clamped down the template at the edge of a table using Irwin Quick Clamps which I HIGHLY recommend. These are easily removed and put back in a new position in just a few seconds. How you clamp, is also important. Don’t let too much of the template overhang the table otherwise the flexible material will move up and down as you try to work with it. Expose only a portion of the template at a time and rotate it often to give yourself the best angle at working a particular edge.

Second, I used a jigsaw to rough cut the template. Jigsaws have two modes of operation – an orbital action (sort of the “default”) and a straight up and down action. You WANT the straight up and down action. The orbital motion will cut a wider path, so to speak, and you are trying to do careful work. Turn it off. Next keep in mind that the jigsaw blade is VERY flexible. You want to focus on keeping the jigsaw perpendicular to the surface of the work in hand so that you keep the edge relatively square to the top of the template. When cutting curves, it’s important to take it slowly so that you don’t bend the blade. It’s better to make several shorter cuts than to try to follow a curve from beginning to end. The likelihood is that you will either throw your cut completely off square or you will gouge out a chunk and have to start again. All that said I came to about 1/8″ of the lines on the plan. Those who are better skilled can certainly strive for closer which makes the subsequent filing and sanding easier.

Third, I used a 4-in-1 file to remove material and approach the lines on the drawing. I started with its rougher surfaces to take off more material and switched to its finer surfaces as I got closer to the lines of the drawing. I used relatively short strokes to avoid gouging the MDF and to help me keep the tool parallel to the surface of the template for a square edge.

Fourth, I used 80 grit sandpaper to finish once I had gotten very close to the lines on the plan – say about 1/16″.

All the while, it’s important to never lose sight of the lines on the drawing which means two things. First, you have to keep getting rid of the sanding dust. Second, I used a sanding block with high grit paper to keep the drawing’s edges clean. As I filed and sanded the edges, the paper would become a bit furry which would make it difficult to see the lines. I stopped periodically to clean up the lines with a few light flicks of the sanding block being careful just to clean up the edge and not take off the lines.

One other thing I found useful in determining the fairness of the template’s curves was simply turning it over and inspecting it from the back. This let my eye focus on the fairness of the curves rather than the drawing which I felt might give me a false impression. In my case, it turned out to be useful in cleaning up a surface or two.

In the end, it took me approximately 2.5 hours to complete the second template vs. the 1 hour it took me for the first attempt. I am so much happier with the overall results that I’m glad I spent the time on it.

I’ve found a couple of problem areas. One is in the upper bout area where I sanded the curve of the bout a bit too flat. The second one is in the lower bout area where it sits on the leg – I took off a bit too much in one section. Its not terribly obvious but its worth the experience to make another one and shoot for a bit higher quality.

With that in mind, I’m looking to make another go of it this weekend. Hopefully, this one will be the one and I can begin the process of making the guitar body…

UPDATE 07.27.2006 – MLCS router bits received!

In addition, I am very pleased with the blank itself and the quality of the ALLPARTS items I ordered from them. I look forward to my next opportunity to order from Mammoth Guitars and I highly recommend them based on my experience.

I don’t want to count on this level of success going forward (beginner’s luck?) so I’m now considering the use of a pickguard or scratch plate.

A pickguard simplifies things quite a bit. First, it simplifies routing. Rather than use a rear routed layout, which requires both front and rear routing, a pickguard only requires front routing. A good choice would be a universal route also referred to as a “bathtub route”. This would make it easy to switch to different pickups at a later point. Second, it simplifies fit and finish because the route is hidden by the pickguard. I don’t have to worry about the routing being terribly precise. Third, a pickguard typically screws onto the face of the guitar which eliminates the concern of recessing a control cover for a rear cavity.

The Klein uses a pickguard but its not the solution I’m looking for. The original pickguard only deals with the neck and middle pickups. As a result, its still a combination of both rear and front routing. That defeats my purpose so I have to explore a new pickguard design.

I’ve been looking at different designs and so far these two hold promise:

I really like the flowing lines of the pickguard on this Andreas Shark and the fact that it does not wrap around either the bridge or the neck.

Meanwhile, the Musicman Silhouette Electric Guitar simply and elegantly covers my requirement of incorporating pickups, switch and knobs into the pickguard. The likelihood is that I will combine elements from each to arrive at my pickguard.

A pickguard also contributes to the aesthetics of the guitar but that is another matter…

I also ordered several guitar parts from them as well. They are an ALLPARTS dealer and Douglas Jordan has been great to work with.

Among the bits and pieces ordered are the following:

• Chrome neck ferrules
• Schaller nickel strap pins (I already own a Schaller strap lock)
• Black pickguard blank
• Black Gibson style speed knobs
• Kahler chrome locking clamp
• .001 capacitors
• .02 capacitors
• 3-way Gibson style toggle switch with black knob
• Switchcraft 1/4″ output jack

UPDATE 03.16.2006 – Everything arrived yesterday – many thanks to Douglas at Mammoth Guitars!
UPDATE 03.10.2006 – Mammoth Guitars shipped today.
UPDATE 03.07.2006 – They will ship Thursday.

Here is the Project Guitar topic thread from earlier today announcing my guitar project idea:

In terms of designs, I have an interest in both ergonomic guitars and headless guitars. I’ve done a lot of research and the Klein Electric is one of the more ergonomic designs out there. Here is an example of Colin Kaminski playing the Klein he built while working for Steve Klein (the image is from Colin Kaminski’s site) who was the original owner and designer of the Klein Electric. The body balances well both standing and sitting. It is particularly suited for playing in a sitting position because the neck naturally falls at an angle. It also provides substantial support for the right arm. Unfortunately, an original is largely out of my reach for two reasons. First, its builder has been incapable of keeping up with orders. There are people now waiting two or more years according to a number of posters to the Klein Electric Guitars Group over at Yahoo.com. Second, even used ones are fetching $5000. That’s about $4999 more than I currently have. Therefore, this brings me to my first project attempt. I’ve decided to attempt to recreate one. The primary inspiration for this goes to Jason Fink who showed it was possible. More recently, Francis Lannie began a similar project and has shown good progress.

The following are my major considerations for the direction of the project:

1. Simplicity – I’m a big believer in “form follows function”. Some would say I’d have to be since the Klein shape is one of those love it or hate it designs. I also have little in the way of woodworking skills so the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle is in effect.
2. Low cost – I have Fender Lace pickups already lying around from a long defunct Fender Strat Plus. I will also “borrow” the Steinberger licensed bridge from my Hohner headless.
3. Ergonomics – Apart from the shape itself, I’m also looking to keep weight down. To help meet this goal, I decided on a 1.5″ thick alder body blank. I would have gone thinner – I love the Black Machine super thin guitars – but I’m limited by the depth of the Steinberger licensed bridge.

As far as specifics, I’ve decided to go with the following:

1. Alder body 1.5″ thick
2. Bolt on neck – I’m not building the neck.
3. Fender Lace pickups in neck and bridge position
4. Control layout – Single volume, single tone and 3-position switch with a guitar face mounted output jack.
5. Wipe on finish – I’m considering tinted Danish oil or just black shellac like Myka’s beautiful work as seen here: http://www.mykaguitars.com/instruments/031/default.htm. I’m leaning toward black. I love black. Not only does it go with my minimalist approach, it also goes with my wardrobe.
6. Headless design – I’ll use a Kahler behind-the-nut locking clamp (rather than the standard headpiece seen on Steinberger designs) on a regular neck converted to headless duty.

For Mickguard’s sake, I haven’t ruled out a pickguard BUT I haven’t come up with a shape I like. The standard Klein pickguard doesn’t work for me. If I’m going to commit to a pickguard, then the knobs, pickups and output jack (conventional type not a strat type) should all mount to the pickguard. The standard Klein layout is a combination (I would say mish mash) of both pickguard and rear routed forms. It has to be one or the other. I welcome all comments and suggestions. I’m particularly curious about your thoughts on control layout and appropriate pickguard designs/layouts. Wish me luck…

For my first project, I intend to build a Klein-like electric guitar. For those unfamiliar with this design, the Klein (seen to the left) is considered one of the most ergonomic guitar designs. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to come by. First, the builder has been experiencing problems building them. Some customers have been waiting over two years with little contact from the builder. For further details, see the Klein Electric Guitar Group at Yahoo Groups. Second, even used ones are selling for $5000 – or about $4999 more than I have available at the moment.

My interest in ergonomic designs has been fueled by my desire to learn to play the guitar. For that, I have my wonderful wife to thank. Back in my early twenties I made a failed attempt. I can blame many things for not having pursued it but ultimately I can only blame myself. Over the years I never mustered the energy to return to it. However, back in August 2005, my wife Sakinah gave me an Applause round back acoustic – a guitar which she knew I was interested in. Since then, my interest returned and my wife has been nothing but supportive. Thus, I dedicate my practice and these explorations of guitar design to my wife without whom I would not have returned to the guitar. Thank you, babe.

I became interested in ergonomic designs due to my suffering pain while trying to play with proper form. I’ve suffered from chronic back pain over the years and this fueled my desire to find a better way. I have largely overcome much of this discomfort through various means but the idea of a more comfortable guitar stuck with me.

This led to a great deal of research into the ergonomics of the guitar. I invested several months and came up with a great deal of information. For example, the idea that the shape of the guitar was not exactly ideal was nothing new. It was something that had been written about over the last couple of centuries specifically as it related to classical guitar. This led me to explore further until I discovered the Klein electric as well as a number of other ergonomic designs and features.

I have no intention of ripping off the Klein. I have no intention of misrepresenting it as a Klein. It is solely for my personal use. In that way it is no different than any of the countless copies and replicas that amateur guitar builders build in their own quests for the perfect guitar. I am just interested in exploring the idea of improved ergonomic designs for the guitar and the Klein happens to be considered one of the more ergonomic designs available.

After working through this project, I may find that the Klein is the ultimate shape. More than likely, I will find that it is just one of many variations that better suit the human body when compared to the Fenders and Gibsons of the world.