Klein Guitar Project Part 2 – Here’s a great Klein based guitar build by Eric Olds only made better by his inclusion of a headless tuning bridge made from off the shelf components. Eric was kind enough to also provide us with a detailed plan available for download. Don’t forget to check out Part 1.

Make Your Own Headless Guitar Tuners! – Jeff Turpin shows us several approaches to headless tuners for both acoustic and electric guitars.

Mat’s KX-Bass Guitar – Mats Erikson introduces us to his Klein bass replica – a real beauty.

Lead up to the Forshage Acoustic Guitar – Guitar player Roger Placer gives us the background on his custom built ergonomic acoustic guitar.

Forshage Acoustic Guitar – Observations – Roger Placer returns to take us on a detailed look into his Forshage acoustic.

UPDATE: As of January 14@4:58 AM, Building the Ergonomic Guitar is now online. eLUTHERIE.org is also online.

Over the next few days, you’ll see the start of this site’s next transformation. Readers will recall last February when the site migrated from Building the Ergonomic Guitar (BTEG) to eLUTHERIE.org. Things are about to change as Rick and I work toward establishing both as independent sites.

Why? Because BTEG and eLUTHERIE.org ultimately have different missions. BTEG will return as the enthusiast oriented site bringing news about ergo designs to guitar and bass players. eLUTHERIE.org will sharpen its focus teaching about instrument design innovation with an eye toward fellow instrument builders – both professional and amateur.

In the process, our current roles will change. Rick will assume full editorial control of eLUTHERIE.org and I will do the same for BTEG bringing our respective voices to each site.

So what’s next? I’ll spare you the techie details, but it boils down to this – in the next few days, eLUTHERIE will redirect to BTEG while eLUTHERIE is prepped to come online as an independent site. In the interim, all existing articles will remain on BTEG. Once eLUTHERIE.org is ready to launch, select content will be moved to the new eLUTHERIE.org.

The end result will be two great complementary sites providing you the information and news you seek. Wish us luck and stay tuned!

Photo Credit:

Strandberg’s Floyd Rose Replacement Tremolo – This was our early coverage of Ola’s lightweight headless bridge system which is now available. Learn more about Strandberg Guitar Works, from his spot in the Marketplace.

Headless Guitar Parts Resources – A continued favorite, we outline what’s available in headless guitar parts with a particular focus on bridge systems.

Xavier Padilla’s Torzal Custom Electric Bass – A collaboration between famed bassist Xavier Padilla and Jerome Little of Little Guitar Works, this custom bass does not disappoint with its innovative approach. Don’t miss this Padilla solo either.

Make Your Own Headless Guitar Tuners! – Jeff Turpin gives us a look at several approaches to creating headless tuners for both acoustic and electric guitars.

Mat’s KX-Bass Guitar – Long time reader and commenter Mats Erikson shares his wonderful Klein KX Bass replica.

Koll Guitars Multi-Scale Archtop – Learn more about the Koll headless Archtop and then watch its owner take it for a spin.

But with all of the content on the site, what did readers find most engaging? The answer lies in the 10 most popular articles of July 2008. Go have a look!

• Canton Custom Guitars Ergo 2 Complete – Details on the lovely Canton Equinox electric guitar formerly known as “Ergo 2″.
• Guitar Forums – The topics contained within the newly founded guitar forums have attracted their fair share of traffic from all over. If you haven’t already, go introduce yourself and participate in this reader driven section of BTEG.
• Strandberg’s Floyd Rose Replacement Tremolo – Ola Strandberg’s light weight Floyd Rose drop in replacement attracted a lot of interest from the Google crowd. Not only is it Floyd Rose compatible and far lighter, it also works as a headless guitar bridge.
• Romano Zambon Guitar Build – Another guitar forum favorite, Romano not only shares his guitar build with us but the plan drawing for the instrument. Since then, he’s also shared his detailed drawing of the ABM headless bridge.
• Canton Klein Custom Electric Guitar – A look at the successful mating of Rick Canton’s Klein Guitar Body Upgrade and parts from a Steinberger GLB-2S.
• Xavier Padilla’s Torzal Custom Electric Bass Guitar – Several bass guitar forums linked to this cool ergo instrument designed with input from Xavier Padilla.
• The Orchid Bass Sprouts An Unusual Neck – Our first sighting of Rick Toone’s sculpted bass guitar and its trapezoidal profile neck.
• The Forshage Hollow Body Electric Guitar – Chris Forshage’s modern take on designing guitars for the human body.
• The Most Ergonomic Electric Guitar Ever? – A custom built Torzal Twist neck meets a genuine Klein electric guitar for what might be the most ergo guitar we’ve seen to date.
• Headless Guitar Parts Resources – Focusing primarily on headless guitar bridge solutions, this continuously updated resource is a favorite month in and month out.

Content is king and there’s certainly been no lack of it. Just take a look at the Archives and see for yourself.

BTEG also underwent a major redesign and just a few weeks ago, guitar forums were added to give readers a venue for creating their own topics.

Your Resource for Ergonomic Guitar Designs

Despite the site’s polish, there’s no big company behind it – just an enthusiast’s grass roots efforts to get the word out on ergo instrument designs. But keep in mind that researching content, writing articles and maintaining the site takes time and money.

So please take a moment to think how hard it would be to find this information without BTEG and consider making a donation to support the existence and continued growth of your ergo guitar community.

Next Up

Tons. From a content perspective, there are a number of amazing projects in the works and I can’t wait to break the stories on them. From a site perspective, I’m working on several cool new features. And if you have suggestions, let’s hear them in the comments.

• The Most Ergonomic Electric Guitar Ever? – Little Guitar Works builds a Torzal Twist neck for a Klein electric guitar combining its ergo goodness with that of the Klein’s.
• Strandberg’s Floyd Rose Replacement Tremolo – As part of his vision of an ergo electric guitar, Ola Strandberg has developed this very light weight Floyd Rose replacement tremolo bridge.
• Romano Zambon Guitar Build – Romano not only shares his guitar build with us but the plan drawing he put together. More recently, he also shared his drawing of the ABM headless bridge system.
• The Forshage Hollow Body Electric Guitar – A modern interpretation of the ergo electric guitar, this Forshage model has proven very popular. The latest to be covered is the lovely Redwood Forshage with sound samples provided by its owner Mike Friedman.
• Xavier Padilla’s Torzal Custom Electric Bass Guitar – Another example of Jerome Little’s work over at Little Guitar Works, this highly custom bass for Xavier Padilla helps to address Padilla’s problems with RSI.
• Headless Guitar Design Alternative – Scott French – Scott French’s stub headstock “headless guitar solution inspired Romano’s guitar build above.
• Make Your Own Headless Guitar Tuners! – Making your own tuning keys is certainly an option when considering custom spacing or cost.
• Henry Olsen’s MaSh Acoustic Guitar – Musician Henry Olsen and luthier Dave Dearnaley arrive at this vision of an ergonomic acoustic guitar.
• The Orchid Bass Sprouts An Unusual Neck – Toone’s sculpted bass guitar design includes his unique trapezoidal profile neck.
• Headless Guitar Parts Resources – A growing list of headless guitar parts focused primarily on bridge systems.

I’m happy to announce the launch of guitar forums at BTEG. Our growing community can now start its own topics and share ideas on guitar designs, musician’s health and guitar building. You’ll enjoy fleshing out your topics with pictures and polls while taking advantage of private messaging and strong search capabilities.

No Trolls Allowed

While I’ll be a regular contributor and participant, I’ll also be responsible for making sure the forums retain the friendly and intelligent environment we’ve enjoyed on the blog. Rest assured that I will actively monitor for spam, trolls and other nuisances common to other forums. They won’t have a place here. And if you see a problem post, by all means let me know by clicking the Report button located to the right of each post.

Let’s Get Started

So register at the guitar forums and get started by telling us about yourself in Meet and Greet. Then start posting your comments and questions to the community. Let’s get the ideas brewing! Finally, to kick things off, here are a few threads to get things going:

• Bolt-on Necks Sustain More?
• Nickel Allergy and Guitarists
• Poll: Do You Play An Ergonomic Guitar?
• Please allow me to introduce myself…
• Feedback Please!

• Henry Olsen’s MaSh Acoustic Guitar – It’s not often we see radical approaches to acoustic guitar ergonomics. Fortunately, musician Henry Olsen worked with U.K. luthier Dave Dearnaley to bring this instrument to life.

  Hear it for yourself on Henry Olsen’s site. Look under the Music section for the title track “Cowboy Sari” from his new album released in MP3 format.

• Canton Custom Guitars Ergo 2 Complete – Beatiful and ergonomic, the Ergo 2 electric guitar by guitar maker Rick Canton is sure to be a popular instrument.
• Making The Klein Electric Guitar Template- This one dates back to the “early days” of BTEG when the site was mainly focused on my guitar project. I’m glad to see that folks are referencing it in their own research.
• Eric Olds Klein Electric Guitar Project – Part 2 – Along with details on his electric guitar build, Eric Olds generously provided detailed drawings of the guitar body and his own headless tuning solution.
• The Orchid Bass Sprouts An Unusual Neck – A truly unique bass guitar designed with consideration for a woman’s body, it also works great for a man’s body. It’s also our first look into Rick’s unusual trapezoidal neck profile which he continues to evolve in an upcoming instrument.
• Xavier Padilla’s Torzal Custom Electric Bass Guitar – Built for bass player and RSI sufferer Xavier Padilla, this Little Guitar Works custom bass features a unique body and the Torzal Twist neck – a design intended to reduce wrist flexion and thus the potential risk of RSI.
• The Forshage Hollow Body Electric Guitar – Chris Forshage has struck on a very successful design that has already seen a number of tonal variations through various wood and pickup choices.
• Headless Guitar Parts Resources – Looking for ideas for headless guitar tuning systems? Here’s a good place to start. It includes commercially available parts as well as DIY solutions.
• Make Your Own Headless Guitar Tuners! – Three headless tuner designs give the inventive guitar builder food for thought.
• Headless Guitar Bridge by Jon Bondy – Jon Bondy’s fixed bridge replacement for R-trem, S-trem and Trans Trem Steinberger bridges has met with high praise.

And, if you’d like to help dad through the next 18 years of sleep deprivation, you’re more than welcome to buy him a coffee or even a pot of coffee.

Cause for Celebration

All kidding aside, I realize that compared to mainstream sites, it’s a drop in the bucket. But let’s put this into perspective. We’re talking about a niche subject – a guitar blog (niche) about guitar building (niche within a niche) covering ergonomic guitars (a niche within a niche within a niche).

From this vantage point, a half million page views in just over a year is impressive. Now contrast Year 1′s 75,000 total page views to Year 2′s 500,000 and it really starts to tell a story. Clearly, folks want to know about ergonomic guitar options, word is getting out and increasing numbers are coming to find out more.

Thank You For Making It Possible

Thanks to all of BTEG’s readers for the site’s success and special thanks to the growing community of regular commenters who help drive the exchange of fresh ideas.

And thanks to everyone who has generously provided subject matter for articles. Whether it’s a guitar player on a newly commissioned instrument, a professional builder sharing a new design or interesting links and resources sent by readers, the site depends on you for its continued growth.

Finally, I thank my wonderful wife for supporting my obsession commitment to BTEG. More than anyone, she knows how much time and effort I spend researching content, corresponding with folks and tweaking the site – all to provide readers with the latest on ergonomic guitars.

Help Get the Word Out

The more people know about them, the greater the demand there’ll be for these unique designs and approaches so here are several easy ways to spread the word:

• Link to an article on your favorite guitar forum.
• Drop an email to a friend telling them about an interesting article on BTEG.
• If you’re a guitar blogger, write about what we’re doing here.
• Give a favorite article a thumbs up on Stumbleupon.
• Bookmark articles on a social bookmarking site like del.icio.us.

And if you’d like to show your support by buying me a coffee, I won’t fight you on that either.

Now What?

Good question. What do you think? Do you have ideas for new content? Does the site’s design serve you well? What would you like to see covered? Let me know.

Now… on to 1,000,000 page views!

• Form, Function & Design- In response to a reader’s questions about form vs. function, guitar builder Rick Toone recommended this book as “a masterpiece of clear thinking about the relationship between form and function.”
• Performing Arts Medicine- Recommended by reader James Martin as “the most authoritative book I found on musicians’ problems with RSIs”. The book covers guitarists and other stringed instrument players as well as vocalists and dancers from a scientific perspective.
• Playing Less Hurt- Several readers have recommended this book on musician’s health issues and their prevention. The 2006 revised edition cites 46 bookson its way to covering a wide range of musician’s injuries.

• Forshage Guitar – Black and Beautiful – Another wonderful electric guitar from Chris Forshage with figured maple top and mahogany back.
• Lace Alumitone Pickups – This radically different pickup design results in pickups which are significantly lighter than conventional ones. I know of several guitar builds that are considering them so there’ll be more to come.
• Eric Olds Klein Electric Guitar Project – Part 2 – Eric Olds not only treats us to his Klein based electric guitar build featuring Alumitone pickups but provides us with several plan drawings which include the guitar body and his own headless tuning solution.
• Xavier Padilla’s Torzal Custom Electric Bass Guitar – This Little Guitar Works custom bass for Xavier Padilla features his Torzal Twist neck which is designed to reduce wrist flexion and reduce the potential for RSI.
• Canton Custom Guitars Design #2- Custom guitar maker Rick Canton treats us to an update on one of his electric guitar designs.
• The Forshage Hollow Body Electric Guitar – Chris Forshage’s ergonomic electric guitar continues to delight readers. This was our first coverage on his fine work and certainly not our last.
• The Orchid Bass Sprouts An Unusual Neck – The Toone Guitars Orchid bass guitar shows off sculpted curves, an ergonomic guitar body and an unusual trapezoidal profile guitar neck.
• Headless Guitar Parts Resources – A crowd favorite, this article focuses on commercially available as well as DIY headless guitar bridge systems.
• Make Your Own Headless Guitar Tuners! – Three different approaches to making your own headless guitar tuners. Very interesting stuff.
• Headless Guitar Bridge by Jon Bondy – A look at a replacement fixed bridge for the Steinberger R-trem, S-trem and Trans-trem tremolo bridges by machinist Jon Bondy.

Threaded comments make conversations in the comments section easier to follow. Rather than have one long list of undifferentiated comments, you can now reply to a specific comment and have your comment nest itself underneath – making it clear that you are responding to that particular reader.

Many of you may remember threaded comments from before the recent redesign but styling and functional concerns with the old code prevented me from including them at the time. Thanks to the WordPress Thread Comment plugin, they’re back.

For a couple of examples, check out the comments section on The Hohner EGS Electric Guitar and Eight (8) Ways to Combat Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Or see this post’s comments section for examples. And don’t be shy. Give them a try!

And if you’re in the market for guitar parts, please take a look. Every Monday, their home page features a Deal of the Week and all orders over $99 ship free.

While you’re there, take a look at their new line of Tesla pickups – ranging from single coil to humbucker, passive to active. For example, check out the Tesla VR-Extreme Humbucker with more information on the line throughout their site.

Here are the most popular articles for the month of March. Take a look – did you miss any?

Xavier Padilla’s Torzal Custom Electric Bass Guitar – This custom bass guitar for Xavier Padilla was the result of over 6 months of discussion with the Gipsy Kings bassist.

Guitar Parts Resources for Headless Guitar Designs – Folks continue to flock to this article for ideas as well as resources for headless guitars – particularly headless bridges.

The Orchid Bass Sprouts An Unusual Neck – Toone’s departure from the Klein inspired designs of other ergo guitar builders addresses ergonomics for both men and women.

Make Your Own Headless Guitar Tuners! – Jeff Turpin’s DIY tuning solutions continue to inspire.

The Forshage Hollow Body Electric Guitar – This ergo guitar continues to gain followers. Without a doubt, it’s a highly successful design from both a musical and a design perspective. Here’s a figured maple top example – Forshage Guitar – Black and Beautiful.

Here’s an example of an ergonomic, innovative and daring instrument – Rick Toone’s Orchid Bass:

And then there’s the Gibson Reverse Flying vee – unergonomic, derivative and just plain boring:

Too bad every day is April Fool’s at most guitar companies.

Time to recap the past month’s five most popular articles.

The Design of An Ergonomic Bass Guitar – Musician Santiago Arteaga shares the results of his thesis research into an ergonomic bass guitar.

Guitar Parts Resources for Headless Guitar Designs – This collection of headless guitar parts sources has grown continuously since it was first written in 2006 and also happens to be the most commented article on the site.

The Orchid Bass Sprouts An Unusual Neck – First seen in Toone Guitars’ Orchid Bass, we get a closer look at this highly successful and unique interpretation of an ergonomic bass guitar.

The Forshage Hollow Body Electric Guitar – Chris Forshage’s modern take on the ergonomic electric guitar continues to be a popular subject.

Make Your Own Headless Guitar Tuners! – Jeff Turpin shares three different approaches he’s taken to making headless bridge systems.

Note: For article popularity based on reader comments, take a look at “Popular” in the new tabbed section in the sidebar.

Two years later, BTEG has expanded to include a great deal more starting with detailed coverage of unique guitar designs by a range of guitar makers and luthiers. Along the way, performances, instrument accessories and RSI issues have also featured prominently. But throughout, the intent and focus has remained the same – to explore designs and concepts that adapt the guitar to the guitarist and not the guitar player to the guitar.

Thank you for your support!

For two years, I have been handsomely rewarded by a growing readership and the many relationships I’ve developed with guitar makers, vendors and folks like you who share an interest in the site’s core message. And so, I’d like to take a moment to thank some of the folks that have made this possible.

First, I’d like to thank the site’s readers. You have been extraordinary in your support. I appreciate the comments that add to our understanding, the great leads you have provided and your efforts to get the word out about BTEG. Thanks to everyone for their support, their interest and involvement in making this a success and a growing information hub and resource.

Second, I’d like to thank of all of the guitar builders and guitar parts makers – both professional and amateur – at the forefront of innovative guitar design. Thank you for all the time you take out of your busy schedules to provide our growing community with fresh ideas and food for thought.

Third, I have to thank Guitar Parts Central for its continued support of Building the Ergonomic Guitar. Their sponsorship of the site helps to keep the lights running. They’ve been with us since early 2007 and I look forward to our continued relationship.

Finally, I absolutely must thank my wonderful wife Sakinah. She has been without a doubt my greatest supporter. Imagine going to your loved one, having no previous woodworking skills, and saying, “Honey, I want to build a guitar. And not just your typical Strat or Les Paul but a special kind of guitar – an ergonomic guitar.” Rather than pat me on the head and tell me, “That’s nice dear” she supported me every step of the way. The same has held true for my efforts to expand BTEG’s reach, the time I spend communicating with vendors, builders and readers and the time it takes to maintain a growing site. Thank you so much!

Year 3 – What’s next?

So as we start year 3, the question is, “what will this year bring?” Suffice it to say, Building the Ergonomic Guitar will continue to stay strongly focused on its core themes. It will continue to grow as a resource not only for those who have already discovered the benefits of designing guitars for the human body but for those who are discovering it for the first time…

Oh yes, there’s a new site design based on the Structure theme by Justin Tadlock. Hope you enjoy it.

The News

Word came in the form of comments by guitar builder Rick Canton following a question by Mats Erikson – the man behind this Klein guitar replica. Mats wondered why someone had not taken up the mantle of at least producing after market Klein guitar bodies. We had recently covered Rick’s Canton Klein Guitar Body Upgrade so this was fresh on our minds. Rather than paraphrase, I’ll let Rick’s reply speak for itself:

I have recently been talking with Steve Klein. Steve and I were talking about working together, I was going to be making the Klein bodies with my CNC machine but the distance between us was too much of a hassle factor with the cost of shipping wood back and forth etc., and he has found a more local approach.
What does this mean? All I should really say, because I do not want to talk for Steve, is that Steve is 100% definitely actively planning on starting up again, most likely within 6-9 months from now. His new shop is being organized right now. I should not say much more than that but he is alive and well, a great guy, and is set on jumping in again.

Clearly, exciting times lie ahead for ergonomic guitar true believers, Klein electric guitar connoisseurs and just plain admirers of Steve Klein’s guitar building art. As many of you know, the gold standard of ergonomic guitars hasn’t been in production for years with used Klein guitars selling for $5K-6K regularly.

A Bit of History

Following the sale of the company to Lorenzo German, the brand fell on hard times. Production became non-existent and reports started to appear of orders that were never fulfilled. Then in October 2006, a small update went up on the site – Note: Klein Electric Guitars is no longer taking new orders at this time. Things only got worse in May 2007 when the Klein electric guitars site went down. The domain is still registered but a visit to the site only takes you to a configuration screen. Meanwhile, Lorenzo German remains listed as its administrative contact.

Will the domain kleinelectricguitars.com just whither and die or will it be transferred to Steve Klein and be brought back to life?

Remaining Questions

Overall its exciting news and I’m anxious to see what Steve Klein will come up with. Will it be refinements to the standard design? Will he continue to evolve the design – possibly come out with a Klein Electric Guitar II or a “super Klein”? Time will tell…

However, one burning question still remains – “What ever happened to Lorenzo German?”

For the original comment thread, see Mat’s question under the article – Making The Klein Electric Guitar Template.

Catch up on January 2008′s most popular articles among Building the Ergonomic Guitar’s readers. Did you miss reading any of these?

Making Guitars – 10 Resources for Getting Started – After receiving many inquiries on how to get started building guitars, I put together this list of books, forums, sites and tutorials that provide a wealth of information. One of the books I recommend, Martin Koch’s Building Electric Guitars, is also available in Acrobat PDF format for those who prefer e-books.

The Orchid Bass Sprouts An Unusual Neck – This truly unique bass guitar contains a number of interesting ideas and unlike many ergo guitar designs, Rick Toone has avoided the Klein electric guitar influenced approach. There will be more to come on this instrument down the road.

Guitar Parts Resources for Headless Guitar Designs – Regularly updated, this list of resources and ideas covers both off the shelf headless guitar bridge systems as well as unconventional approaches based on everyday tuning keys and bridges. Among the recent updates to the article are links to reader Jeff Turpin’s DIY headless tuners as well as Jon Bondy’s beautifully machined headless fixed bridge drop in replacement for the Trans-trem, S-trem and R-trem bridges.

Chris Forshage’s Ergonomic Electric Guitar – Forshage’s wonderful interpretation of the ergonomic guitar, while in part influenced by the Klein electric guitar, also seeks to address some of its concerns – including the lack of a truss rod in the Klein’s neck.

Make Your Own Headless Guitar Tuners ! Reader Jeff Turpin shares several approaches to making your own headless guitar bridge system – great news for those facing problems obtaining off the shelf parts.

Today marks the official launch of a new advertising format on Building the Ergonomic Guitar – 125×125 ad spots featured prominently above the sidebar content.

Advertisers

For potential sponsors, it’s a great opportunity to have your ad spot seen tens of thousands of times each month by a highly targeted audience of guitarists and guitar makers interested in exciting new guitars and discussions on design, ergonomics and guitar construction.

To find out more, use the contact form to request an advertising information package. with details on traffic stats, search engine rankings and rates.

Readers

Readers will enjoy increasingly relevant ads as we move toward direct advertising to support running the site and provide opportunities for greater growth and content.

Thanks for your support!

Here are the five most highly viewed articles for the month of December 2007. Discover them for the first time or read them again!

The Orchid Bass Sprouts An Unusual Neck – Toone Guitars challenges our assumptions on ergonomic guitar design with its Orchid bass – a highly sculpted design with a decidedly un-Klein guitar body and a truly unique trapezoidal neck profile.

Make Your Own Headless Guitar Tuners ! – Reader Jeff Turpin shares several approaches to making guitar keys for headless instruments. With headless guitar parts far more difficult to obtain than conventional ones, building your own tuners is worth considering.

Lavish Guitar ‘s Kleincaster – A Klein clone entry, the Kleincaster combines the Klein’s ergo body with a Telecaster neck. It and the aforementioned Orchid bass guitar illustrate that headless guitars don’t have a lock on ergonomics.

Making Guitars – 10 Resources for Getting Started – This collection of guitar making books, forums and vendors will get you on your way to becoming a guitar builder.

Guitar Parts Resources for Headless Guitar Designs – Month in and month out, this article has proven itself to be one of the site’s most popular articles in both visits and comments. If you’re looking for ideas on headless guitar parts, check out the article as well as the reader comments.

Thanks for reading and see you in the New Year!

1. The Forshage Hollow Body Electric Guitar – First featured in April, the Forshage hollow body electric guitar is influenced by the Klein Electric Guitar, the Ovation Breadwinner and the Teuffel Tesla.

Later, we had the opportunity to look at build pictures of the guitar neck and guitar body followed by a demo of the Forshage by guitarist Roger Placer.

2. Crimson Guitars’ 05Ric Extended Range Bass – In August, we looked at the extended range bass guitar conceived of by musician 05Ric and built by Crimson Guitars.

Thanks to Crimson Guitars’ generosity, we had the opportunity to look at progress pictures in three segments – Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Then we saw 05Ric demo the ERB to complete the overview.

3. Henry Olsen’s MaSh Acoustic Guitar – In November, we took a look at the MaSh acoustic guitar. It was envisioned by musician Henry Olsen and built by U.K. luthier Dave Dearnaley.

With it we saw a Klein influenced shape successfully executed as an acoustic guitar.

4. Toone Guitars’ Orchid Bass – We first looked at the Orchid bass guitar back in August when it was merely a concept. As an ergonomic vision, it was striking in its departure from the Klein and Ovation Breadwinner inspired instruments we’ve often looked at.

Just this month, we saw the vision unfold in The Orchid Bass Sprouts An Unusual Neck. Not only has the concept become reality, the Orchid bass guitar incorporates a truly unique trapezoidal neck profile intended to improve technique and reduce effort.

More to come on it as it nears completion.

5. The Most Ergonomic Electric Guitar Ever? – Also in November, we saw Little Guitar Works apply its Torzal twist neck to the Klein electric guitar. Guitar maker Jerome Little took a real Klein and built one of his Torzal necks specifically as a replacement part for the Klein.

Later, The Torzal Neck Klein Guitar in Action! gave us Austin Texas guitarist Justin Telepak performing a quick demo on this highly ergonomic combination.

Final words

So there it is. Your short and sweet Best of 2007 from BTEG.

And thanks to everyone – the site’s readers, all the guitar makers both professional and amateur who contributed to the site’s success and Guitar Parts Central for its sponsorship. It’s been amazing and I look forward to 2008 and beyond.

So tune in next year for more coverage of guitars designs, alternative guitar making approaches and guitar project #2. Happy Holidays everyone!

Recently, BTEG has received a huge influx of new traffic and with it some basic questions about what it is, why it is and how to get the most out of it.

So if you’re new to the site, let me share a few tips to help you get the most out of this frequently updated guitar site. And if you’re an old timer, you may learn something new so stick around…

What is Building the Ergonomic Guitar?

Frequently updated, this site is dedicated to the subject of ergonomic guitars – their design elements and construction as well as coverage of the professional and amateur guitar makers who build them and the guitarists who play them.

Why?

Musicians in general have long suffered from instrument design that doesn’t consider the way the human body works. Back pain, hand pain and finger pain are common issues. While some never suffer ill effects, many suffer quietly in pain. Some even give up as they end up with loss of function due to the ravages of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other forms of Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI) and musculoskeletal disorders (MSD).

Some may think of this as “suffering for your art” when in reality there’s no need. Viable options exist and BTEG is your source and catalog for these alternative guitars and approaches.

Subscribe to Building the Ergonomic Guitar

To get the most out of Building the Ergonomic Guitar and keep up with the latest articles, I highly recommend you subscribe using one of two methods – either email updates or the RSS feed.

Finding Content

The guitar blog contains over 130 200 articles, 100′s of pictures and almost 1000+ 2000 comments across 12 different topics (or categories). And with new articles published 2-3 times a week, there’s always something to check out.

Also check out the recently created Forums for even more content.

For content no longer on the home page, you have several easy ways to find what you want:

1. Use the Search box – powered by wpSearch – to track down content.

2. Scroll through the Archives (use the navigation menu) where you’ll see a month by month listing of article titles.

3. Explore individual Topics accessible in the tabbed sidebar section.

Introduce Yourself

If you’re new here or just haven’t commented yet, I’d enjoy “meeting” you. Feel free to leave a comment below with your name and a short introduction. I’d be interested in how you became interested in the subject matter.

Closing

One of my favorite parts of this site are the comments left by readers. Through your comments, we learn from each other and gain new perspectives and insights. So read the articles and comment away!

Welcome and thanks for visiting Building the Ergonomic Guitar!

The Goals

1. A clean design – The previous layout needed a serious overhaul. It lacked refinement and its underlying code left a lot to be desired. In this ground up redesign, keeping the focus on content was my big priority so I worked to include only essential features while providing easy ways to get to site content.

2. Faster site loading – Image heavy content combined with bulky code can impact reader experience so a lot of effort went into streamlining site code and keeping only the most useful features.

Now onto a few details…

New Logo and Navigation

The web layout and code are my effort (based on the Big Blue theme by Blogohblog.com) but I have designer Gary Simon to thank for the site’s new logo. Working with Gary was a real pleasure. He worked quickly to produce an excellent logo at a very reasonable price. If you’re looking to brand your site, talk to Gary about his logo design services.

The other major change in this area is the navigation menu moving to the right of the logo where it’s easily accessible and better integrated.

Better Search

Finding articles is now much easier with the recent switch to Google powered Search. Results are more accurate, they’re in the familiar Google format and you don’t have to leave BTEG.

Browser Testing

BTEG readers visit the site through a variety of web browsers so I tested in Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7 as well as Firefox and Opera. All of them work but if you want to see the site as intended, I recommend you get Firefox. Not only is it more secure than IE, it does a far better job of rendering web pages so get a copy and try it out!

A Request

Along with the site redesign and new logo, I also renewed my web hosting and domain registration for several years. I remain completely committed to the site but please consider that researching new material, producing new content and maintaining the site take time and money.

If you’d like to support the site, you can make a donation.

Comments? Suggestions?

Overall, I’m happy with the results but I’d really like to hear what you think. So explore the site and then leave a comment or contact me directly.

Thank you all for your support and participation!

Thanks to reader GregP for catching an issue that showed up in Opera!