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I wanted to take a moment to thank Guitar Parts Central for their continued support of Building the Ergonomic Guitar. For over a year, they’ve helped me focus on the business of bringing you content rather than worry how hosting expenses will be covered.

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.

By Robert Irizarry on April 19th, 2008 | Stumble it! | No Comments →

Topics: Blog Notes

NYC guitarist Joe Giglio performs “Embraceable You” solo on his Forshage ergo electric guitar. Note the neutral seated playing position the Forshage facilitates. Joe’s torso is upright and there’s no need for a footstool to position the guitar. His shoulders are level and the guitar neck sits at an angle without the need for additional accessories. Overall, it’s a great formula for avoiding musculoskeletal disorder (MSD).

Now enjoy the performance.

By Robert Irizarry on April 17th, 2008 | Stumble it! | 2 Comments →

Topics: Guitar Players

In Canton Custom Guitars - Three New Models, we saw electric guitar templates Rick Canton had worked up for several designs. Rick has been hard at work on Model #2 and shared the following…

Guitar Body

The chambered goncalo alves guitar body has changed a bit but it’s still clearly Model #2 from the original article. It’s paired up with a bookmatched curly maple top:

These next two shots give you an idea of the body contouring.

First a view from the neck:

Next a side view:

Extended Heel Neck

The Canton guitar neck includes several interesting features including a 4 bolt extended heel design that reaches far into the guitar body.

And here are its specs:

• Curly maple with rosewood/curly maple heel laminates
• Figured bubinga 25.5″ scale fretboard with 20″ radius
• Zero fret - stainless steel jumbo
• Frets 1-16 - stainless steel medium
• Frets 17-24 - stainless steel small
• 2 graphite stabilizer bars
• 2 way truss rod
• Steinberger top load headpiece

Note the use of three different sized frets which Rick describes as follows:

The 2 (actually intentionally 3 with the jumbo -0- fret) allows for lower action. There is also a feeling of “more room” when holding a chord or running a scale at the higher registers with the fret layout.

I also sanded the fretboard’s 20″ radius thinner at the higher registers. The fretboards thickness goes from 1/4″ at the -0-n fret evenly tapering to just over 1/8″ at the 24th fret. This, coupled with the fret sizes, allows for closer action.

Bridge and Electronics

Rick will be using the Bondy hardtail bridge. You can read more about it in Owner Feedback on the Bondy Guitar Bridge.

Electronics and circuit layout are TBD but the pickups will be some type of humbucker.

More to follow so stay tuned…

By Robert Irizarry on April 15th, 2008 | Stumble it! | 11 Comments →

Topics: Electric Guitar

You might be wondering, “What do pickups have to do with ergonomic guitars?” In the case of the radically different Alumitone pickups, the answer is “Potentially quite a bit.”

When planning guitar build #1, one of my goals was a reduction in the instrument’s weight. So I started with a thinner than standard guitar body blank (1.5″ instead of 1.75″) and minimized hardware where possible. However, it hadn’t initially occurred to me just how much pickups might contribute to the weight of an electric guitar. This is where the Alumitones show potential.

Conventional pickups are heavy by nature due to their use of copper wires and magnets to generate voltage as the string is picked. Humbuckers are even heavier because they use two coils in order to accomplish noise cancellation.

Contrast this with the noiseless Alumitones - a fundamentally different approach to pickup design in which an aluminum exoskeleton combines with 90% less wiring resulting in a much lighter pickup.

According to Jeff Lace, the difference is so significant that replacing two conventional humbuckers with his current driven Alumitone pickups results in a 1/2 lb less weight. And in the battle to protect your back, that’s no small improvement.

To learn more about the Alumitone pickup, here’s “Alumitone Design Secret Revealed”:

By Robert Irizarry on April 11th, 2008 | Stumble it! | 11 Comments →

Topics: Ergonomic Guitar Design