Building the Ergonomic Guitar

The electric guitar, as evidenced by its two greatest icons, the Stratocaster and the Les Paul, has essentially remained frozen in time. Both guitars date back to the fifties. Meanwhile, despite a growing understanding of how the body works, guitarists have continued to suffer with a variety of ailments related to their art.

Building The Ergonomic Guitar came about as a result of my return to guitar playing while facing chronic back pain and shortly thereafter, Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). It’s been a means of not only documenting my exploration of guitar ergonomics, guitar building and guitar design but an opportunity to hopefully raise awareness about alternatives. Thus, it’s been great to see a number of blogs as well as websites linking to Building The Ergonomic Guitar. Thank you!

I’ve also found several related articles that have cropped up regarding guitar design and ergonomics very interesting. Among them are the following:

• Stratoblogster’s Ergonomic Guitars vs. Guitar Culture discusses some reasons that the subject of ergonomics hasn’t taken hold in guitar culture with some ideas on how that might change.
• Guitar Vibe’s Ergonomic Guitar Design discusses the fact that “guitar manufacturers and players all seem to be stuck re-implementing ‘classic’ designs from the 1950s” but fortunately “boutique guitar manufacturers and hobbyists…are starting to push the envelope”.
• Luthier Rick Toone’s Building the Ergonomic Guitar discusses the importance of ergonomics in guitar design and a focus on “people first” design.
• Guitar Guitar Guitar’s in search of a better mousetrap; building the ergonomic guitar asks the question “what if the problem was approached from the viewpoint of the instrument itself”?

Despite different areas of focus, each of these guitar bloggers acknowledges the value in exploring alternatives designs and approaches. BTW – While you’re there, take the time to explore their respective sites. As fellow guitar enthusiasts, each brings a unique perspective to guitars…