Building the Ergonomic Guitar

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.