Advice on an ergonomic guitar

mrkb

PRS vela semi hollow is a lightweight and great balanced guitar, with good upper fret access.

TheMarlin

I agree that Steinbergers are awesome, but not if you’re tall with big hands. I find the fretboard cramped, I’ve had a few, played one for twenty years. 

If you’re not a lumpen homunculus like me, then it could be the perfect guitar for you. 

You can can pick up a Steinberger Spirit on eBay (lightly used) for £250. 

Otherwise, Classic Vibe tele, Classic Player Strat, or Gretsch CVT are all awesome guitars. Even a Vintage V100. 

Best thing to do is take yourself to a guitar mega store, play loads, buy the one that speaks to you......or in my case....find the one that speaks to you, and find a lightly used one for half the price...

Roland

chrisoldroyd said:

If you can share your wisdom it would be appreciated

This is a journey. Don’t expect a final destination because your direction will change as your musical brain develops, as your physical skill develops, and ultimately as your body ages.

TheMarlin said:

Best thing to do is take yourself to a guitar mega store, play loads, buy the one that speaks to you......or in my case....find the one that speaks to you, and find a lightly used one for half the price...

TheMarlin is not the only one to say try lots of guitars, but I particularly the bit about buying secondhand. Someone else will have been down this road before you. What didn’t suit them might suit you, and if not then you won’t have lost as much money as if you’d bought new.

TheMarlin

Roland said:

chrisoldroyd said:

If you can share your wisdom it would be appreciated

This is a journey. Don’t expect a final destination because your direction will change as your musical brain develops, as your physical skill develops, and ultimately as your body ages.

TheMarlin said:

Best thing to do is take yourself to a guitar mega store, play loads, buy the one that speaks to you......or in my case....find the one that speaks to you, and find a lightly used one for half the price...

TheMarlin is not the only one to say try lots of guitars, but I particularly the bit about buying secondhand. Someone else will have been down this road before you. What didn’t suit them might suit you, and if not then you won’t have lost as much money as if you’d bought new.

Agreed. Guitars are a journey, and deeply personal.  When I was younger I was all about particular tones, as I get older, I’m more into the ergonomics; how necks feel, scale, balance etc. Tone is still deeply important, but has changed. I’m less into gain, and a mega Gretsch fanboy now. 

The point:  Guitars are personal. One persons loathsome purchase might be your dream guitar, another persons perfect guitar might be your personal nightmare. Opinions of forumites are pretty worthless, the only opinion you need is your own, and that has to come to you via your own hands, eyes, and ears. 

I have two guitars within reach that have come to me via another forum member. One i now own, the other I’d like to own but the owner (wisely) refuses to sell it to me. 

Neither were expensive. Neither i would have in my possession if my friend had not brought them over for a visit.  The first is a Snakehead tele/broadcaster, the other is a Supro Belmont.  Both are freakin’ spectacular guitars.  They were definitely not my ‘cup of tea’, but in the hands, and through my ears, they’re 100% ‘my cup of tea’. 

Play LOADS, buy ‘the one’. 

Sassafras

The lightest Strat you can find.

Vibetronic

The only properly ergonomic guitar (and which is designed to be that way) I've played is the Strandberg, which is why I bought one. They are really expensive though. I've done something bad to my left shoulder which is taking months to clear up, and it's slightly uncomfortable playing any other guitar, no matter how you sit/stand with it. Steinberger etc may be similar (although won't sit as well as doesn't have the same body shape). 

Dave_Vader

stickyfiddle said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

Don't you play a SG slighty over your hip to help with ergonomics. I seem to recall @stickyfiddle said something along those lines (I could be massively wrong)

Yeah, this is something you get used to with SG - if you try and have the body centred against your own body everything this very “left shifted” which feels weird. 

That said. Epi SGs tend to be worse for some reason, and almost always have worse neck dive than almost all Gibson SGs - I guess they use denser wood for the necks?

Anyway, a Strat or Jazzmaster or Jaguar is a much more ergonomic guitar than pretty much any Gibson style.

My Epi SG no longer neck dives, balances very nicely thank you very much.

Maybe because I stripped off the ton of sticky red finish and redid it in Danish Oil?

I guess they use denser red poly for the necks.

(I may have moved the strap button as well, can't remember it was a long time ago)

TTBZ

meltedbuzzbox said:

Don't you play a SG slighty over your hip to help with ergonomics. I seem to recall @stickyfiddle said something along those lines (I could be massively wrong)

Yep that's what I do, and I tend to angle the neck up more too so it's actually in a way comfier position than a lot of other guitars, much less horizontal which brings everything closer if anything. Took me a long time to adjust to this coming over from LPs but it's super comfy now. I find it nicer to play than a strat for both this neck angle plus the body is non-existent in comparison. 

That said the Musicman Luke I played was such a comfy guitar with a really nice neck profile. If I could afford one I'd be checking them out, despite how uncool they look.

EricTheWeary

As noted above there are things you can do to try to correct the neck dive, essentially putting weight on it's arse end and/or using a grippier strat. There are also tips here ^ on wearing an SG in a more comfortable manner. 
One of the times I realise my posture suffers is when trying to learn something as I'm trying to bend my neck to look at my fingers more than when playing something familiar. I might also tense up more, over thinking what I'm doing. If you have or can borrow another guitar to try your practice regime on for a few days and see how much of it is what you are doing and how much is the guitar. Trying stuff in shops you'll probably just play what you know and that won't show up your own posture issues. 

TTBZ

Seeing how Tim Sult holds his SG changed the way I approached it and it's way comfier this way, though I still have it held more to the right than this.

guitarmangler

Try attaching a clip to the strap button and attach it to your jeans

https://youtu.be/JkTZHGXYxI4 

Ted

I've got a Music man silhouette and find it very ergonomic compared to other guitars I have played. It's got a waxed neck which is much nice to play than the usual varnished ones. As a medium size male I also find the size of the guitar very comfortable. New it would be beyond your budget but the used prices on this are ridiculously low and you might be able to find a slighly dinged one for 700.

p90fool

Don't overthink this in terms of searching for the world's most perfectly balanced guitar - the one you own is one of the worst ever for posture and neck dive, practically any mainstream classic design will be better than that. 

merciful-evans

I agree that PRS are among the most ergonomic guitars going. A semi hollow one might save some weight.

I think the SE Custom 22 & 24 are still MIK (which are really nice), which is almost in budget. But a used one would certainly be well in budget.

Good luck

ICBM

p90fool said:

Don't overthink this in terms of searching for the world's most perfectly balanced guitar - the one you own is one of the worst ever for posture and neck dive, practically any mainstream classic design will be better than that. 

Exactly, it's a terrible design. It's a shame, because they can sound great, but having had the G400 around the workshop for a couple of weeks I'm glad to see the back of it - it was more or less unusable for testing amps because if I took my left hand off the neck it immediately tried to hit the floor. Even without that it was just an awkward position to have to hold it in to play it.

Swapping back, my Aria strat-ish guitar was almost ridiculously easy to hold and play - it simply hangs in the right place without having to compensate in any way.