All About Guitar Ergonomics

8/7/2019 All About Guitar Ergonomics

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/all-about-guitar-ergonomics 1/7

All About Guitar Ergonomics - How to make sure your guitar is a good physical match for you.

PLAYING THE GUITAR SHOULDN’T HURT. OK, your fingertips can get a little sore if you’re just

starting out or you haven’t played in a while, but any kind of regular joint or muscle pain that occurs whenyou’re playing your favorite instrument needs to be taken seriously. Guitar-playing discomfort (and comfort)

results primarily from how you hold the guitar, how you sit or stand, and how tense you are in general, but your

instrument also has a lot do with how comfortable you feel while playing. Whether your discomfort resultsfrom a poor setup, a guitar body size so large you can’t comfortably reach the strings or see the fingerboard, or

a neck with dimensions that make fretting difficult, if your instrument doesn’t match you, it can lead to painand, in extreme cases, permanent damage. Let’s take a look at how various aspects of guitar design affect your

physical comfort, how some standard guitar models differ, and what some luthiers and manufacturers are doingto ensure you can find an ergonomic instrument.

BODY

A jumbo body (Gibson J-200, left) may be larger than a dreadnought (Martin D-18, right) but its tight waist

makes it more comfortable to play sitting down.

A guitar’s body size has the greatest impact on how well it will fit any individual player. As a general rule, its

shape and size need to allow you to hold it in such a way that it doesn’t interfere with your playing.

Size and Outline

Guitar fit is dependent on the body’s outline (and overall size), depth, and waist (both the shape and thelocation). The outline and the depth are most important, because they affect playability regardless of whether

you are sitting or standing. If you’re tall (especially if you have a long torso) you’ll probably be able to choose

from a wider range of comfortable guitar-body sizes than if you’re a smaller person. This is simply because

wrapping your arms around the body to reach the strings won’t pose as much of a challenge. The size of theguitar’s body will have more of an impact on your posture and comfort if you play sitting down than if you

stand up and wear the guitar on a strap. A strap tends to be installed at the center of the body (at the endpin and

the neck’s heel), putting the strings in about the same playing position regardless of the guitar’s size. But whensitting, the way a larger guitar rests on your lap will effectively move the strings (and therefore your picking-

hand position) farther up, while a small guitar will have you reaching for the strings a bit lower, toward the

1



floor. If you’re tall, you might have to hunch over a small guitar if you play sitting down, unless you elevate itinto playing position with a guitar rest, footstool, or strap. Needless to say, these issues may also affect your

shoulder position and comfort as you play.

Shape

Size isn’t everything. Depending on their shapes and depths, two bodies with similar internal volume can feelvery different. For example, the rounded shape of Gibson’s J-200 jumbo body measures a whopping 163/4

inches at the lower bout, but its waist is pulled in so that the body is only ten inches across at its narrowestsection. By comparison, a Martin dreadnought’s lower bout is smaller (151/2 inches), but its waist measures101/2 inches, resulting in a slightly different position when you’re seated. The location of the waist will also

affect your fretting-hand position, because a waist that’s closer to the upper bout will make the nut closer to

you, while a waist shifted more toward the lower bout will result in the nut being slightly farther away,

requiring you to extend your arm farther to reach the first few frets.

Some luthiers, realizing the importance of the waist’s position, have created body shapes with waists that

effectively move the neck closer to the player.

Depth

Excessive tilting of the guitar can lead to increased strain on the fretting hand.

The depth of a guitar’s body has a significant impact on how ergonomic it is, especially as it relates to your

picking hand and arm. Smaller players may have trouble finding a comfortable playing position on a deep-

bodied guitar. This is especially true if the depth is paired with a large body shape. In some cases, a deep bodymay actually lead to a decrease in blood circulation, making your arm “fall asleep,” and you may be more likely

to develop problems such as tendinitis or carpal tunnel syndrome. A really deep guitar may require you to tiltthe body up to see your picking hand, requiring a greater reach by your fretting hand and thus more potential

strain on its wrist.

To better match the player to the instrument, some manufacturers offer models with the same body outline but

different depths. For example, Martin’s J and M models are based on a 0000-size body, but the J is 47/8 inchesdeep at the thickest point, while the M only measures 41/8 inches.

2



Wedge-Shaped Bodies

Linda Manzer wedge-body guitars are thinner at the bass side than at the treble side.

One way to make a large and relatively deep body more comfortable is to give it a wedge shape, making it

thinner on the bass side and thicker on the treble. Luthier Linda Manzer, who has built guitars for Pat Methenyand Bruce Cockburn, among others, holds a copyright on the wedge design and now uses it on all her guitars.

She says that it has had a direct impact on some of her customers’ picking-arm comfort. “When Bruce

Cockburn developed a pinched nerve in his right arm, he traded in his deep-bodied Manzer steel-string for a

wedge model,” she says. “Almost immediately, the pain went away. He was very happy and relieved.” Manycustom builders have licensed Manzer’s wedge for their own instruments, but there are currently no larger

production factories building guitars with wedge bodies.

Wedge shapes are not for everybody, however. Some players find that the wedge body rotates the treble side of

the fingerboard away from the body slightly, requiring a more extended fretting hand position that can be lesscomfortable (similar to holding a regular guitar at an angle).

Bevels and Armrests

The Laskin bevel.

One of the most widely adopted innovations that can affect a guitar’s comfort is an armrest or bevel on the top

of the lower bout. Although there are variations, the idea is the same: to eliminate the sharp edge wherethe picking arm contacts the side and top, and to approximate the feel of a thinner guitar. Canadian luthier

William “Grit” Laskin is generally credited as the first to include this feature on his guitars, in the late

’80s, and it has become a standard feature of his models. “A few years after I started the bevel, I receiveda letter from a physician at the Bethesda, Maryland, Performing Arts Medicine Clinic, who thanked me

profusely,” says Laskin. “It was something he had long wished would happen on guitars. He said it would

relieve playing-arm shoulder strain, which is one of the most prevalent problems from his point of view.Endless hours of reaching around the box creates shoulder strain, which, if ignored, can begin to radiate

3



down the arm and up into the neck and become so serious that playing is painful, and permanent damageis an ultimate possibility.”

Cutaways

A cutaway won’t affect general playing comfort, but if your repertoire requires that you regularly reach notes

above the neck/body joint, you may find that a cutaway provides a more relaxed playing position as well aseasier access to the upper frets.

12-Fret vs. 14-Fret Bodies

Another design decision that can greatly affect a guitar’s feel and comfort is whether the neck joins the body at

the 12th or 14th fret (and in rare instances, the 13th fret). Up until about the 1930s, all guitars had 12-fret neck

joints, which is still the primary neck-joint location for classical guitars. The Martin OM, which debuted in1929, is generally cited as the first modern 14-fret guitar, and its increased access to the upper range quickly

made the 14-fret neck the most common choice for steel-string guitars. But in recent years, players and builders

have rediscovered the ergonomic and tonal appeal of 12-fret steel-string guitars. Depending on the body shape,a 12-fret design can make the overall length of the guitar more compact, requiring less extension of the fretting

arm when playing in first position. This can be particularly noticeable for players who sit in the classical

position or use a strap tied to the headstock.

NECK

A guitar’s body is the most obvious factor in matching an instrument to a player’s physique, but many guitarists

say that the neck is the most important element in making an instrument comfortable. Factors that contribute to

neck feel and comfort are its width, shape, fretboard radius, scale length, location of the neck joint, stringspacing, and type of frets.

Width

Measured at the nut, neck width not only affects the neck’s overall feel, it influences the string spacing. Stock steel-string guitar necks are typically either 111/16 or 13/4 inches wide at the nut. Dreadnoughts often have a nut

width of 111/16 inches while the wider 13/4 dimension is standard for many OM-style guitars. But these days,different widths can be found on all kinds of guitars, and stock steel-string necks may be as narrow as 15/8

inches and as wide as 17/8 inches.

The size of your hands and your playing style determine which neck width will be ideal for you. If you have

large hands and thick fingers, a wider neck will give you more room to move, and if you have very small hands,a skinnier neck will make it easier to reach chords that span the entire width of the fingerboard. Fingerstyle

players often prefer wider necks (13/4 inches and wider) that allow more room for polyphonic fingerings, while

flatpickers sometimes find that a narrower neck allows for faster and more precise position changes.

The way the strings are spaced also affects a guitar’s feel, though it tends to impact playability more thanergonomics. The width of a guitar’s nut tends to give a fairly good indication of what its string spacing will be

like for the fretting hand, but spacing at the saddle can vary quite a bit, and surprisingly, many manufacturers

don’t include these measurements in their specs. The typical range tends to be from about 21/8 inches to 25/16

inches, with 23/16 inches being a common middle-ground. As is the case with nut width, many fingerstyle

players prefer wider spacing, while flatpickers often choose a guitar with narrower string spacing at the saddle.

4



Profile

These Martin neck shapes illustrate the differences between a shallow C (top), a sharp V (middle), and a

curved D (bottom).

The neck’s shape has a huge impact on the feel of your guitar, and, as with the width, the size of your hands

and your playing style determine what will work best. If you have large hands, a really thin neck profile mayrequire more muscle tension than one that has a bit of heft to it. But a neck that’s too large may require you to

open your fretting hand to an uncomfortable degree and will make it more difficult to wrap your thumb around

to fret bass notes. Ultimately, the best neck shape for each player will be matter of personal preference. Some

petite players with small hands have been known to prefer surprisingly big necks, and it’s not unheard-of for players with large hands and long fingers to be most comfortable with narrow, electric guitar–style necks.

The profile of the neck’s cross-section, which can range from a sharp V shape to a gentle C shape, is also

important. Players whose technique is based on the classical approach, where the pad of the fretting-handthumb rests on the back of the neck, tend to prefer a gentle curve or an almost flat profile, but pickers who wrap

their thumbs around the neck often feel more comfortable with a V-shape profile.

Although many players tend to forget that their guitar’s fingerboard has a radius, it too has an impact on the

neck’s playability. The amount of curve in the radius (measured in feet) can affect the comfort of barre chords,and a greater radius tends to make string bends easier than a shallow radius. Some guitars use a compound

radius, which is typically flatter on the higher frets than at the nut. Slide players sometimes prefer a flat

fingerboard (which is also most common on classical guitars), as it allows all six strings to be played uniformly

with the flat surface of a bottleneck or other slide.

Fret Size

The size of your frets can also have an impact on the effort it takes to play the guitar comfortably. Average frets

are about .040 to .045 inches tall, while low frets only reach about .035 inches, and tall jumbo frets may be as

high as .055 inches. Taller frets can change the effective thickness of a neck enough to be noticeable, and whilesome players feel that small, low frets make a neck feel “faster,” they can require more physical effort because

your fingertips may make contact with the fingerboard, diverting some of their effort away from stopping the

string cleanly. Refretting a guitar with different size frets to make it more playable may be worth considering—

5



even on a brand-new instrument—if every other aspect of the guitar is as desired. There are no generalitiesabout what types of guitars use what frets, though most factory-made production guitars tend to be in the

average range mentioned above. On these instruments, different fret sizes are not usually an option, even on

special orders. But many individual luthiers are happy to discuss options.

Scale Length

Stretched-out chords take less effort on a guitar with a short scale (top) than on one with a long scale (bottom).

Scale length, which refers to the distance of the strings between the nut and the saddle, has a major impact on a

guitar’s playability and tone. A shorter scale length not only puts the frets slightly closer to each other (whichmakes it easier to reach extended chords), it results in lower string tension, which requires less effort to press

down on or bend. But it is the higher string tension that often makes guitars with longer scales more powerful

and louder. Full-size acoustic guitars are commonly referred to as short-scale (around 24.9 inches) or long-scale(around 25.5 inches). Parlor and travel guitars’ scale length can be significantly shorter (down to 22 inches or

so), and the scale length of baritone guitars can be as much as 30 inches.

Multiscale fingerboards have a longer scale on the bass side and a shorter scale on the treble side. This

approach, which results in a “fanned fret” arrangement, combines the benefits of high string tension on the bassstrings with lower tension for easy playability on the treble strings. Some players even feel that fanned frets are

easier to play, because they follow the natural path of the fretting fingers.

A Perfect Fit

With the wide range of guitars available today, finding a good physical match that also sounds great shouldn’t

be too difficult. If you’re shopping for a new instrument, take your time and try as many options as possible,while keeping all the factors discussed here in mind. If you’re considering having a custom guitar built, discuss

any physical or playability issues with your luthier. If ergonomic considerations are addressed early in aguitar’s design, a custom build can be the most comfortable and satisfying guitar to play.

Setup Makes a Difference

If you suspect that it’s taking too much physical effort to play your guitar, it may need a setup. Have it checked

out by a good guitar tech and tell him or her that you’d like it to play easier, if possible. String action is the

6



most crucial aspect of setting up a guitar with playability in mind. Many new guitars (especially inexpensiveones) seem fine up the neck, but have high action at the nut, making it unnecessarily difficult to play in the first

position. Try putting a capo on your guitar at the first fret. If the guitar is significantly easier to play this way,

the nut should probably be lowered. High action farther up the neck is common on older guitars that either havea forward bow in the neck, a bad neck angle, or a saddle that’s too high. That can be fixed by something as easy

as tightening the truss rod or shaving down the saddle, or it may need a more complicated (and expensive) neck

reset. A good tech will be able to determine which procedure is needed.

Other playability issues that can be addressed with a setup are the string spacing at the nut and the size and/or condition of the frets. Some manufacturers install nuts with narrower string spacing than is necessary. That isn’t

necessarily a bad thing, but if your fretting hand feels cramped, check to see if the spacing could be widened

(which will, of course, require a new nut). Similarly, if a string is too close to the edge of the fingerboard,respacing can allow for much better playability. Frets are generally replaced when they’ve developed grooves

under the strings, which can cause string buzzes, and that much wear can also make the guitar harder to play.

But in some cases, refretting with different playability in mind is also worth considering, and according toGryphon Stringed Instruments’ Frank Ford, this is a frequent consideration. If you like everything about a

guitar except for frets that are too low or too tall, or not shaped the way you prefer at their ends, ask a luthier

about replacement options.

Footstools, Guitar Rests, and Straps

Your overall guitar-playing posture is probably the single most important factor in finding a pain-free playing

position. Because everyone’s bodies are different, it’s important to experiment with playing positions, and theobservations of an experienced teacher can help significantly.

For many players, using a footstool is a first step to good posture. Whether you use it to elevate your left leg

(classical style) or right leg, the idea is to get the guitar into a position that allows you to play without

unnecessary strain. Look for a footstool that can be adjusted to different heights, and experiment with varioussettings to find a position that works for you.

There are also several guitar-elevating devices that attach to the instrument itself. Units like the Gitano and

NeckUp support mount to the side of the guitar with suction cups and help raise the instrument into acomfortable playing position without the use of a footstool. Similarly, the Dynarette guitar cushion is designedto be placed between the guitar and the player’s leg.

Many players find that wearing the guitar on a strap is the best way to get the instrument into a comfortable

position. This often works better when standing than sitting, because sitting with the guitar on a strap can lead

the lower bout to be pushed up by the player’s right leg. This is especially true with larger guitars.

7

All About Guitar Ergonomics

Documents

Transcript of All About Guitar Ergonomics