Thursday, August 24, 2006

in search of a better mousetrap; building the egonomic guitar


many guitarists have experienced different levels of pain and/or discomfort while playing - or as an after effect of playing - guitar. some guitarists come to the instrument with pain or discomfort caused by other forces outside the guitar. i've had my own experiences with stiffness or soreness caused by guitar playing. most guitarists, including myself, change or alter their physical approach to the instrument to accomodate to the physical mechanics of the guitar, but, what if the problem was approached from the viewpoint of the instrument itself, and not the player? what if the instrument's design was defined differently, or adjusted physically in order to better accomodate the physical structure of the guitarist? through the ages, the basic guitar shape has remainded fairly entrenched in the tried and true designs of the past; given, these designs work well and design elements have been adopted to better suit players, but by and large the shape and designs of guitars have remained the same for quite some time.
robert at building the ergonomic guitar, has a great site up which serves as a documentation of his approach to redesigning the electric guitar with an eye to the ergonomic aspects of the guitar. rob does a great job of shedding light on the process, and - upon further explorations of his site - he succinctly explores the reasons why and how the quest began. anyone interested in guitar design, ergonomics, or generally guitar should check his site out!
good job, rob.

2 comments:

Robert Irizarry said...

Hi Earl: Thanks very much for checking out my blog and for the kinds words. Over the coming months, I expect to add quite a bit of content as I continue my guitar building project as well as my exploration of related ergonomic issues and concerns. All the best!

Building The Ergonomic Guitar

earl said...

rob,
your entirely welcome! your blog is a great; i'll be checking back. it's a great documentation of your ideas and inspiratons.
earl