Ergo Unplugged! A New Quest Begins.

In 2007 I became a total convert to ergonomic electric guitars based on the Klein lower bout profile. This design feature allows the guitar to sit on one’s leg in perfect balance, with the neck pointing up in an ideal angled playing position. This simple change in body curvature has major ergonomic benefits, primarily to the seated guitarist. The instrument does not tip in either direction; the neck is angled upward in an optimal playing position; and the neck does not require left hand support to keep it in place. Also, the guitar’s upper bass bout is extended farther back then usual, providing a resting place for the picking arm. This also allows the picking arm to anchor the guitar in place, close to one’s body.

The only trouble with adopting these new physical attributes in my instrument was that I also play acoustic guitars. Acoustic guitars are big-bodied, symmetrical, and have traditional headstocks. Exceptions to classic design templates are rare, and even fewer of these exceptions are geared towards improved ergonomics. So now my Martin dreadnaught and blue Adamas seem more awkward than they used to. I have to lean over to reach the neck, and my right arm gets fatigued hanging over the large upper bout. Just like before – but now I know there is something better out there.

The only way to get my hands on an ergonomic acoustic guitar is to have one built! Enter Texas luthier Chris Forshage, the gentleman who built my orange ergonomic electric guitar last year. In April 2008, I began to work with Chris on an acoustic guitar design that uses his electric body style as a launch point. The guitar’s basic requirements are as follows:

Basic Requirements

• Headless design for balance and weight reduction
• Flat top with traditional bone saddle and wooden bridge
• Traditional bone nut
• Sound port on upper bout to improve projection for the player
• Wider neck for fingerstyle playing
• Full size acoustic guitar body width
• Lower bout profile in the Klein style
• Unobtrusive contact transducer pickup with endpin jack

Woods
Chris’s initial suggestion was very traditional: Spruce top, rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck, and his favorite fingerboard wood – cocobolo. I had two requests to change this configuration. First, I wanted a warmer top wood that would respond well to fingerstyle playing. For this, I selected redwood, which I’ve heard rave reviews about. Second, I really prefer a dark ebony fingerboard on my acoustics.

Body
Chris emailed me a draft drawing of the acoustic adaptation and it is spot on. He later showed me how the electric body overlays on it, and the lower bout and overall height are identical. The soundhole is also drawn as a traditional circle at the base of the neck. I countered with a sketch of an oval, offset soundhole, but I think we’ll probably keep things “normal” on that front for this instrument.

Neck
For fingerstyle play, I decided on a 1 13/16” nut width. The radius will be 16” and the scale length 25”. Chris will use his natural binding technique to expose mahogany at the edges of the ebony fingerboard. There will be a tiny “micro-headstock” with his logo inlaid. This small extension allows the nut to be a different width than the dimension required by the string headpiece.

Bridge & Tailpiece
A headless acoustic guitar with a clamp style headpiece requires tuners at the bridge end. Chris proposed the ABM tailpiece, which is metal with integrated tuners, to be mounted on the top into the tailblock. At my suggestion, he offered to encase the “guts” of the ABM in a custom ebony cover of some kind. This was much more appealing to me than an ugly slab of metal on an organic acoustic instrument. Now for the bridge and saddle. We had to find a way to get the strings over a flat, glued saddle and anchored on the ABM. A pinless bridge, similar to the designs of Lowden and Ovation, could be employed. The strings would pass over the saddle, then angle down through holes in the back of the bridge. The strings would then pass over the extreme rear of the top and anchor on the ABM tuners. I’m currently doing a little informal research into the nuances of pinless bridges.

The “Wedge”
Finally, I am very interested in a design feature pioneered by luthier Linda Manzer called the “Wedge.” This is an acoustic guitar design whereby the bass side is shallower than the treble, made so by the height of each respective side member. The effect of this is that the guitar nestles closer to the player’s body, and also the neck is angled slightly towards the player’s eye. I’ve just brought this up with Chris, so I don’t know how he will receive it yet.

So here were are, at the starting line of a new project. I’m excited about it and look forward to reporting more as it progresses.