Guitar Ergonomics: A Quest Satisfied

I have played guitar since I was about 9 years old. That would be the year that America celebrated her Bicentennial anniversary. I even dressed in colonial era clothes, grabbed a flag, and paraded with other similarly put upon youngsters down a street in my town. All through high school and college I happily slung my axe, a small semi-hollow Ibanez Artist. Songwriting, jamming, and learning to solo were my primary interests. I was never distracted by the demon of gear lust. There was no internet, and I had no money anyway.

But when I began working in the Real World, the combination of income and less leisure time unwittingly invited this opportunistic beast to take over my mind for good. And since then, for perhaps the ensuing 16 years, I lusted; I bought; I collected. Occasionally I sold. I had this idea that I'd find one of "everything" and then I'd be done. But I struggled with the demon of conspicuous consumption even as I licked my chops at my growing arsenal of beautiful guitars.

One weekend afternoon sometime in early 2006, I clicked my mouse on yet another "Add To Cart" button, this time on the MusicYo website, which distributes modern Steinberger guitars. I had no headless guitars, you see. Having come of age in the 1980s, it was obvious I needed one. I had no idea what would unfold. Literally, a new paradigm of guitar geometry was about to reveal itself to me.

The Steinberger GM shape was small, and it nestled in a nice position on my lap such that the neck pointed up, which made it easier to play. And that neck - light and precise. Headless. Perfect intonation and even tone. I was hooked. But I knew that the 'Berger was but the ticket of entry to a more sophisticated world that I suddenly felt utterly unprepared for. So I began in earnest to explore this unexpected tangent in my otherwise well scriped guitar quest.

Here is a video of me playing my Steinberger GM7-SA.

The quintessential solidbody, premium headless guitar is (was) arguably the Klein Electric Guitar, named for its inventor, luthier Steve Klein. Klein sold his business to former employee Lorenzo German, who then refined the model over a period of several years from the late 1990s to 2005, when he suddenly and enigmatically "disappeared." Mr. German apparently developed a debilitating and potentially career-ending illness, and stopped responding to customers. Much brouhaha ensued, including threatened lawsuits and spewed vitriol within the KEG user community.

But the main outcome of this unfortunate state of affairs was that the Klein guitar, already an expensive creature at around $3000 USD, began to demand ludicrous prices on the used market - if and when one surfaced, which was not often. Sales of $5K, $6K, even $7K and above were seen.

I wanted one.

But I couldn't really see myself paying that kind of money. So I began to crawl the web, looking for others who had faced the same predicament and found alternate paths. And on the rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz newsgroup, where I post from time to time, someone mentioned Texas luthier Chris Forshage. Chris had tried a Klein that was brought in by a customer for repairs. He was intrigued by it, but also found its lack of truss rod to be a design flaw he couldn't live with. Being a guitar builder, he studied it, changed a few things, and built one for himself. It was no longer a Klein... it was a Forshage ergonomic guitar.

Here I am demonstrating mine.

To make a long story short, 9 months later I had one in my hands. It has become my #1 guitar. It is great for jazz, with its Gibson humbucker in the neck position. And it's got lots of Strat-like character courtesy of two Lindy Fralin single coils. It's light, courtesy of its mostly chambered mahogany body.
It's headless, yet it accepts regular single ball strings. It's comfortable and the neck feels great. Ironically, I soon had the opportunity to purchase a Klein on Ebay at the low end of the market value range. So I now have two phenomenal ergonomic electric guitars, and aside from brief spells of curiosity during which I pull one of my "old fashioned" headstock guitars off the wall, they are all I play.

And they are complementary. The Forshage excels at near-archtop jazz tone. And its natural brightness makes for a very dynamic, sparkling rhythm tone. My Klein is just unsurpassed for touch-sensitive, effortless playing and expressive nuance with its solid Brazilian rosewood neck and Trans-Trem. It's warm and smooth as can be.

And with that, my electric guitar acquisition period of 16 years abruptly ended during the summer of 2007. Next, I'll explore my ergonomic guitar pursuits into the acoustic guitar realm, which is a natural progression after experiencing the enhanced comfort and playability that these guitars have afforded me. Until next time...