The Best Ergonomic Guitar

[VintAxe]

I was just wondering, what guitar has the best feel ergonomically? Did Leo Fender get it right with the Stratocaster back in 1954 or are there other worthy contenders out their that just feel great to play.

It's hard to believe that over 50 years of guitar development has failed to improve on Leo's "engineering approach to design" introduced in the mid 50's.

In your opinion, what are the "best feeling" guitars to play. We'll ignore issues of style and tone for the moment just so we can focus on feel. Is the Strat shape, "The Shape"?

Whadaya think?

[jcbass]

I don't play much 6 string but I think that the Strat is the bomb. Think about it. every guitar maker at one time or another has made a "Strat" copy. what does that tell you? Plus the sound of the strat..........smoooth

[patrick is a stratocaster]

[cheepaxes]

Not to be evasive or overly philosophical about it but for me the most ergonomic, best playing guitar is whatever guitar I happen to be playing when I feel comfortable and am playing well. That could happen on any guitar, and when it does the guitar sort of disappears, if you know what I mean. The guitar that forms the least impediment to me getting out the ideas in my head is the one I'd call most ergonomic. But ultimately that has less to do with the guitar than whether I'm having a good night or not.

If that makes sense.

-Scott

[jenelia]

My guitar-related highlights were: Anders Thidell, the inventor of the True Temperament Fretting System. Here is innovation at its best, and it's Swedish.
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[Spud1950]

Stratocaster has my vote.To me,it is by far the most influential and copied electric six string design of all time,a major reason being the ergonomic "Contour Body". Beside the countless exact copies,there are so many others that,while maybe not looking exactly the same,are obviously just variations of the Strat design.It should be noted that the body shape and contours were not exactly new to the Strat.The body shape itself is based on Precision bass,which came out three years earlier in 1951.The P bass also came out with the belly and forearm contours in 1953, a year before the Strat came out.So,it could be argued that the P bass was the first electric guitar to use a specifically ergonomic design.

[Not Steve]

I've noticed that the body contour feels really good resting up against my ribs, but I have to agree with cheepaxes here. I really like the feel of my brother's samick strat when I'm holding it, but as soon as I start to play it, I don't like the way that the action feels, and I just don't feel right playing it. I haven't used a whole lot of guitars for prolonged periods of time (most of the guitars I use, I use them for a few minutes when I'm at sam ash, heh heh...) But I have noticed that when I like the action, I'm happier than when the guitar fits nicely to my body. It also depends on what I'm playing. I have an Hondo II LP knockoff, and an old Kay Vanguard, and I love my Vanguard to death, but when it comes to picking intricate things, I prefer to play on my Hondo II.

A small question for everyone concerning the 'feel' of a guitar. For some reason, whenever I play an acoustic, I just can't get over the way it feels, I hate playing most acoustics. The only acoustics I can stand to play are ovations. Is it a general consensus that electrics feel better, or is that just me?

[Michael Ambrose]

As strange as this might sound, I'm not a fan of "ergonomic" guitars. I'm a Jazzbox kind of guy. I like my guitar to feel big and bulky... substantial. (Ron can attest to that, with that bigass Premier/Orpheum I bought off him!)

Never been much of a strat/tele/SG guy, though I do like a simple single-cut LP style here and there...

But the one guitar/bass pair that swayed me was the Warwick Thumb. the Corvette was good... but the Thumb was outstanding. You almost completely forget the body is there.

The tone and the width of the neck killed it for me, though... such a broad neck... and the J-style active pickups it had just sounded thin and lifeless.

Sure I could have swapped out the pups and probably been happy with it...

...but ultimately... that bass is ugly as sin! hahaha...

So there's the toss-up... comfort or looks?

[newey]

I like my Strat-styled guitars quite a bit, but I'm more comfortable playing one of my Tele-style guitars. Something about that chunkier body just feels right.

And, if I'm playing while seated, Teles stay put while Strats tend to slide off my knee.

When Ovation came out with the Breadwinner in the '70's, their ad copy made a big deal out of the supposedly more ergonomic body design. I've never played one so I can't comment- but they didn't last long in the market, so apparently others were unimpressed!

[Michael Ambrose]

[cheepaxes]

They *are* pretty close in body shape.

-Scott

[johnnyb]

i think that the strat is the winner here. any other guitar ive seen built for ergonomics are usually quite hard on the eye. If your into cuddling with your guitar, the strat is a pretty nice fit. stagewise, the rear bout thats shaved for the arm is quite nice. guitars with an edge can make my arm go a little numb after a few hours of playing. Strats are also balanced well. besides that, if your looking for ergonomics on stage i think a good pair of shoes goes farther than a cuddly guitar.

[Phizix]

[jdwhealton]

My vote is for the strat style also....but even that gives me some difficulty at times...the belly contour helps.

jd

[Mgeek]

Strats are just ubiquitous... it's easy to pick them because of the familiarity, but there are a couple of design features that don't sit well with me. Coming at it totally fresh, with no preconceptions, there are other lesser known guitars that would hold up just as well

The two biggest problems with strat designs for me are:

1/ The thickness of the body...just no need for all that wood. You could shave a 1/3-1/2 an inch off all round and not lose anything- and even with denser wood you wouldn't get any back breakers.

2/ The bulky neck join. Burns guitars from 1960 had completely heelless set necks. Upper fret access is totally unrivalled. Sure, their designs had flaws too, and they definitely have an 'oddball' look to them, but after playing one for a couple of years, going back to a strat, with that massvie lump of wood around the heel, just felt like a bad nightmare.