Is Playing Your Guitar Painful? Tendonitis?
The
Haywire custom guitar shop began about 40 years ago to help players
address specific problems not addressed anywhere else. It was begun as a
resource of "Musicians working for musicians" with a focus on guitar
and bass players only. Unlike most "music stores" our philosophy is,
"one size does not necessarily fit all". Sometimes "making the right
decision" is confused with what I believe should be, "making a decision
then making it right". Players are not taught this however because it is
the job of the Luthier.
The particular area of concern for guitar players is "ease of play" for "tendonitis in fretting hand, and hands on the small side".
As it is not an unusual problem for us, knowing that gets me right to the best solution for guitar players.
That is the key for working with players and getting the guitar exactly right.
The first step in solving any guitar playing problem is to identify the problem precisely-which needs to be done well.
Here's what I propose for maximum comfort for players with tendonitis or very small hands:
1)-Super-light body. We often bake wood for several days to remove moisture, thus extra weight and make it feather light-then re-seal it and finish it. Players often forget that even just picking up a guitar with too much extra weight exacerbates a hand or wrist problem. So we eliminate any chance of re-injury by removing weight.
2)- A very comfortable "C" shape thin neck profile shaved lightly for a smaller hand.
3)-Super ultra-low action set up with 9-42 gauge extra light strings for almost no resistance.
4)-Truss rod set in what we refer to as "extreme parallel" so the action and string height
is consistently the same all the way up and down the neck. If there is no need to change the players technique there will be less hand stress, more comfort and ability to play longer hours with no painful side effects.
Let your Luthier know your thoughts on what you would need to play more comfortably and painlessly. This is all done in our shop every day. It is the players job to play comfortably and our job as Luthiers to create the comfort.
The particular area of concern for guitar players is "ease of play" for "tendonitis in fretting hand, and hands on the small side".
As it is not an unusual problem for us, knowing that gets me right to the best solution for guitar players.
That is the key for working with players and getting the guitar exactly right.
The first step in solving any guitar playing problem is to identify the problem precisely-which needs to be done well.
Here's what I propose for maximum comfort for players with tendonitis or very small hands:
1)-Super-light body. We often bake wood for several days to remove moisture, thus extra weight and make it feather light-then re-seal it and finish it. Players often forget that even just picking up a guitar with too much extra weight exacerbates a hand or wrist problem. So we eliminate any chance of re-injury by removing weight.
2)- A very comfortable "C" shape thin neck profile shaved lightly for a smaller hand.
3)-Super ultra-low action set up with 9-42 gauge extra light strings for almost no resistance.
4)-Truss rod set in what we refer to as "extreme parallel" so the action and string height
is consistently the same all the way up and down the neck. If there is no need to change the players technique there will be less hand stress, more comfort and ability to play longer hours with no painful side effects.
Let your Luthier know your thoughts on what you would need to play more comfortably and painlessly. This is all done in our shop every day. It is the players job to play comfortably and our job as Luthiers to create the comfort.
Make A Decision-Then Make It Right!
