Best Body shape ...

Wizard · 2011-09-12T20:16:52+00:00

This is bound to generate a lot of conflicting views. But ... so what? ? I have a Cort M200 which, to my eyes, has one of the most visually appealing shape...

Best Body shape ...

Keira-WitherKay

chris77 wrote: Heresy. Leo got it 90% right with the tele and perfected it with the strat.

? some of us tele fans might just say Leo got the tele 100% right ............for us tele fans of course

Jack-Flash-Jr

Squonk wrote:
slyd wrote:
Squonk wrote: what a great looking guitar Slyd ?

Some modification with those pickups? tremolo?
Yeah, it's got EMG's (active), and a Kahler Tremelo (installed in about 1986 by the late Syd Kitchen)

I see your case is different to mine as well, mine is a 1979 Model

YES PLEASE!

Malkav

If we were talking about straight forward production guitars I'd have to say all my love goes to the RG, IMO the perfect superstrat in everyway. Not too metal, not too polite, just a stunning take on all acounts 8)

Throw a reverse headstock on a guitar like this and I will have deeply concerning sexual thoughts about it ?

Other than that if we're talking managing to blend pure ergonomics with aesthetics then Strandberg and Oni get my vote:

McDangerous

Good gracious, what is that monstrosity? It's HUGE! Love the colours and the design, but the 10 strings? Why?

Malkav

McDangerous wrote: Good gracious, what is that monstrosity? It's HUGE! Love the colours and the design, but the 10 strings? Why?

It's an Oni, I absolutely love them, majorly forward thinking in terms of extended scale guitars. It's a 9 string, as for the reasoning why not? I have big hands so to me playing 8 string feels pretty normal, I imagine with the ergonomics and fanned frets of an Oni that a 9 string wouldn't be too terrible a stretch. Guitarists seem very complacent with having a relatively small range, I'm personally of the mindset that if you can handle more strings then why not? I realise that it's not everyone's thing but playing 7s and then 8s got me realising that I personally no longer see a reason to want a 6 string and in honesty the two six strings I own I haven't touched in almost a year seeing as I can play anything I play on 6 on a 7, the 8 does feel very different but then again it's super comfy to me and I really enjoy having more range to experiment with. In my band my bassist plays a 6 string and I play a 7 and an 8 so it allows us to explore quite a bit in terms of orchestration.

As for Oni, one of the new things they're trying to perfect is what they refer to as an E (exponential) scale. It's a fanned fret system with a bigger curvature on the low strings. The reason for it as taken from Oni's blog:

"The whole compound scale thing has become a useful tool for extended range guitars and basses. The reason is simple and commonly understood now – lower pitch strings work better on longer scales, the tone is better and the longer length allows for a smaller diameter string at any given combination of pitch and tension. The higher pitch strings don’t react so well to increased scale length, either becoming too tight or requiring very delicate string gauges that break easily and are hard to get. Add to that some ergonomic benefits, particularly at the nut end of the neck, and it’s a nice design solution for particular types of instrument. The problem is that there are some ergonomic side effects with the usual compound layout. The big one for a lot of players is that the angle of the frets past the 12th – 15th fret area becomes uncomfortable.

The main idea behind e-scale and it’s curved frets is to put those upper frets at a more comfortable angle, while retaining the maximum comfortable total scale length difference from treble to bass strings."

flatfourfan

If you asked me a month or so ago, I would of said Ibanez RG hands down. However that's until I got to play my Explorer properly.

It's so damn comfortable to play, and it's true that the guitar just feels right. You'd think that a guitar this size would feel awkward, but you;d be wrong. Hooked up with the right electronics and it's a beautiful machine to play. People say that explorers belong with actives and nothing else. I have passives on mine and it plays probably the best out of all my gear.

MIKA-the-better-one

best body shape = your mothers body shape ? ? ? ? ?

that has been on the tip of my fingers since this thread started conosider it extremly immature of me.... but it was great

LooneyAtTheGate

Chad, please find me an 8-string fan-fretted Explorer shape! (i know you have one there somewhere ?)
I'd probably sell my soul for that....

guidothepimmp

mockingbird

Malkav

Julian Emdon (LooneyAtTheGate) wrote: Chad, please find me an 8-string fan-fretted Explorer shape! (i know you have one there somewhere ?)
I'd probably sell my soul for that....

I don't know about the fanned frets, that's generally pretty hard to find on an explorer cause I don't think the way the neck joins really manages to facilitate a proper posture on them, however there are these ?

Those are all I could find, funny enough all these 8 strings are home builds from members of another forum I frequent ?

ParadoximA

Julian, you're definitely onto something! I think the fan fretting would really compliment the Explorer's shape, and playing position - bad paint shop attempt below:

I'd replace the headstock though, the standard angle doesn't suit the fanned frets. (I'm not a fan of gold hardware either... why did I even use this pic?)

afflicted

I love the Tele body shape, although, I played an Explorer a few weeks ago and it is surprisingly comfortable. Gretsch hollowbodies are definitely not as comfortable, although they look amazing.

PeachyDragon

I notice that the Les Paul fans are suuuuper quiet... with the exception of that one pic they
seem to be keeping out of it and I gt why... ? I love my LP and
I've always wanted one... only the upper fret access is a bit horrid...
So my pic is the Gibson les Paul 24 fret Double Cutaway that they sadly no longer
make. 24 frets with the neck jint at the 22nd fret.

singemonkey

It's because we're more honest. A Les Paul is prettier than these others. It also sounds better. It is not, however, ergonomic by any stretch. None of us care.

PeachyDragon wrote:
So my pic is the Gibson les Paul 24 fret Double Cutaway that they sadly no longer
make. 24 frets with the neck jint at the 22nd fret.

That's not a Les Paul. Sorry.

PeachyDragon

That's what I told myself 7 years ago when I saw one in the Junkmail for
R5000 Singemonkey....

I bought an Epiphone LP blackbeauty which is STILL my main workhorse
after dropping in Seymour Duncan JB and Alnico II pro pickups... Little
did I know I would fall in love with the concept of 24 frets, a high neck joint
and a chambered mahogany body....

Not sure if this link will work: http://patrickhansen.com/b2evo/media/music/LP_DC_Std_Plus.jpg

Aesthetically I prefer the standard LP though.

LooneyAtTheGate

Wow those are awesome Explorers Chad! ?
But that gold thing... You're right ParadoximA its hideous! Its probably rad to play tho with the fanned frets.

singemonkey

No look PeachyDragon, I was in a belligerent mood. Sure double cut LPs are cool guitars and more practical than LPs. But they seem a very different kettle of fish from a trad LP.

With a lot of designs listed here I personally feel people are mixing their preferences with practicality. If it's about aesthetics, then everyone's fave is the best (although there is some consensus on taste - but that varies too). If it's ergonomics though, no Gibson design really comes close to a Stratocaster, or a Parker, or any of these guitars typically favoured by those who want the fastest, easiest playing experience. People choose Gibson designs for style and sound, not for ergonomics.

It doesn't mean you can't shred like crazy on an LP - Randy Rhoads, EVH, and John McLaughlin have done so, but they're not the easiest design for it.

PeachyDragon

I resisted starting a new thread about guitar shapes. I'm having a custom guitar built this year
so I've had some thoughts about this. I used to be a Les Paul slave and I still
play a Les Paul most of the time, but I've decided to go with the shape of
a Hamer guitar I actually own as seen in the picture. I would just like to make it a 24 fretter
and change the carved top to be more like a PRS carved top.

In the picture there are three PRS's, the Hamer I mentioned, The discontinued LP double-cut which
has many features I love but is rather ugly in retrospect, and lastly the Red Special briany May guitar.
I will also have my guitar made with sound chambers and will be using Burns Tri-Sonic pickups made and
modified by hand in England by a company called Adeson.

Any comments are wlecome. I really love the Hamer shape. It's practical but also attractive. I like the fact
that it's shorter than the PRS design. I like the slightly short stubby look like the Red Special has.

Here's a pick of what I consider a beautiful carved top.

AlanRatcliffe

Adeson does pretty close copies of the real red Special, so bear in mind that it's a pretty unusual instrument. The neck in particular is a real baseball bat and about the same width from nut to body, so it's definitely not for everyone.

PeachyDragon

I'm confused. Adeson don't actually build guitars. They only make the pickups.
I won't model my guitar after the Red Special itself. Although I might actually
go for a slightly baseball-like neck. I have often found thicker necks to be better for
my own hands in some respects. No more BB-King thumb chords though if I go that route.