Girly Guitars

Subject: Girly Guitars
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 03:41 AM

Just heard a news item on UK radio saying that more young women are buying guitars and manufacturers (I didn't catch a name) are designing good guitars especially for them. A guitar shop guy praising the merits of a particular guitar said "No man would be seen dead playing them" as they have some sort of girly slogan on the headstock and presumably are pink & fluffy!
Memphis Minnie & Rosetta Tharpe never needed a "girly" guitar!

RtS
(They'll be making girly washboards next...oh, wait a minute they were originally....)

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Davetnova
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 03:52 AM

Your right Roger, all guitars are girly, especially flamenco ones. Mandolins are a true mans instrument.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: GUEST,Wrinkles
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 06:45 AM

Bleedin' typical, that the manufacturer would think that the instrument has to be more "fashionable" with sparkly bits rather than seriously addressing the problems of female guitarists. It's really a slap in the face, saying that women are not serious musicians.

Women guitarists want the same thing their male counterparts do - a good sounding instrument with excelent playability.

To that end, the *real* needs of female guitarists would be better met with, for example; slimer necks with less depth would help those whos hands aren't that big; an off-centre neck - while retaining the volume of the sound box - would certainly assist the large busted IE the durn thing wouldn't be so far away your arms wouldn't be at full stretch when playing it; Or perhaps one model with a cut-away in the rear to accomodate the belly when preggers. Even just less depth to the soundbox might be enough for some.

I hope these fluffy/sparkly/pink "ladies guitars" are a big enough financial flop to put the company out of business - they deserve to go under with thinking like that!

grrrrrrrr

Wrinkles

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: GUEST,jim tailor
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 06:56 AM

two words...

Gibson Hummingbird

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Mooh
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 10:10 AM

Daisy Rock, even Martin markets (or has marketed) specifically to women/girls. Sometimes it's not a bad thing if it's just to provide playing comfort or some other feature, but I'm not qualified to comment on the political correctitude of girliness...not being girlie or even knowing what folks mean by that really. Barbie Doll guitars?

Seems no matter what I say about it, it would sound chauvinist...of course, they all have girlie curves.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Amos
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 10:15 AM

Martins 00 parlor guitars were always well-sized for slim hands -- and all guitars, as has been mentioned, look more dfeminine than masculine, really.

A

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 10:18 AM

Yo Dave,
       Flamenco guitars ARE girly. That's why I had all six of mine spray painted pink.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 10:57 AM

I think you should enjoy these instruments as a good laugh, a bit of tongue in cheek fun. And I'll bet that in ten years time they will be collectors items.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 11:06 AM

I forgot to say that if they are the instruments Im thinking of they are Barbie Doll type things, solid body electrics with bodies in the shape of flowers and and I saw a valentine heart shaped one, and yes in so-called girly colours (no offence meant here)lipstick red, sparkly pink, powder blue. I assume that they are meant for children. They look great, bizarre, but really interesting.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 11:09 AM

Some are turning up on ebay with heart-shaped soundholes.

And, yes, pink.

Cadillac pink.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 11:22 AM

One of the big firms - I think it was Taylor - made a girly guitar for (?)Bonnie Raitt or someone like that, a lady who is well respected for her playing. She ordered a custom instrument from them but made the mistake of giving them carte-blanche as to the design, and scorned the resulting masterpiece as "pink and phouffie". The fact that she didn't discuss its tone or action tells you something.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 11:56 AM

Daisy Rock "Girl Guitars". 3/4 size, shorter scale length. Designed to encourage younger females to take up music. Not just silly looks: they seem pretty well thought out.

I can testify to that because I own 2 of the wee beasties.

Happened like this: I was in Songbird Music (Toronto, Ontario), playing an utterly gorgeous ($3000) Alembic bass. My friend Alfie Smith thought I was in danger of trading my car for it and leaving him without a ride home. To distract me, he took this silly-looking red heart-shaped bass down and handed it to me. I can take a joke: I plugged it in and discovered . . . it felt absolutely perfect for me - slim neck, great action, near-perfect fingerboard radius. Passive pickup, single coil, designed by David Duncan. Sounded better then any $500 (Cdn) bass had a right to.

Two of them I said? I eventually ordered another one (black) and had it converted to fretless.

Great schtick on stage, too - a short round man wearing a red heart-shaped bass proclaiming. "I'm secure in my masculinity, AND in touch with my feminine side at the same time!"

All that aside, don't write 'em off just for their appearance. Judging by my experience with the "Heartbreaker" bass, they're also serious instruments.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: open mike
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 12:24 PM

guitars have a shape that curves where a female body's curves are
this is the picture that comes up when isearch girly guitars

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Mooh
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 12:26 PM

Jeremiah...Thanks for the "heads up". Sounds like one might be suitable for my modest little teaching studio. What do you think?

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 01:17 PM

I've probably bought thirty guitars through the years, but the one I bought for my daughter a few years back is the only case where I can honestly say that appearance was a major factor in making my choice. I wound up buying one of THESE. It's certainly not a "girly" guitar, but it does have a "prettiness" about it that I've never cared for in my own instruments. Not a bad axe for the price either.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Terry Allan Hall
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 01:22 PM

A good friend of mine, who is the lead guitarist in a decent rock band, has one of the Daisy Rock "Flower" guitars (her boyfriend/bassist got it for her as a "gag" Xmas gift) and she tunes it to "Open E" and plays slide with it on several songs in their repertoire...it sounds really decent, too!

Daisy Rock has some great ideas about inspiring girls/women to play, and that's a very good thing, IMHO! ;)

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Teresa
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 03:15 PM

Whatever works for each person. My first guitar was one my graddad gave me ... it was my uncle's when he was little. It was a very small guitar with pictures of cowboys all over it.

It kind of fit me, because I was a tomboy. And it sounded great, too. :)

Teresa

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: hesperis
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 05:05 PM

Just don't leave your pink flamencos on the lawn. The birds might get confused.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 05:16 PM

I know this is a bass, but still, the acoustic is the same, this is a 'Daisy Rock' guitar. They also make flower and heart shaped guitars.

Daisy Rock Acoustic

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 08 Feb 05 - 02:01 AM

Greetings, Mooh, & hoping yer well . . .

As I said, my experience is only with the "Heartbreaker" bass, but I'd recommend it. I see they've now got a butterfly-shaped body as well. Hmmm . . .

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Grab
Date: 08 Feb 05 - 08:20 AM

Do NOT under ANY circumstances buy a Daisy acoustic! I saw one in our local shop and played it out of curiosity. I have never played a worse guitar - and that includes the £30 cheapo ones sold at Argos. The sound of a Daisy acoustic is best described as a shoebox stuffed with cotton wadding, with a few nails thrown in to make random rattling/buzzing noises.

The electrics and basses may be OK, but then the skill required to put an electric together is not much more than that required to wire a plug, and the tone isn't dependent on the builders knowing a damn thing about music. Acoustics though require the builder to have some skills. The Daisy people obviously don't have those skills.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Mooh
Date: 08 Feb 05 - 08:23 AM

Thanks Jeremiah, hope you're well too!

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: eleanor c
Date: 08 Feb 05 - 07:10 PM

Question from depths of ignorance: 3/4 size short scale length, does this mean it's a higher pitch like a tenor?

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 12:38 AM

No problem, Eleanor. Pitch remains the same, just the instrument is physically smaller.
Scale length refers to the nut to saddle distance. For a conventional electric bass guitar (yer Fender Precisions, Rickenbackers, etc.) that's 34 inches. Short scale on a bass would be about 30 inches; and still tuned to the same pitch. Examples are Hofner (the Paul McCartney 'Beatle' bass), Guild Starfire (think Jefferson Airplane) and Les Paul 'Triumphe' bass.
That help claify the situation?

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Lanfranc
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 07:39 PM

Some have accused this guitar of being a bit girly, but as it is slightly larger than a J200, it'e probably only for really big girls!

Actually it's a rather good Zemaitis copy that I acquired from Hanks in Denmark Street, London via eBay, and since I will probably never be able to buy a real Zemaitis as prices are now stratospheric, it will do me for a "different" guitar. The model name is Zephyr, and I would love more information about the makers, Custom Guitar Craft, as the only luthier of that name I have been able to locate is in Wooloomaba, Australia, but Hanks said it had been made for the Japanese market. A Google image search turned up a similar black guitar on a Japanese Zemaitis copy owners' site (sic!), but my Japanese runs to "Hai" and "Sushi" and that's about it, so the information given there was of no use to me.

Has anyone else come across one of these guitars?

Alan

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: eleanor c
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 08:34 PM

Alan you HAVE to give that guitter an airing on Feb 14.


This girly plays a dirty great big guitar cos it feels like driving a large comfy 4x4, but then girls like driving those too, even when they can't see over the wheel.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: eleanor c
Date: 09 Feb 05 - 08:36 PM

Jeremiah thanks for the info. So is a short scale neck strung looser than a reg'ler one? Can't work out the math....

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 08:18 AM

I'm guessing the string tension would be a tad less. My best advice? Don't sweat the math. :-)

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Chris Green
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 06:21 PM

Grab - just as a bit of a caveat empor, the electrics are bollocks too. Like playing a mandolin strung with dental floss!

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Grab
Date: 10 Feb 05 - 07:20 PM

Fair nuff, DB. I half-suspected that'd be the case, but Jeremiah reckoned they're OK and I've not tried one so I couldn't comment. Generally though, I reckon anyone who needs a gimmick to sell a guitar could do with making better guitars... :-/

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 05:33 AM

Didn't Santa Cruz design a Janis Ian model that she had ordered specifically so women could play them sitting down? I've not seen or heard one but it sounds like it would probably be a pretty good instrument with that sort of input into the design.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Lanfranc
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 03:12 PM

Grab, in defence of my Zephyr, not only is it very well made (solid mahogany or similar hardwood, ebony and mother of pearl inlays without a hint of filler, and an ebony fingerboard and bridge, unlike the last Martin I bought which uses Micarta (plastic - OK, expensive plastic, but plastic) instead of ebony throughout). The only Zemaitis I ever played was Donovan's thirty-odd years ago, but I consider that Custom Guitar Craft (whoever and wherever they may be) have done a good job.

Oh and it sounds pretty good, too, though it's hardly played in yet.

Alan

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Bugsy
Date: 17 Feb 05 - 01:56 AM

I have a Daion L9 guitar which was originally designed for female guitarists. It is very narrow on the waist and shoulders (supposedly to allow for the right boob to fit accordingly).

Pretty good little guitar anyway.


Cheers



Bugsy

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: GUEST,Jane Richardson
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 06:49 PM

Its about time that someone made girly guitars, I am learning at the moment and I will try a daisey rock guitars for myself, I think that men can't stand us women stepping into their world of rock.

Subject: RE: Girly Guitars
From: Rory B
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 07:10 PM

I had some problems with my takamine dreadnaught (sp?) body because it seemed a bit large for me. Last year I bought a Takamine EG540C which has a concert body and a cutaway and that solved all my size problems. I thought it more of a girlie guitar because its very curvy and mine is pretty blue. Then I saw a country rock band's lead singer with the same guitar. It does not look girlie on him. So I guess a girlie guitar is whichever guitar suits the girlie playing it.
Its likely that girlies just need more encouragement to play since there seems to be a lot of styles currently on the market that would suit people ( and girlies) with smaller hands and shorter arms like me.

Signed the president of the elderly division of girlie guitar players