I need a thinner guitar

Subject: I need a thinner guitar
From: Cool Beans
Date: 15 May 14 - 05:02 PM

No, my guitar isn't overweight but I have a chronic problem with my right shoulder that makes it painful to hold my arm far from my chest and stomach. I'm looking for something that has less distance from front to back than my Martin D-28 or 000-28. My wife has an inexpensive 3/4 size guitar that's the right (pain-free) depth for me but lacks the sound quality I want. Any recommendations? (I don't need medical advice, I am being treated.)

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Don Firth
Date: 15 May 14 - 05:51 PM

Actually, I prefer the sweet, mellow sound of a smaller "parlor guitar" to the big, boomy sound of a D-model Martin.

'Course it depends on what kind of music you play. I use the guitar for song accompaniment, but if you play in, say, a bluegrass group, you may want—need—that big sound.

I've got a similar problem with my right shoulder, so lately I've been using one of Sam Radding's travel guitars. It's far from a D-model Martin, but it actually sounds like a real guitar. I've used it for several performances and it sounds out pretty well. I asked audience members after the performances how it sounded and they all agreed that it looked a bit weird, but it came through like a "real guitar."

It looks like the love-child of an unnatural relationship between a guitar and a canoe paddle. HERE.

I have two of them, one nylon-string, one steel-string, both GO-GW models (slightly larger box, walnut rather than mahogany).

Maybe not, but it's a thought.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: GUEST,mayomick
Date: 15 May 14 - 06:17 PM

an electric guitar played through a Roland Cube amp on its "acoustic" setting perhaps?

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 15 May 14 - 06:22 PM

Since you have involved your wife....

may I suggest HER girdle....or a girdle....or anything to compress your gut?

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Since you are "under treatment" your condition is obviously temporary. Even a wide "ace bandage" will work until things come under control.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Will Fly
Date: 15 May 14 - 07:09 PM

I commissioned an acoustic/electric, hollow-bodied jazz style guitar from a local luthier, and took delivery of it recently.

It was always intended as an amplified instrument, but is surprisingly resonant acoustically, in spite of being only 70mm deep.

It's also very light and easy to play. So - you might want to think about a hollow-body, jazz-style guitar.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Will Fly
Date: 15 May 14 - 07:11 PM

Sorry - forgot the link to demonstrate the instrument:

Chisholm "Verithin" hollow body electric

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: jacqui.c
Date: 15 May 14 - 07:13 PM

Depends what you can afford. Nick Appollonio makes amazing guitars - he made one to my specifications and the sound is terrific.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 May 14 - 07:26 PM

depends really in what context you want to play and perform.

i'm sure there is a guitar that will do for you - but really we need to know the job your guitar has to tackle.

in my career I've owned about sixty or seventy guitars as the different performance venues and different bands changed over the years.

Yamaha do a concert sized guitar - just a little smaller than the dreadnought - the cpx range. they also do a small bodied guitar called apx - which is a bit lacking in acoustic presence - but it is a delight to play and the amplified sound is great.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: GUEST,michaelr
Date: 15 May 14 - 07:26 PM

Hi Will, great playing as always, and an intriguing instrument. But tell me, why does the DeArmond pickup not have a magnet on the B string?

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: GUEST,BigDaddy
Date: 15 May 14 - 08:22 PM

Check out the Ami from Art & Lutherie @ http://www.artandlutherieguitars.com/
Depth ranges from 3.5 inches at the top to 4.25 at the bottom end. And I've carried it on many a flight in its original padded gig bag and ever been hassled about it.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: GUEST,michaelr
Date: 15 May 14 - 08:33 PM

Cool Beans, just out of curiosity: did you find the right small amp/PA you were asking about some weeks ago?

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 15 May 14 - 09:16 PM

No real practical advice, just empathy/ sympathy. Dislocated my right shoulder 3 years ago. The instrument I found most difficult to play thereafter was the guitar because of having to tuck it in under that shoulder. The easiest was the piano as my arms were down by my side. Right-hand melodeon somewhere in between. Thankfully back to normal long since.
Hope treatment proves successful and you get the right guitar.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 May 14 - 11:40 PM

Some years back I was having the same problem with my right shoulder, bad enough that I literally could not play more than 10 minutes.

One friend brought me her Martin travel guitar to try- I thought it was awful, good only to keep your fretting hand busy. Then another friend presented me with a Baby Taylor. Small, easy action, great tone. I used it until my shoulder healed.

I no longer play as long or as hard as I did in the days when I played for dances etc, so my D35 is again my greatest pleasure.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 16 May 14 - 12:11 AM

Do you fingerpick? Have you tried playing that 3/4 guitar with a thumbpick? It's amazing what using a thumbpick on the bass strings will do for your sound.

I got the idea watching Martin Wyndham Read.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 May 14 - 06:37 AM

But tell me, why does the DeArmond pickup not have a magnet on the B string?

The theory was that the B string tended to resonate more than other strings, so the pole piece is actually there, but lowered slightly into the pickup. You can't see it - but it's there all the same.

Whether that particular piece of technical theory is correct or not, I really couldn't say - but the pickup works beautifully and, being electric rather than a piezo, gives a nice warm sound.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: GUEST,rewind
Date: 16 May 14 - 10:37 AM

Try a Variax

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Musket
Date: 16 May 14 - 10:48 AM

If you want the volume still, and hear quality, you could do what I did.

I bought a Rainsong OM10. Bang on and thin..

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Cool Beans
Date: 16 May 14 - 05:23 PM

Thanks, all. Don Firth, I have a Go guitar (bought on recommendations from Mudcatters) which I like. I'll see how it holds up for an hour or two hours of practice. And I'll look into others recommended here. I have one-hour and two-hour gigs lined up. Michealr, I will be visiting an amazingly nearby dealer of one of the recommended amps in a few days. Thanks as always, Catters, for your sage advice.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 16 May 14 - 06:39 PM

variax's are a bit heavy if you've got shoulder trouble.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: GUEST,Tony
Date: 17 May 14 - 11:59 AM

Taylor Big Baby. The sound and the soundboard area are similar to a dreadnought, but the sides are only 4" (like a classical guitar) so it's easy to get your shoulder around.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 17 May 14 - 07:10 PM

There was someone a few years back made a wedge shaped guitar for precisely this reason. Might he have been from New York? Does anyone else remember?

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: GUEST,michaelr
Date: 17 May 14 - 08:11 PM

Famed Toronto guitar maker Linda Manzer, luthier to the likes of Bruce Cockburn and Pat Metheny, invented the wedge body shape in 1984. There have been a lot of imitators, just google the term. Some are even affordable.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Janie
Date: 17 May 14 - 08:57 PM

Would a double 0 size be thin enough? If so, pm me.

Subject: RE: I need a thinner guitar
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 18 May 14 - 07:14 AM

So far I have not found any (even copies) under several thousand dollars, new!