Molded and contoured top guitar Switch Stein IV by Trev Wilkinson

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At the first sight, this Switch Stein IV has a 1980s look that probably repels the average vintage cultist  who thinks that electric guitar history stopped the day Fender subcontracted its guitar making to Greco (all these angles! - though in one extra decade that will be probably sooooo cool).

But if you look closer, you will figure that this guitar has something special - first of all it is a recent model (2000s but I cannot tell more - because as often with Trev Wilkinson products, short lived guitar company Switch has a visibility deficiency - their website is no more, no fan page, very little reviews...). You will notice right away its ergonomically contoured top that is supposed to provide a more comfortable access to the strings and knobs, and the Parker Fly-esque upper horn (they enjoyed radical designs, GL has already posted about a Burns Flytesque model a couple of years ago).

But the very special thing about this guitar, is that it's one-piece, molded out of a composite material called Vibracell, supposed to have the best resonance and sustain one can expect from a guitar - that you can get from wood only if you are lucky or put a lot of money... For me that makes sense - I love wood for the feel and the look, but I'm far from being convinced that it's the ultimate material for an electric guitar! Vibracell allows one-piece construction, easy chambering, design freedom and low price... Unfortunately early XXIst century is not the right time to be innovative in guitar making, so no surprise these guitars didn't take in spite of the unanimous positive reviews I could read...

I wonder if this material will ever find its proper use - maybe for other instruments aimed at less conservative crowds...

Bertram

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

OCG Freestyle - extreme offset body prototype guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

One of these of this extreme offset body prototypes by Oren Clark Guitars is up for grabs on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $3000. These guitars, built for Clark by Zion, are designed with ergonomics uppermost in mind.

For more, see the Oren Clark Guitars YouTube channel.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Klein BF-96 lefty

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Steve Klein's guitar creations are almost legendary. He set the benchmark for those wishing to create the perfect ergonomic guitar. The original Klein guitar, as pictured here, has been out of production for a number of years now, and is quite a sought-after instrument. Existing examples can exchange hands for thousands of dollars. For example, this rare left-handed Klein BF-96 is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $8000. Meanwhile, other luthiers interested in ergonomics - both amateur hobbyist and professional - have taken the Klein design as a starting point for their own guitars.

Of course, the Klein isn't completely innovative. It has been pointed out that the design owes more than just a little to the Ovation Breadwinner. The other inspiration was, obviously, the headless Steinberger. Early Kleins used Steinberger necks, and all use the bridge/tuners.

In more recent years Steve Klein has turned his attentions to producing boutique acoustic guitars.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Michael Spalt Hybrid Matrix Bass prototype

guitarz.blogspot.com:

If you want innovative guitar and bass design, then look no further than this Michael Spalt Hybrid Matrix Bass prototype currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $4,300 (not one to be bought on a whim).

The construction is an abstract marriage of quality timbers and aluminium parts. To quote from the Spalt Instruments website:

"Hybrids employ an aluminum skeletal structure with wooden wings and wood necks. These instruments embody my sculptural approach to guitar/bass building - they are stripped-down to the essentials. The wood neck dials in the tonal color and is comfortable to play. The aluminum imparts a warm tone and clarity to the sound. All metal and wood work is done by hand."

Whilst I applaud this daring approach to luthiery, I can't honestly say that I like the appearance of this bass. Of course, appearances might be what initially attracts us to an instrument, but it's the sound and the playability that matters.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Mathias Lerche's aluminium and walnut bodied guitars

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Mathias Lerche, an industrial designer from Denmark, has emailed with photos of guitars he has created. He says:

"I have been working on a guitar concept for some years now and I'm currently building third generation of my design. This is the first two prototypes. I plan to produce these in the near future as a side business to my industrial designing. Starting slow and safe...

"The first prototype was made while studying at the Danish Design school, drawing layout and sculpting foam for months to get the a working shape. It was carved from a 22kg piece of aluminum(my cheapest option at the time) down to about 2,3kg. A terrible waste, but the idea was that the production model should be moulded and a bit more exiting than the usual routed flat alu guitars seen. It has a warmoth wenge/ebony neck, two slide-able Lace humbuckers, and two series/parallel switches at the back."

"The second is a one piece walnut body, CNC routed from a 3D model made in Studiotools and Solidworks. It has a walnut/ebony neck, Kahler trem, Kent Armstron and Seymour Duncan pickups, and one series/parallel switch at the back. It's a slightly larger and rounder body than the alu-version.

"My goal was to make a unique signature shape. I wanted it to be sculptural, to relate to the body of the player and, like classical instruments, have a female waist line.

"As you can imagine, the guitars are quite different sonically!

I'll keep you updated. The new ones should be done quite soon."

Thanks Mathias! I love these designs, particularly the aluminium-bodied guitar. I like how it's a case of form follows function and how the back is carved out and the space between the pickups. It is utilitarian, ergonomic and classy all at the same time. It's good also to see how well the design translates to the walnut-bodied guitar.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Yamaha SBV basses

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Kevin posted this picture of his Yamaha SBV basses in the comments beneath my post last week about my Yamaha SGV-300 guitar. I thought it was a photo that deserved a proper airing on the blog itself.

Kevin comments:

I'm lucky enough to own two SBV basses, the build quality of Yamaha guitars is amazing for the price. Really love them, so much so that they get more play than my Lakland which is technically the much better instrument. Really hope Yamaha revisit this style at some point as their current designs are a little boring.

One Yamaha bass that I'm on the look-out for is the Yamaha SB-2, which was the bass sibling to the SG-2 guitar (similar to my own SG-3). I've seen photos but I do believe they are pretty scarce. I doubt many examples exist outside of Japan.

Returning to the topic of the SGV/SBV, having been playing my SGV-300 these past couple of weeks I am really beginning to appreciate what an excellent design it is. I'm a big fan of the Ovation Breadwinner, but I'd go as far as to suggest that the SGV/SBV design predates the Breadwinner as a truly ergonically-designed guitar. I don't know if it was designed specifically with ergonomics in mind or if it was just serendipitous, but the guitar hangs well on a strap, sits nicely on the lap when sitting, and has the right-forearm support on its contoured body that make it comfortable to play.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Ovation Breadwinner Limited ... snap this one up, quickly!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's my eBay tip of the week, if not the whole month! This Ovation Breadwinner Limited is not only in fantastic condition but it's also a quite a rare find, and is currently listed on eBay with a low Buy It Now price of $895.00 (which is approximately £541.28 in my money).

Trust me, this is an absolute steal. Buy it now before one of the Ovation Fan Club members snaps it up - some of those guys have huge collections of Ovations - they don't need any more.

Believe me, if I was in full-time employment right now and had the necessary readies coming in, I would only be telling you about this guitar once it was mine!

The Limited was the final incarnation of the Ovation Breadwinner and features a natural finish and a slightly modified body shape.

G L Wilson

P.S. If you do buy it, please let us know!

Additional (9 December 2009): SOLD. The seller accepted an offer of US $700.00 (approximately £429.41) which was much less than the Buy It Now price. I can't understand this - it's a highly desireable guitar.

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Ergonomic Guitar Iberica 1C

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It's not necessary to say much, the picture of this Ergonomic Guitar Iberica 1C tells the obvious: you take the most regular classical guitar and bevel it a little bit where it's necessary and you have a much more conformable instrument.

Not only electric guitars deserve ergonomics improvement, and the traditional form is not obligatorily the better one!

bertram

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Hohner EGS "Blackhawk"

guitarz.blogspot.com:
This is Hohner's take on the ergonomic guitar, the Hohner EGS "Blackhawk". Personally I would have described it as minimalist rather than ergonomic. Where is the right forearm support, a la Ovation Breadwinner or Klein guitar?

The treble-side horn is actually an "Ergo-Wing" made from anodized high-grade aluminium. The Ergo-Wing is "adjustable, and can be rotated into two different wing radius positions that comfortably fit on the guitarist's legs for different playing positions".

The guitar features Schaller M6 locking tuning machine heads and security locking pins, a trio of EMG pickups (two S-1 singlecoils and an EMG-85 humbucker) and also has a piezo pickup built-in to the Shadow tremolo system.

I think if I was buying a guitar that retailed in the USA for $3,659.99, I'd want much more tasteful pickups than EMGs. In fact, their very presence makes me wonder what's wrong with the body. Does it not have any resonance, tone or vibe of its own that a decent set of pickups would enhance?

Finally, the seller claims that this is the ONLY Hohner EGS to have been brought into the UK. That's a bold claim. How does he know?

G L Wilson

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Kramer / American Showster 'the Biker'

No this Kramer / American Showster guitar is not meant to look like an ice pop or a chili pepper like I thought first, but it's inspired by a Harley Davidson motorbike tank - I can't identify all the American icons at first sight but I can tell a cow-boy hat from a Bowler...

Anyway, if you don't have to believe that this guitar shape is cool a priori and if you don't mind about ergonomics, it's a good looking one, and I particularly like the headstock.

Looks like a tongue too...

bertram

Peavey Mystic

When 90% of contemporary guitars are copies of Stratocaster, Telecaster or Les Paul, would you say that this early 80s Peavey Mystic is too bizarre, too metal, too pointy or something? Because I find it quite nice, ergonomic and simple - nothing too much - and even respectful of the tradition - upper front horn to hold the strap, upper back to rest the right arm, lower back for the knobs, lower front to put on the leg when playing sitting and pay obedience to Mister Fender, and the extra material in the back is removed to make this (quite big) guitar lighter.

The rail humbuckers say big sound, but you can still make a lot of different kinds of music with a big sound... When I want to judge the design a guitar, I wonder if you can play it while wearing a purple fur jacket, and with the Mystic, definitely yes!

bertram

Return of the Breadwinner

Last June I commented that Eastwood's proposed Breadwinner re-issue was not going to happen. Well, now it seems that the situation has changed and Eastwood are already taking orders for their Breadwinner tribute guitar which has already been shown at NAMM 2009. I guess that for whatever reason, Ovation (now owned by Fender) had changed their minds about allowing the re-issue.

Other than the obviously different-shaped headstock, there are quite a number of cosmetic features that are, quite frankly, inaccurate, and if I was shelling out best part of a thousand dollars for one of these, I'd want it to be a much more faithful replica than the guitar we see in the image above. I see from the specs that Eastwood are making trem-equipped models available, something that the originals never had.

If I was in the market for another Breadwinner I think I'd prefer to track down an original which could theoretically be cheaper than this Eastwood, although some retailers are already hiking up the prices of the originals. I bought my own 1976 Ovation Breadwinner back in 2006 for a little over £300.

Kudos to Eastwood for responding to public demand and making this re-issue available, but why the high price and why wasn't attention to detail better?

Unusual Ovation Deacon Guitar

Regular readers will know that I am a big fan of Ovation's solid body electric guitars from the 1970s, especially the Breadwinner and Deacon models.

I did a double-take when I first saw this rather unusual-looking Ovation Deacon on eBay; I've not seen one quite like it before. I suspect that the neck and neck plate on the back of the body are the only actual Ovation parts. The neck with its white binding and double diamond inlays would appear to be accurate, but the body is wrong for a genuine Deacon as it has obviously not been routed for pickups and electronics mounted on a scratchplate. The pickups are not Ovations, the bridge is a Gibson style Tunomatic and the control layout is not correct. It doesn't appear to have the active electronics that a genuine Deacon or Breadwinner would have.

Whoever put this guitar together has done an excellent job as the body shape and the forearm and belly contouring look to be absolutely spot-on, whilst the colouring of the wood matches the neck very nicely. The effect is that it looks like it should be original, but there are too many un-Ovation things going on here for this to be the case.

Breadwinner Re-issue is Sadly Not To Be

I actually got reasonably excited when I saw this photo tucked away at the bottom of a page over at My Rare Guitars. On the left is a prototype Eastwood Breadwinner guitar alongside an Ovation Breadwinner original. It's not an exact copy - you may want to play "Spot The Difference" and see how many variations between the two you can find (the most obvious being the headstock design, of course).

Apparently Eastwood Guitars were going to gauge the public interest in this re-issue with a view to launching them next year. However, according to the good folks over at The Ovation Fan Club forum, Ovation (or possibly Fender who now own Ovation) have put the kaibosh on this re-issue, wanting to retain the option to re-issue this guitar themselves. This would seem to be a very strange reaction for a manufacturer who have in recent years seemed almost embarrassed by their solid bodied electrics such as this model - which, as any guitar enthusiast worth their salt ought to know, was years ahead of its time. However, I suspect it's Fender who are pulling the strings now. Who knows, perhaps we might see a Squier-branded Breadwinner re-issue!

I said that The Breadwinner was years ahead of its time. Well, to qualify that statement let me tell you that for starters it's an ergonomic beauty, and was in turn the inspiration behind that most celebrated of ergonomic guitars, the Klein. Standing or sitting, the guitar balances just right and is an extremely comfortable guitar to play. Manufactured in the early to mid 1970s by Ovation in New Hartford, Connecticut, the Breadwinner and its more upmarket sister, the Deacon, were among the first production guitars to feature active electronics, having an onboard FET preamp, and were also one of the earliest production guitars to have a 24-fret neck.

I had been coveting one of these beasties for quite a few years, when in September 2006 I got really lucky when I found a listing by a German seller on eBay that none of the rabid Ovation collectors seemed to have noticed. (I think they must have been searching eBay listings in the USA only. They're probably wise to this oversight by now.)

I picked up my black Breadwinner (pictured left) for absolute peanuts compared with what these guitars will often fetch. It's one of the models circa 1976 with the smaller-sized pickguard and a smooth finish (many had a bizarre textured finish). Sadly it was lacking a case, but I have found that it fits quite nicely into my Flying V's gigbag.

Having said that, it's swings and roundabouts when it comes to getting lucky on eBay. When bidding on a 12-string Ovation Deacon I lost out to another bidder in the final five seconds of the auction, and for a price just a few quid over what I had bid. As you can imagine, there was much cussing when that happened.

But, yeah, I love these guitars.

Even if they don't sit too nicely on a guitar stand!

Building the Ergonomic Guitar: This is a fascinating blog written by Robert Irizarry, a Repetitive Strain Injury sufferes, in his quest to build the perfect ergonomic guitar.

My latest guitar - Ovation Breadwinner

I've been after one of these vintage 1970s solid-body Ovations for a while now, and I finally tracked this beauty down for quite a nice price.

It was sold to me as being an Ovation Deacon but I'm not quite sure. The Deacon was the "posher" version of the Breadwinner and generally had a natural finish, bound fingerboard and "double diamond" inlays on the fingerboard.

Now, whilst my guitar (pictured above) has the smaller scratchplate that adorned most Deacons, it doesn't have the bound fingerboard, diamond inlays, and is a solid black in colour.

My inclination is that it's a Breadwinner with the smaller scratchplate, but I'm not 100% on this.

Any Ovation fans out there? Does anyone have any more info for me?

Link: The Ovation Breadwinner Fanpage

UPDATE: OK... the guys over at The Ovation Fan Club are pretty insistent that it is a Breadwinner, albeit a bit of an unusual one. It looks like they may have mixed and matched parts at the factory. (1 Oct 2006)

Gary Kramer releases the Tomcat Guitar, the newest version of the American Delta Wing guitar series: Tomcat is the ultimate guitar for its new ergonomic contour, DiMarzio pickups and Delta Wing's patented "Recessed Tuning" system.

The Ovation Breadwinner Fanpage: here's a website about a guitar that I have secretly coveted for many years. I'd love to buy one, I just don't think I can justify doing so.