Ergonomic Guitars vs Guitar Culture

(photo:www.teuffel.com)

What's the role of ergonomic guitar design in guitar culture and it's relationship to the Stratocaster?

The Strat certainly incorporates & implements ergonomics with its double cutaways, body contours, fretboard curvature and inline tuners, but did it prematurely crystallize into an icon before it could evolve further? An era of guitar heroes adds so much significance that the symbolism of the shape has frozen its face and marketing position.

Why didn't the Fender Stratocaster experience a similar evolution from 1956 to 2006 as the Chevy Corvette automobile?

The late 70's & early 80's saw lots of radical shapes & designs, but the retro thing reversed that. I recall seeing old Gretch guitars gathering dust, until The Stray Cats appeared on MTV. Strats were a long time standard utility but no longer terrifically exciting until Eric Johnson & SRV hit, and the subject of solidbody TONE became a focus. Coupling the fact that those two played Strats, along with discourse on the superiority of OLDER Strats, repositioned Strats from standard utilitarian fare to vintage mystical significance. EJ & SRV also boosted a Hendrix resurgence, and we also began to see more of Jeff Beck, who switched back to Strats from Jacksons because they were less ergonomic-- his reason being that if he had to fight the guitar more, it brought more out of his playing. His point also being that without discipline, an easy to play guitar can be used merely for showy displays-- kinda the way the ball point pen or keyboard permits one to write without the amount of measured thought required when using a quill pen. (no comments about my writing, please).

And at some point, the Hendrix-with-Strat silhouette became the symbol of Rock Guitar.

With the reissues, signature models and custom stuff we do see more emphasis on neck profiles, fret size and heel profiles, but the Strat physiognomy is something we don't touch. Notice Fender's efforts with the VG Strat at adding as little as possible to detract from the standard appearance. Though many Shredders prefer say, Ibanez models for their slimmer/wider necks, the Strat profile is adhered to.

We started to see more incidence of repetitive strain injury with the supershredders of the 80's. Slimmer/wider necks and more heel relief were offered by companies like Ibanez & Jackson, which is why we see those type of players playing JEM types instead of Strats, but the overall profile remains Strat. Although Yngwie still plays a Strat-- his special scalloped fretboard, is definitely intended to enhance the ergonomics of bend-vibrato technique.

Perhaps it will require a new BLIND guitar hero who somehow gets his hands on a great sounding, but unorthodox shaped & dramatically ergonomic guitar, to gain cosmetic acceptance for more ergonomically designed guitars. But you see that this would be "positioning" to a great player and not emphasized as a solution for tendonitis. Ergonomics with automobiles has been successfully marketed by positioning ergonomics with sexy & sporty looks and appeal. Merely positioning "against" repetitive strain injury doesn't address or align with sex appeal or artist appeal. Positioning involves aligning with, to, at, for, against, above, below, around-- (pick any preposition). Watch the TV commercials for this. Great sounding instruments, regardless of design & appearance might show up in recording studios or artist collections, and if the artist believes in them or needs an interesting prop, those guitars may make it on stage and in the press.

Recently, I watched Prince perform the Superbowl halftime show. He started with a Tele, switched to a Strat, and ended with a guitar in the body shape of his symbol. But I betcha, a lot of folks thought the final guitar was cool. Sequencing also helped with that positioning. But without the artist to associate it with, that guitar would be just plain weird to anyone. Billy Gibbons brings some bizarre stuff onstage and yet remains himself positioned with very rootsy traditional blues-rock culture. Flying V, Explorer & Firebird shapes are still accepted-- mainly in metal, the latter in blues & classic rock.

Then there's the Fracturecaster, which may have nothing to do with this context, but I have to mention it, as well as the Distortocaster.

An ergonomic guitar may need to be disguised as something else, as like hiding medicine in a food or candy delivery system.

Strats are like Choppers. They look fast and agile, but compared to Gran Prix bikes, Choppers are sluggish and barely manageable. Ergonomics is the actual primary difference. But the ergonomics is positioned with "racing", the enhancement of racing and the sexy CULTURE of racing, and not focused on or positioned to handling, safety or crash prevention. Thus, race style motorcycles enjoy a culture and market position, so we see them on the road with choppers.

Incorporating certain key styling cues and cultural aesthetics into ergonomic guitars, appealing to both metal and fusion shredders, may be a way to attract the interest of these players and give higher profile to ergonomic guitars. They've also must have exceptional natural tones that can be identified with Strats and/or Les Pauls. It's evident that in spite of electric guitar's position as a relatively new instrument due to it's role, via effects, as a major synthesizer and chameleon, that the fundamental Strat/ LP tones represent a plateau in its basic sonic evolution. The timetrack is really stretching out for basic electric guitar look and tone due to the impact of the last 50 years and resulting symbolisms. Eric Johnson, who has brought so much focus on Strat tone has also, with his signature Strat, helped implement the most ergonomic refinements to a Fender labeled production model Strat, since its invention. Sounds like a bold statement, but besides the Malmsteen scalloped fretboard model, there simply hasn't been this degree of neck alteration with production Fender Strats. So it took a progressive player like Eric Johnson, with a respect for the traditional Strat form and fondness of Strat tones, to help Fender make some long overdue advancements with very minor cosmetic alteration. It takes a highly respected player's player to create change that a large market and a large manufacturer will agree to. Still, there is probably some Strat-snob purist out there complaining about the EJ Strat's lack of string wings.

In a pure sense, many current ergonomic guitar designs do incorporate aesthetics of form and materials, but without more "positioning adornments" will still appear too strange or simply utilitarian to the marketplace. Remember how Parker introduced their line with the lower priced- more strat looking NiteFly? Steinbergers have been through various convolutions. Joni Mitchell moves between Martin Dreadnaughts and Parkers. A couple months ago, some popular reggae guitarist, whose name escapes me, had one helluva time trying to auction off his machine gun looking guitar, probably because it was politically incorrect.

In the wink of an eye, an entire trend can emerge or change, given specific positioning and alignment. Meanwhile, I can feel the pain of those desiring more ergonomics.

Resources-inspiration:
Building the Ergonomic Guitar (blog)

www.teuffel.com