About a decade before I started building guitars, I owned an early ‘70s Alvarez-Yairi dreadnaught that I dearly loved. It was a great sounding guitar, and I made a lot of progress with my playing skills on it. It had a fat neck with narrow string spacing, and the lower bout was 5 1/4” deep, which made it a little cumbersome; I would get fatigued and uncomfortable when I played it for an hour or more. But it was worth it, just to hear the sweet tones flowing forth.

   One day I took a tumble off my bike and messed up my right shoulder. I never sought medical attention, and it took a long time to get better. Playing the guitar just aggravated the problem. It was painful to swing my arm around that deep box, and consequently, my playing time dwindled to nil for a long time. One of my principle pleasures in life was taken away from me.

   Ever since that first guitar, I’ve built all of them this way. I have never had a problem with diminution of volume or projection from the shallower lower bout; quite the contrary, in fact. And the slimmer design is very easy on the shoulder and elbow.

    In the photo at right, you can see this unusual design in side view. The body depth at the neck joint and at the bottom of the lower bout is the same, 4 1/8” deep. In the waist, it’s 4 1/2”. This is my largest guitar model, but when you hold it, it feels very comfortable and intimate. And, this guitar is loud enough to wake up the neighbors!

Arm and Rib Bevels...

   About three decades ago, the genius luthier, artist, author, and all-around renaissance man,

Grit Laskin, came up with an incredibly useful guitar innovation: the beveled armrest. He engineered a way to make a stylish beveled edge on the lower bout, where the arm drapes over the soundbox, in order to improve the comfort of the player. Soon after, he added to that stroke of brilliance by making a beveled waist in his guitars, so the guitar’s back edge would rest more comfortably across the player’s ribs. The more people who played these beveled Laskin works of art, the more traction this new ergonomic feature began to gain. Mr. Laskin very generously allowed other luthiers to use this idea, asking only for a few words of attribution for the idea in return.

   Flash forward to 2002. Another brilliant innovator who builds some of the finest guitars on the planet, Kevin Ryan, designed a new version of the beveled armrest, which came to be known as the “Ryan bevel”. The Kevin Ryan design adds a beautiful, elegant visual feature to the guitar, as well as a great improvement in the playing comfort of the guitar.

   The first two photos on this page feature guitars with the Ryan-style arm bevel. The photo at left is the “Christmas Zephyr” (completed on Christmas day, 2010), featuring a Grit Laskin-style arm bevel.

   These days, a great many high-end custom guitar makers are offering either Laskin-style or Ryan-style arm bevels on their guitars. Many luthiers have added their own stylistic embellishments, but most bevels I’ve seen are based on either the Laskin or the Ryan style. I love them both.

   Once you’ve played an instrument with this great feature, you’ll instantly see why it has become so popular. Beveled armrests and rib-rests require some meticulous woodworking skills to make, and they add a fair bit of markup to the price of a fine guitar; but I’ve never heard one person express regret at having opted for this feature on their custom guitar. It’s ALWAYS love-at-first-strum.

   Another advantage to the arm bevel is, it positions your arm so that there is less damping on the soundboard. It is easier to play your guitar at full volume and tone when your arm isn’t in direct contact with the top. And you can pivot the angle of your arm over the soundboard to actually control the dynamics of the guitar.

   Pure genius! A great many of us luthiers, and a great many players, owe our heartfelt gratitude and respect to Grit Laskin and Kevin Ryan for their innovations and creative brilliance, and for their generosity in allowing the rest of us to benefit.

the Ergonomics of the Neck...

   How about  a show of hands-- how many of you out there have struggled with a guitar that had a neck that was too fat, too thin, too wide, or too narrow...? Have you ever tried to play a guitar that had strings so high off the fingerboard that fretting notes made your fingers hurt? Or with string height so low that you couldn’t play without annoying buzzes?

   If you are serious about playing guitar (and even if you aren’t!) you owe it to yourself to keep your instrument set up so that it is comfortable to play, and it performs well for your playing style. A high-octane Bluegrass picker will usually want a higher, stiffer setup than a  Hawaiian slack-key fingerstylist. Your guitar can be optimized for your style of play AND your physical comfort.

   Hopefully, you have already established a good relationship with a skilled, dependable guitar repair technician in your area.

   If you have never had a good, professional setup done on your favorite guitar, you will be amazed what a positive difference it can make, both in the comfort and pleasure you get from playing, and the pleasure of discovering that your guitar is actually a much better instrument than you ever thought it was!

   You will also do yourself a BIG favor by learning a few essentials about how guitars are set up and optimized, even if you don’t plan on doing this work yourself. This way, you will know exactly what to ask for when you are having your guitar serviced, or commissioning a custom instrument.

   The best resource I know of to learn this stuff is the website of the Grand Master of guitar repair and restoration, Mr. Frank Ford. At Frank’s site, frets.com, you will find a huge, detailed, easy-to-navigate-and-understand archive of useful guitar information. You should explore the site, and bookmark it for frequent reference.

Your Custom Neck Specifications

   When you are ready to order a custom-built guitar, I will do everything I can to make sure it is built to your ideal specifications. Comprehensive and accurate information will help the process considerably. I will ask you lots of questions about your preferences, your playing style, your favorite guitars, and other factors that will define the specifics of the guitar you’ve always wanted.

   Among the most important things to consider is the neck. It’s got to fit your hand. It’s got to feel right for your playing methods. A detailed, accurate set of measurements is crucial for planning the build. The most important measurements I need are:

1. 1. Width of the fingerboard at the nut;
   

2. 2. String spread at the nut, measured from the outsides of the high and low E strings;
   

3. 3. Width of the fingerboard at the neck/body joint;
   

4. 4. String spread at the bridge saddle, measured from the outsides of the high and low E strings;
   

5. 5. Your preferred scale length, or, for a multiscale guitar, your preferred range of scale spread. For more info on scale length, go to Short Scale, Long Scale, Multiscale.
   

6. 6.Neck profile. This is often described as “C shape” or “D-shape”, slim, medium, or fat.
   

7. 7.Depth of the neck at the first and tenth frets.
   

   Below are some photos that show you how to measure the depth and shape of your favorite neck, so that I can accurately replicate it on your custom guitar. When we are designing your guitar, we will address all these items; but it is always good to have your preferred specifications well-defined in advance, wherever possible.