Forshage Ergonomic Guitar
Derek
make Donald Trump blush, I have commissioned Chris Forshage to build
me one of his.
Going for mahogany body with quilted maple cap. Benedetto humbuckers,
243/4" scale, with 3 way switching.
Chris does a black on quilt that is spectacular. I have a jpg of it
if anyone is interested.
I have to say thanks to Roger aka rpguitar for his very detailed demo
on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtK310fJsdc
I am selling my Tal, Eastman, and PRS Archtop. Continuing to thin out
the herd.
A continuation of trying to simplify. Will take approximately 6
months. Will post pics when I get it.
Marc Why
Good choice, and congrats! I have a Forshage headless, and it's been
the only guitar I've used since I received it! [I sold a Klein to buy
it, and I'm glad I did!] Great feel, great sound, great guy to work
with.
Please keep us posted on the progress.
(some pics of mine on myspace)
Peace,
Marc
www.myspace.com/marcwhygroup
woland99
Good decision. I sold my 335 and PRS Soapbar and got Clown Fish
as Chris Forshage used to call them. So now I have CF, DA EXL and
ASAT Tele - that is more than I need. BTW Chris put Kent Armstrong
on EXL - it sounds waaaaay better now - the original minihumbucker
("designed by Kent Armstrong" which apparently is not he same at all
as "Kent Armstrong made") was thin and weak. It is called Armstrong
Handmade Adjustable Single Coil and the cost was $200 including
installation and setup.
Joey Goldstein
What's the price range of these guitars?
--
Joey Goldstein
<http://www.joeygoldstein.com>
<http://homepage.mac.com/josephgoldstein/AudioClips/audio.htm>
joegold AT sympatico DOT ca
Derek
>
> What's the price range of these guitars?
I am getting just the basics, no real eye candy or special wiring, so
$2500. Not sure how many loonies that is. :-)
Tone
> Derek wrote:
> > After watching discountinued Kleins go by on ebay at prices that would
> > make Donald Trump blush, I have commissioned Chris Forshage to build
> > me one of his.
>
> > Going for mahogany body with quilted maple cap. Benedetto humbuckers,
> > 243/4" scale, with 3 way switching.
>
> > Chris does a black on quilt that is spectacular. I have a jpg of it
> > if anyone is interested.
>
> > I have to say thanks to Roger aka rpguitar for his very detailed demo
> > on youtube.
>
> >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtK310fJsdc
>
> > I am selling my Tal, Eastman, and PRS Archtop. Continuing to thin out
> > the herd.
>
> > A continuation of trying to simplify. Will take approximately 6
> > months. Will post pics when I get it.
>
> What's the price range of these guitars?
About 3K if I'm not mistaken. They were 2500 ($) about a year and a
half ago when I contacted him and I think they went up.
Tone
I stand corrected! :-)
Joey Goldstein
We're pretty close to par these days. Sometimes higher!
Derek
> We're pretty close to par these days. Sometimes higher!
Funny thing. When I called him to discuss, very nice guy btw, he
asked me what sound I was looking for.
I told him I wanted it to sound like my 175. He laughed and said he
could get me in the 335 range with the mahagony/maple combo and
benedetto buckers.
He is currently building one out of swamp ash (Jody Fisher's Klein is
SA), and he said he is dying to hear what that will sound like.
ho...@jhu.edu
> > > I have to say thanks to Roger aka rpguitar for his very detailed demo
> > > on youtube.
Roger's sounds beautiful. Are these fully hollow or semi-hollow
(center block).
Thanks,
Andy
Derek
> Hi,
>
> Roger's sounds beautiful. Are these fully hollow or semi-hollow
> (center block).
>
> Thanks,
> Andy
Semi hollow. Chris calls the process putting two pieces of a clam
together.
woland99
Mine was $2600. Started almost a year ago. It IS however an eye
candy - mahohany neck and back and quilted maple to with sunburst
finish. Since I have split coil Schaller HBs in it thr volume pot
is push/ull to allow singlr coil mode. There is also hot single
coil in the middle tha is activated by pulling the tome pot.
I am very pleased with that guitar. If I could change one thing
on it I would not do 24 frets - that makes pickups pretty crowded
and makes it harder to play with fingers. Scale is 25" - that was
very good choice for my hands.
Paul P
> After watching discountinued Kleins go by on ebay at prices that would
> make Donald Trump blush, I have commissioned Chris Forshage to build
> me one of his.
I'm curious, seeing as how this is an ergonomic guitar, is it
made to fit you personally ? Things like neck angle at rest
or the distance between your thigh and the bridge/pickups ?
I have to admit it looks pretty strange to me.
Paul P
Derek
>
> I'm curious, seeing as how this is an ergonomic guitar, is it
> made to fit you personally ? Things like neck angle at rest
> or the distance between your thigh and the bridge/pickups ?
>
> I have to admit it looks pretty strange to me.
>
> Paul P
Good question Paul. We talked about my size (I am 6'6") and scale
length. Chris is 6'2", and felt there wouldn't need to be any
adjustment to the design.
Since I play the 175 daily, and it is the most comfortable guitar to
me, we went with that scale, and general neck carve.
I regularly switch between the 175, a strat, tele, and PRS (wide fat
carve), and the various scales and neck shapes don't bother me at all.
However, I prefer the chunkier neck of the 175 for chord melody
stuff.
Yep strange design indeed, but if you were ever to play one, you
wouldn't care what it looked like.
I look forward to playing a 2-3 hour solo gig seated and not needing
chiropractic intervention afterward. :-)
Joey Goldstein
The main thing is that it's in a good position to play while seated.
*Nobody* makes a solid-body guitar that is in a good position to play
while seated. All of them require you to either raise your right leg
(via a footstool or by propping up your heel some somehow) and/or
wearing a shoulder strap, both of which are bad for your body over the
long term.
I've been using a Dynarette cushion velcro-ed onto my Tele (for more
stability) to achieve something similar to the Klein/Forshage effect.
This is a bit less of a problem with a full-sized archtop or acoustic
guitar, but even they could stand to be raised a bit. 335-type bodies
have the same problems as solid-bodies, plus they tend to slide off of
your lap depending on where the lower bout's curve is built.
I agree that the "ergonomic" guitars look a bit strange. But it might be
worth it.
The Forshage looks a bit weirder than the Klein to me for some reason.
The guy in that video made it sound like the F has a smaller upper bout
than the K, but it looks larger to me. There doesn't look to be anywhere
to rest your forearm on the upper bout either.
What'd be great for me is if someone could just build me a body (with
the right neck angle/instrument height) that I could simply drop one of
my Strat or Tele necks onto. The body would have to be made to take a
Strat pickguard too, so that I could experiment easily with various
pickup combinations.
Actually, all I'd really need is a Tele or Strat body with about 2.5 to
3 inches more wood below the strings.
Todd Lainhart
>
> A continuation of trying to simplify. Will take approximately 6
> months. Will post pics when I get it.
I really like the sound of the instrument on the youtube vid. I
googled, and couldn't find anymore information on it at the Forshage
site. Does he have site info on this instrument?
Derek
> I really like the sound of the instrument on the youtube vid. I
> googled, and couldn't find anymore information on it at the Forshage
> site. Does he have site info on this instrument?
No, actually he doesn't, which is a bit odd.
I asked him about this, and it is one of those things, where he just
hasn't gotten around to it.
He prefers to make the big boxes, but I think this design is pretty
popular.
Tim McNamara
Joey Goldstein <nos...@nowhere.net> wrote:
> Actually, all I'd really need is a Tele or Strat body with about 2.5
> to 3 inches more wood below the strings.
Having been playing my Frankenstrat much more lately, after adding a
Classic 57 pup, and most of that sitting down I having to agree. The
resulting position just isn't comfortable (granted I am 6'4"- it might
be different if I was 5'4"). Raising the guitar a few inches would be
helpful.
It ought to be possible to fashion a lift that clips onto the guitar and
balances it on your leg. This would be easier with a Tele, with its
squarer contours, than with a Strat.
woland99
I keep pestering Chris to update his website - it is about 5 yrs old.
There is a bit on that guitar at:
http://tinyurl.com/38rf5h
Also email Chris - he has tons of pics of of every guitar he built.
He may be a tad slow to reply - his wife is about go into labor
(Monday) so chances are you will not get a reply for a week or so.
Joey Goldstein
Well if you find someone doing that please let me know.
rpguitar
guitar!
I received my Forshage in June of '07 after about 9 months of
waiting. After playing it, I literally stopped my obsessive hunt for
electric guitars. Anyone who has seen the long list on my website of
guitars that came-and-went would appreciate that this was a very big
deal to me. I will admit that I bought ONE more electric after that,
an actual Klein that came up on Ebay. Call me an idiot, but I just
"had" to experience the myth for myself.
The Forshage is the one electric from my stable that I'd keep if I was
forced to do such a dreadful thing. It is more comfy even than the
Klein, for it is lighter, more rounded, and it fits my frame slightly
better. Plus the neck is a chunky Gibson kinda thing as opposed to
the skinny, albeit sleek, solid rosewood one on the Klein.
From what I know of my Forshage and at least one other, they are very
lively and bright - very much a hollowbody. I have a Gibson '57
Classic in the neck position and it gets a super jazz tone; it would
be even better at 24.75" (mine is 25"). The Strat pickups in the
other positions are extremely sensitive and chimey. You can hear some
of that on my video but playing the guitar, it's palpable. It does
require some control but the rewards are worth it.
After owning this instrument, the idea of even an 8 lb Strat or Tele,
with its once-familiar but now suddenly awkward dangling neck, with
that "huge" headstock (!), takes getting used to. It literally
changes one's expectation of the physical relationship one has with
the guitar (ahem, no jokes fellas). My 2nd choice after the Forshage,
for what it's worth, is my 1957 ES-175DN. A completely traditional,
but much beloved creature. I dig the Klein but haven't bonded with it
quite the same way.
Anyway, hope it goes well for you. Any other questions, let me know.
Roger
Paul P
> Tim McNamara wrote:
>
>> It ought to be possible to fashion a lift that clips onto the guitar
>> and balances it on your leg. This would be easier with a Tele, with
>> its squarer contours, than with a Strat.
>
> Well if you find someone doing that please let me know.
There are a bunch of them for classical guitars that usually attach with
suction cups.
See : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_guitar_accessories for a
list of links
These might work well for a thick hollow body. It should be possible to
make
something similar a bit narrower to fit on a Tele.
Paul P
Joey Goldstein
Yeah, I'm aware of most of those, and I own both the Dynarette and the
Neck Up.
The NA seemed promising at first but it's too unstable with my Tele
(suction cup doesn't hold well enough and the guitar tends to wobble
anyway) and wouldn't work with a Strat. It wouldn't work with my other
Tele either which has a Tung oil finish. i.e. It only works with lacquer
finishes, and even then not very well.
woland99
Paul - one crucial difference in ergonomics of Forshage Clown Fish
guitar is that the overall length of guitar. Because strings go from
headless end to the bridge on the other end of the instrument the
length is scale + about 5" at the bout and 2.4" at the headstock
(Forsgage guitar has a small extension above the nut - mostly for
comfort and Chris very smartly gives it extra girth which makes
it very easy to play in the first position).
Now compare it with eg. Tele: 5.5" between bridge and lower bout
and almost 8" of between nut and to of hedstock.
Or DA EXL: 10" between bridge and lower bout and 8" headstock.
Tele already has feel that your left hand is close to the body.
Forshage guitar takes it a step further - whether you play sitting
or standing you get to fret with your elbow closer o your body than
on any other instrument. Compared with Tele I would say Forshage is
about an inch closer. When I pick DA EXL it feels like suddenly you
have to use different parts of tendons and muscles to fret. So much
difference in geometry.
The other thing that Chris does very well is neck playability and
precision. The intonation is so good and chords sound in such a
sweet consonance that you suddenly hear thing that were not so
obvious on other instruments. And despite the lack of headstock
that guitars sustains very well.
So ergonomics is one thing. Precision is another - and the neck on
that guitar is the best I ever played (including one PRS that I owned
and several that I tried). And Chris will shape it for you any way
you want it - I took couple guitars that had necks that I liked to
him - my 335 (which I later sold after getting Clown Fish) and my
Tele and he came up with compromise neck. And with string spacing
at the bridge exactly as I wanted - slightly narrower than Tele
but wither than 335 - and easier to fingerpick.
If I was doing it again I am not sure I would go for third pickup
and 24 frets. Thirst pickup is somewhat in a way of fingerpicking
(but hey - so is pickguard on my DA - so you just turn amp up and
do not use such a wide attack).