With the acquisition of my new DV8-R, I felt what it feels like to play a guitar being normal height. It was positioned nicely in the front and center of my body and all the frets were easily accessible, i could even play the guitar lower than I usually do since it didn't have it's rightward tendency. So I get to thinking, being 6'-6" there's lots of stuff that is a struggle to use that are designed for normal people, so why not make a thread where the big guys can recommend gear that's more amenable to their stature?
So I'll share my experiences playing different shaped guitars.
Super Strat - if it's 25.5" scale, I can play it more easily, these guitars have a tendency to swing towards my picking hand which make playing the higher frets on the EAD strings more difficult. Playing these sitting down, if it's not a 24.5" scale guitar, it's going to sit too low on my knee and I ALWAYS have to play with my foot up on something with the guitar on my left knee, classical style. This is probably one of the better shapes to play for me, but I do kind of have to jack the strap up to play standing up.
Regular V - Too small if it's not 25.5". usually these are not balanced well due to less than ideal strap placement, the broader shoulders make the guitar hang awkwardly. Not a huge fan.
Offset V - Had an RR3, it was too small. Played an Alexi Laiho signature, it's bigger and better balanced (RR3 is top heavy), but still kind of a pain.
"King" V - This is where I'd put my DV8-R, and if I'm mis using the terminology, then too bad. This is by far the biggest/longest guitar I've owned and it's the only shape I'm going to buy from now on. Playing sitting down is somewhat challenging, but once you figure it out, it's just as comfortable. I place the V over my right knee then pinch the lower fin between my thigh and calf and use my left leg to adjust the angle of the fretboard (how vertical it is). Really not so bad. If you're over 6'-3" you owe it to yourself to play one of these shaped guitars. The shape is a stretched out V.
ML - sits WAY too low on my thigh, have to play it classically, fairly balanced however. pretty good to play standing up.
SG - this guitar cheats toward my picking hand worse than strats do because they lack the body cutaway that kind of holds the strat in place when you're standing up. I feel myself constantly fighting the guitar to stay in the center of my body.
Z/Star (explorer, Kelley, etc) - not played one for more than a brief moment whilst sitting, so I'll abstain.
LP style - same as the SG, they fall to my right pretty quickly and are not conducive to moving around while playing. Not a big deal when chording, can be a huge pain if you let a lead sneak up on you while you're mucking around. However, since the LP is so heavy, it sits at a fairly steep angle for me otherwise, so it can be easy to adjust to get your hands on some leads.
So to my other titans on the board, what is your experience with different guitar shapes?
Basically my rule of thumb when buying is "25.5 or bust", so Gibson and I don't get along all that well.
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This post has been edited by Goliath: Dec 17 2007, 05:12 AM
