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“Uncomfortable” guitar to play.

Ashley Willis

Free Bird Player
  • Nov 11, 2019
    64
    438
    Georgia, USA
    Recently, my Les Paul is becoming more and more uncomfortable to play. The weight of it is hurting my shoulders and making my posture worse, as I lean forward to play it. Also it seems I’m having more trouble playing certain things with my left hand despite having a good setup on it. I have small, fat hands so what would be a good neck shape, fretboard radius and light guitar that would still have a good, fat Gibsonish tone?
     

    Dominik Gräber

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    Recently, my Les Paul is becoming more and more uncomfortable to play. The weight of it is hurting my shoulders and making my posture worse, as I lean forward to play it. Also it seems I’m having more trouble playing certain things with my left hand despite having a good setup on it. I have small, fat hands so what would be a good neck shape, fretboard radius and light guitar that would still have a good, fat Gibsonish tone?
    Epiphone will soon release their new Prophecy Series. If it's anything like their previous models, the Les Paul Model will have a very thin, fast neck. They will have Fishman pickups but with special voicings that are ment to give that Gibson sound. That's what I heard. Also they will probably be lighter than a standard LP.

    And if you continue to play a heavy guitar standing up... my buddy Matt Heafy has a special dual shoulder strap to balance the weight on your shoulders. It's rather expensive for a guitar strap though.

    PS. If you decide get a different guitar I'd gladly store that Gibson in my room for you :)
     
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    idssdi

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    You can also try some super strats or gibson copies form other brands. I think Schecter has the same gibson les paul single cut model and it's probably easier to play
     
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    idssdi

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    I started looking at the new EVH Wolfgang WG Standard. Features seem pretty good for the price.
    There's quite a lot of guitar you can get for your buck nowadays really. I think the most important feature you're looking for are humbuckers and there are a lot of great humbucker guitars for a reasonable price.
     
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    Firsty Lasty

    New Student
    Nov 11, 2019
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    I never got along with the ergonomics of LP guitars or their many clones. As for tone, to my ears any guitars with basically similar pickups sound the same and all other details aren't worth mentioning. I do have a bit of hearing damage so feel free to disagree, but either way imo it's hard to justify chasing specific tones outside of a real recording studio.
     
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    William B.

    Hot Topic Tourer
  • Nov 11, 2019
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    I think Schecter was really light, I only tried it like once or twice. I think Gibson has D shaped necks and Fenders C shaped. Not sure if there was another shape of neck. There's Jumbo frets, I don't know what that's like. I think Fenders have a good weight, Gibson a lot heavier and I heard the necks break easy cause they are fixed. I could totally be wrong, I only ever owned a Fender and was lucky to play on a few other brands a few times at guitar stores. Why does Schecter need autocorrect?
     
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    Kim

    Garage band Groupie
    Nov 11, 2019
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    I have a Epiphone LP custom pro, i like it a lot, but it is heavy.. What Dominic said: Matt from Trivium uses this guitar and has some straps for it so you can play standing.
    I recently bought a Jackson Misha Mansoor, thats so light when i compare it to LP, i really like the neck about it (and everything else, so happy with it).
    Maybe just go to a store and try some different guitars, thats what works for me. When i do research online sometimes i think i found perfect guitar, but when i play it in store it's not the perfect guitar for me
    Good luck with it
     
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    Ed Seith

    Supreme Galactic Overlord
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  • Nov 11, 2019
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    One of the reasons your LP is sp special is the 24-3/4" scale length. The Fender standard is 25.5," and most guitars of the "superstrat" variety have that 25.5" scale length. That makes it harder for us guys with short chubby fingers to make the stretches.

    As much as your lovely wife will probably want to kill me for saying this, PRS is your friend here. Most PRS guitars (except the baritones) have a 25" scale length, which is much more amendable to our particular brand of fingers. You can score a nice PRS SE for $800-1000, cheaper used, and they're outstanding instruments. They're also lighter and more ergonomic. A Custom 22 or Custom 24 can be your buddy.