The Haywire custom guitar shop began about 40 years ago to help players address specific problems such as playing a guitar comfortably with tendonitis. It was begun as a resource of “Musicians working for musicians” with a focus on guitar and bass players only. Unlike most “music stores” our philosophy is, “one size does not necessarily fit all”. Sometimes “making the right decision” is confused with what I believe should be, “making a decision then making it right”. Players are not taught this however because it is the job of the Luthier/tech.

The particular area of concern for guitar players is “ease of play” while dealing with “tendonitis in fretting hand, and hands on the small side”.

getting the guitar exactly right for playing

As it is not an unusual problem for us, knowing that gets me right to the best solution for guitar players. That is the key for working with players and getting the guitar exactly right for playing a guitar comfortably with tendonitis.

the best solution for guitar players

The first step in solving any guitar playing problem is to identify the problem precisely-which needs to be done well.Here’s what I propose for maximum comfort for players with tendonitis or very small hands that tend to cramp easily:

1)-Super-light body. We often bake wood for several days to remove moisture, thus extra weight and make it feather light-then re-seal it and finish it. Players often forget that even just picking up a guitar with too much extra weight exacerbates a hand or wrist problem. So we eliminate any chance of re-injury by removing weight to facilitate playing a guitar comfortably with tendonitis.

2)- A very comfortable “C” shape thin neck profile shaved lightly for a smaller hand.

3)-Super ultra-low action set up with 9-42 gauge extra light strings for almost no resistance.

4)-Truss rod set in what we refer to as “extreme parallel” so the action and string height

is consistently the same all the way up and down the neck. If there is no need to change the players technique there will be less hand stress. You need comfort and ability to play longer hours with no painful side effects.

identify the problem precisely

Let your Luthier know your thoughts on what you would need to play more comfortably and painlessly. This is all done in our shop every day. It is the players job to play comfortably and our job as Luthiers to create the comfort when playing a guitar comfortably with tendonitis.