Looking for a guitar with a large forearm bend / scoop

Gear
#1

Hello,

I’m looking to find a thin guitar that has a large forearm scoop similar to the jp70, only with a larger rest area for the forearm.

I have long arms, and found both features (larger forearm rest, big scoop) to make a huge difference in my comfort and picking speed.

I figured either a larger superstrat (like Dean MD24) with a forearm scoop or an ergonomic guitar with a larger, curved forearm rest (like the discontinued andreas shark guitars - https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/RLgAAOSwIDtj6UKK/s-l1600.jpg) would work well.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

#2

What about an Explorer shape?

#3

Have you looked into guitars with no forarm rest?

Like a Steinberger Spirit?

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That way you can move your forarm around a load without relying on a rest, very much like a Dimebag Darrell guitar.

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You can see how he’s not using a rest at all for the forarm, it’s a rest for the wrist.

I do like a forarm rest, but from practicing with my Steinberger Spirit a lot, taking that wood away gives you a lot of articulation in your picking angles.

The small bodies can act like a pivot point for your hand rather than a comfortable rest. It’s all personal taste ofcourse, but I love small bodies on guitar. You can move around them much more than lets say a Gibson.

#4

That’s a good suggestion, thank you. I honestly never tried explorer guitars, but they certainly have a large enough area for the forearm.

#5

Thanks for your response. Picking angles is definitely an issue for me.

I tried a practice guitar with no body- it was comfortable, but it moved too much and didn’t allow for fast picking. It was also very light at 4lb.

Are you able to generate a lot of picking speed for fast soloing with your Steinberger Spirit guitar? does the lack of arm rest make it move a lot when you increase your picking speed?

A star / explorer shaped guitar like the Dimebag Darrell model is a very good suggestion as it would let me rest more of my arm. I looked online and found the Ibanez XPT series also has a forearm curve on the body which also helps my playing. I’ll have to check out a few of these.

#6

Have you ever tried a V? I caught the bug about a year ago, via my Jackson King V, hahaha and haven’t looked back.

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It’s perfect if you like sitting and playing in the classical position and while standing you can do the Mustaine thing where you lock the bottom fin between the legs to keep the guitar stable while concentrating on parts.

I agree on headless and other ergonomic “small” guitars the one time I played a strandberg I felt like I was gonna drop it cause it’s so light.

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#7

Zakk Wylde has a guitar with a massive arm rest, I’m not sure how curved it is tho.

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I think it all depends on your picking style, like if I did a lot of alternate picking it might be an issue, but I don’t, and even then it depends on how you anchor on the guitar. I don’t think it’s an issue tho, the thing that can be an issue is sliding your hand up n down the neck as that can drag the guitar with it, but just practice will sort it out I believe. You adapt to what you have to deal with, I acually feel that a bulky guitar like a Gibson limits me much more than a smaller body. It might be my own preference for smaller bodies, but like I said, you do adapt to it. I don’t think it limits speed at all.

If Eddie enjoyed sitting on the toilet practicing with this guitar it’s good enough for me lol
Better than tik tok.

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#8

btw as far as i’m aware evh’s guitar there is hollow, super light, I don’t think picking is an issue at all.
Mostly sliding across the guitar would be an issue. but you adapt

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The spirit is solid wood so it’s acually quite heavy.

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#9

Thank you. This is a good suggestion. Since i don’t like playing guitar on my left leg (it makes my rhythm worse), I’m going to try out star / explorer shaped guitars- which are are very similar to flying V’s on the top part but have a bottom that allows for playing on the right leg. I was thinking of trying the xiphos line which has a forearm curve for extra comfort.

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#10

That’s a super cool looking guitar I’ll check it out. Leverage is very important as you mention. I agree with you that smaller guitars are generally more comfortable than large guitars. But for me- they don’t offer enough leverage for faster picking. One option is to mount them to a performance guitar stand which i’m considering trying.

Larger guitars are generally less comfortable for me also- strats and telecasters actually hurt to play. But I noticed thinner superstrats, especially larger ones fit really well. It’s about finding a guitar that fits just right- otherwise my angles always feel off. To give an example- For years I could play the crossroads Paganini lick at most around 120bpm. After finding a better guitar and tweaking my posture I can get to 140, and randomly on good days when my position is perfect I had it at 150+. My speed and rhythm feel tied to my sense of comfort and angles created from my arm/hand and the guitar.

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#11

Yes it’s actually almost double the weight of my practice guitar. Interesting. I will check out a few videos online and read more about it. Thank you.

#12

I have an ibanez s that is … relatively heavy, but slim. Have you ever tried one of them?

man his s is gorgeous

it doesn’t have a forarm scoop tho

Just seen this from Ned himself, I really do love the spirit, I know there are better headless small body guitars today, but they are relatively expensive. The spirit is as far as I’m aware one of the less expensive choices. With that box type body.

#13

Try a strandburg boden.

#14

BC Rich is making the Stealth again as well if you want a more rounded design. Made In Korea to higher end specs than the last 10-15 years of low quality import nonsense.

#15

One guitar I’ve been looking at, and acually ordered it yesterday, is this.

EART GW-2

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I can’t say what it’s like personally, at least not for a couple weeks for it to arrive, looks great tho. Seen positive and negitive on it, but one thing that sold it for me, besides only being roughly 300 quid for a new guitar, is the neck and stainless steel frets. This is acually way cheaper than a spirit and possibly quite better… I’ll see soon. It has a decent arm rest like you’re after too.

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