Nancy Conescu's Ergonomic Guitar

A collaboration with a musician with special requirements resulted in the instrument pictured below. Nancy Conescu is a professional singer and guitarist who suffers from bursitis in her right shoulder. She came to me with the idea of a wedge body version of my double-cutaway steel string. I had already built instruments with arm bevels, so we added one of those to the design as well. Finally, I added a cutout for her right leg to move the instrument forward and out away from her, to aid in accessing the high frets while playing in a seated position.

The resulting instrument is now her main performing guitar, and has accompanied her on several tours to Ireland and the Eastern U.S., along with regular gigs in Portland, OR. She tells me that she no longer experiences any shoulder problems from playing.