Musician designs guitar especially for the female body

The St Vincent Signature guitar is designed for the female body and leaves room for breasts.

Female guitarists have always had to make do with instruments designed to favour the male body. It certainly hasn’t held them back, but the weight, size and design of most guitars can not only make them harder for women to play, but can also be one of the factors that put girls off from picking one up in the first place. Now, guitar-makers Ernie Ball and musician Annie Clark (who plays under the moniker St. Vincent) have created Clarke’s dream guitar with the female body — breasts and all — in mind.

Unlike many products ‘for women’ that are simply a repackaged version of the original, the St Vincent signature guitar, was designed specifically to solve the problems of existing guitars. The guitar weighs only seven pounds — significantly less than rock and roll classics such as the Sixties Strat or Seventies Les Paul. It is also slender and hangs low on the body, leaving room for the player’s breasts and waist. All the features of the model — such as mini-humbucker pickups, a rosewood fingerboard, a neck in Vincent blue finish — were selected by Clark herself to suit her personal playing style.

The St Vincent signature is for sale now from Ernie Ball stockists for USD 1899. Could other instruments be adapted to better suit different body types?