This is my third feature on headstock ergonomics - following on from my 2016 original, and 2018 follow-up. On this occasion the catalyst for this article was the recent Birmingham Guitar Show - where I liked a lot of the body shapes I saw on display, but was put off by their unergonomic or in fact actually rather ugly headstocks.

Creating an aesthetically beautiful but distinct headstock shape is an incredible difficult task these days - and lots of brands essentially ’fail’ in that area - ...

There were two big stories that dominated the guitar booths at NAMM 2018 - namely Ibanez’s new millennial Suhr-alike range and Fender’s smart Parallel Universe range. My very first guitar was that original Super-Strat the Ibanez Roadstar RG 440 (1986) in black - with the slightly odd older rounded headstock shape. The new headstock is much nicer, and there are some genuine innovations at this price point - with dedicated and exclusive Seymour Duncan Hyperion pickups across the range...

So I am increasingly thinking my next guitar will be a singlecut style one - the usual mahogany body + mahogany neck, Rosewood or Ebony Board, usually 4 control dials and (at least) two humbuckers etc. - for some deep and rich rock sounds. Up until now my preference has been for doublecut S-style guitars, and the PRS CE and Holcombe SE I already have quite adequately represent that genre for now.

You may recall I was considering a Gibson Les Paul Standard HP for a while - but on ...

Note - follow up article [here]

Many a owner of a vintage guitar has experienced the difficulty of keeping the guitar in tune. There are a couple of factors here that are critical to tuning fidelity. Firstly, get over the hangup of having to use the original tuners - you really need locking tuners for any reasonable peace of mind. Locking tuners are available in a vast variety of shapes and types, including various vintage-inspired ones, so it should not prove to be problematic to find a ...