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Wrist
Angle
Q Should I strive to
keep my left wrist straight (in line with my forearm) or bent upward
when fretting the strings? I’ve been told that I should play with
my wrist at about a 30- to 45-degree angle, but this position creates
discomfort.
John Crosswhite
San Jose, California
A After three years of doctors, treatments,
and therapies, I’ve learned that it’s best to keep both wrists as
straight as possible. Disregarding this recommendation can lead
to problems. Needless to say, it’s almost impossible to follow it
to the letter when you play guitar. At some point the left wrist
is going to bend. Playing in the classical position, where your
left leg is raised on a footstool and the waist of your guitar rests
on your left thigh, elevates the guitar’s neck, making it possible
to keep your wrist pretty straight. Some guitarists, including steel-string
fingerstylist Tim Sparks, set the lower bout of their guitar up
on their right thigh, which raises the guitar even higher than the
first method. Tim once told me that he started playing this way
specifically because of hand issues. I have tried it, and it’s not
quite as uncomfortable as it looks. Wearing the guitar low on a
long strap, gunslinger style, is one of the worst things a player
can do. It causes a severe break in the left wrist, especially when
you’re executing barre chords.
––Gary Joyner
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Civil
War Guitars
Q I know
that Martin guitars have been around since 1833, so they were probably
at the American Civil War. Do you know of any other guitars that
could have been played by soldiers or civilians from 1863 to 1865?
I saw a site with replicas of some Italian guitars from that time
period.
Lauren Martinello
Somers, Connecticut
A I’ve seen
more than one Civil War–era photograph showing soldiers with guitars
(technically not photographs, but tintypes or ambrotypes, which
are made of glass), and in both cases they were clearly not Martins.
Martin had competitors as early as the 1840s, and many of their
guitars bore a striking resemblance to Martins. Schmidt and Maul
was one New York company building guitars similar to Martins as
early as 1848, and C.F. Martin’s old pal Henry Schatz was another
maker active at the time. By the 1860s there were others, but few
of those companies survived.
Many guitars sold during the Civil War era were made by immigrant
instrument makers who supplied guitars to the area where they settled
but did not advertise or ship instruments to other parts of the
country the way Martin did. Guitars were also imported, but I don’t
recall seeing any Italian guitars from that era, or at least none
that were dated. The most common imported guitars from the mid–19th
century were made in Germany or Austria, and some came from Spain.
Most Italian imports arrived later, beginning in the late 1880s,
when Italian mandolins were in great demand.
––Richard Johnston
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Lacquer,
Sweat, and Tears
Q
I always play my guitar while wearing a short-sleeve shirt.
Last summer I noticed that my arm had left a sweat stain on the
body of my Guild. Any ideas about how to remove it?
M. Douglas
Syracuse, New York
A
Unfortunately a number of people have acidic sweat that
attacks guitar finishes, particularly lacquer. If you drink any
significant quantities of alcohol, that too can contribute to the
problem. I usually see the results of acidic sweat on the back of
guitar necks, but the stain on the soundboard of your guitar is
not totally unique. Lacquer is not particularly water or sweat resistant,
and the moisture can actually seep right through the finish, which
means the problem may actually be in the wood at this point. A luthier
could try lightly sanding and rubbing out the problem area, but
if that doesn’t work the spot could look worse when he or she is
finished. This is one good reason to consider a John Pearse armrest
for your guitar; it will keep your forearm off of the top of the
instrument and perhaps forestall future staining.
––Rick Turner
Send Questions, tips, or observations to Acoustic Guitar’s
online discussion forums at www.acousticguitar.com
or write to Dear A.G., Acoustic Guitar, PO Box 767, San Anselmo,
CA 94979-0767.
Excerpted
from
Acoustic
Guitar
magazine, April 2001, No. 100.
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