Like seat belts, hand-tools and those cheap blue razors you find in Boots, guitars are designed with men in mind; leaving women with backs strained, fingers stretched and boobs squashed. And how did the mass-market respond to such ailments? By giving us guitars that were pink, glittery and daisy-shaped. Not very helpful.
But this week, singer St.Vincent, real name Annie Clark, has announced her latest collaboration with legendary guitar manufacturer, Ernie Ball Music Man, and a collective cheer from women guitarists everywhere ensued: the release of The St. Vincent Signature Collection, an adapted line of the 2015 model she thoughtfully crafted with the female form in mind.
Described by Clark as ‘ergonomic, lightweight and sleek, with room for a breast or two,’ the unique, asymmetrical, cut-out shape of the guitar allows the player to hold the guitar without crushing her boobs, or having to uncomfortably ‘perch’ them on top.
Weighing just over seven pounds, the model is much lighter than the majority of those on the market; a conscious design decision by Oklahoma-born Clark who found that the predominance of equipment available were too heavy for her to hold.
Clark can be seen debuting the ivory edition of her design on her inaugural cover of this month’s Guitar World magazine, wearing a bikini-body printed dress akin to those you only find in the shitty seafront shops at Southend-on-Sea. But this is no ill-advised fashion faux-pas, but rather Clark’s feminist fingers-up to the very magazine she is gracing the cover of.
‘I did a quick Google search of women on the cover, and all I really saw was girls in bikinis holding guitars like they’ve never held a guitar before,” explains Clark. “I started thinking about that and just wanted to make my own absurdist comment on it. I couldn’t really let it slide without poking a bit of fun and taking the piss a little!”
The new line, released in March and available for pre-order through Ernie Ball Music Man’s website, will be available in four new finishes; Stealth Black, Tobacco Burst, Polaris White and Heritage Red – and, thankfully, no sign of Patriarchal Pink.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.