Bridge placement

[Nick]

Just a quick comment on the CTS Brenden, I had it a few years back & played regularly (twice a week gigging & another practice night) but I found a temporary reduction of symptoms was possible until I could get the surgery, by getting the steroid injections & shortening the strap, hence lifting the guitar higher up my body, this reduced the angle my fretting wrist had to bend in order to play the notes. As I say, I still had numbness & a small amount of pain but it still allowed me to get through the night without stopping (4 hours of playing per night). But if you can get the surgery done then I would fully recommend it as a way to improve your current quality of life.

As to your solidbody experiment, you may find that you won't get an acoustic sound even with the UST and acoustic bridge. I built a 'telecoustic' some years back which had an acoustic top on a hollow 'solidbody' in telecaster shape, it went someway to reproducing an acoustic sound but not fully. You can't make the physics of the sound work the same way & maybe even less so on a full solidbody, the bridge won't behave in the same manner it does on an acoustic top and the UST will pickup on this (no pun intended! Wink ). Most of the guitars you pictured still employ magnetic PU's so would sound electric even though they have Acoustic bridges on them. I'm not knocking your decision but if you find that guitar easier to play, personally I would stick with it's factory configuration and model the sound through an effects unit to try and simulate an acoustic sound as I think you will only end up with the same 'almost' sound if you spend money on going down the UST route.
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A handmade Guitar for $300 ? Phftt. Sure, give me a chunk of wood, a hammer & some 6 inch nails & I'll see what I can knock up for ya.

Nick Oliver
www.oliver-guitars.com

[kiwigeo]

Another way of getting an acoustic sound from a solid body electric:

http://line6.com/variax/

Was at a function a few weeks back and was talking to the band's guitarist who had one of these and I got to have a play around with it.....quite an impressive bit of kit.
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One can never have enough tonewood

[Puff]

Another neck profile to think on.
http://www.ricktoone.com/2007/11/trapezoidal-nec.html

[kiwigeo]

Brenden,

Not having a go at your playing habits here but playing with the guitar top tilted outwards helps with left hand wrist position. I was taught to play this way by my classical guitar teacher. It means you wont be able to see the fretboard but my teacher told me I should be aiming to play without having to look at the fretboard.

Cheers Martin
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One can never have enough tonewood

[Puff]

Bringing the peghead closer to your ear works too- is standard practice with those round top thingies Twisted Evil
Mind that if you want to play the Ritchie Havens way you want the opposite Embarassed

[Kim]

I work in an industry which sees many cases of CT. So many in fact that it is an accepted compensatable injury. The process seems the same, the rehab people come in and there is some patient ping pong between them, the GP, and Physiotherapist. Exercises and anti-inflammatory tablets come first and then the specialist get involved administering cortisone injections. It seems that all this can be successful for a while to help 'manage' the problem (and rack up the bills), but to me these treatments seem to focus upon the symptoms, they are band-aids that do nothing about the cause and therefore do not appear to actually 'cure' CT.

I am not a doctor so perhaps I am wrong, but I make these observation based upon the fact that I have noticed how if these people suffering from CT are left doing the same work, all will eventually make their way to the op table regardless of how many tables, exercises and injections they have had, and it is only after the surgery, followed up with a good dose of physio, that they begin to ask themselves why the bloody hell they waited so long to be cured.

The guitars are just fine how they are Brendan, you need to concentrate on fixing yourself mate.

Cheers

Kim
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[kiwigeo]

Kim wrote:


I am not a doctor so perhaps I am wrong, but I make these observation based upon the fact that I have noticed how if these people suffering from CT are left doing the same work, all will eventually make their way to the op table regardless of how many tables, exercises and injections they have had, and it is only after the surgery, followed up with a good dose of physio, that they begin to ask themselves why the bloody hell they waited so long to be cured.

The guitars are just fine how they are Brendan, you need to concentrate on fixing yourself mate.

Cheers

Kim

Kim,

CT and other injuries are not my area of speciality but my beloved is a health professional with many years experience and more qualifications than me. One thing she firmly believes is that surgical intervention should always be the last resort.

A few years I had a serious groin injury which I sustained during karate training. It got to the point where I couldn't get out of bed without assistance. I went to a GP and a sports physio clinic and got told I had the option of steroid injections or surgery. My wife told me I should hold off on surgery or steroid injections and try some physio.

I was dubious but took her advice and found a good sports physio who managed to get me mobile and I regained 80% of the mobility in my groin. High roundhouse kicks were out but I was able to (foolishly) return to my karate training.

In the case of people who keep on doing the same task ending up needing surgery....the best way to deal with such cases is to firstly try and modify the task and if that doesn't work remove from the task. In many cases simply modifying the task and/or tools can alleviate the problem.

On the drilling rigs I frequent we often use synthetic based drilling muds (SBM). Some people develop a sensitivity to the stuff. If you leave them working with the stuff without taking action (addressing PPE or time spent exposed to the stuff) then eventually they'll end up needing steroid treatment. What we normally do is review the PPE the person is using and of we cant improve that then we look at limiting the time the person spends working with the SBM. In extreme cases we remove the person completely from tasks involving exposure to SBM. I have actually developed a mild sensitivity to SBM but I control it by spending as little time as possible near SBM.

Anyway I think in Brendan's case the important thing is that he's not happy with his GP's diagnosis and IMHO his priority should be seeking a second opinion from a specialist.

Regards Martin
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One can never have enough tonewood

[Kim]

kiwigeo wrote:

Kim,

my beloved is a health professional with many years experience and more qualifications than me. One thing she firmly believes is that surgical intervention should always be the last resort.

I think that is a standard for most GPs Martin but it does not alter the facts of what I have seen with my own eyes, the 'cure' for CT is surgical.

As for "moving" people away from the task which has caused their CT. Quite often this is simply not an option because CT is essentially a RSI. This means that those affected have most likely been doing what they do repetitively for very many years and its all that they know. In a situation where you have literally tens of thousands of people all doing the same task every day and that task is known to cause CT, then you are sure to wind up with so many that need relocating, that there are simply no other duties available for them.

That's just how it is for some in the work force, in a nice world we always have and easy solution, but there is nothing much very nice for those in the work force who are on $20 an hour to do the same thing day in, day out. Mostly those poor bastards just gotta take whats dished out because when you are classed as unskilled, options are very few, especially if your only experience is in an industry associated with a monopoly and has no value outside of that enterprise.

kiwigeo wrote:

Anyway I think in Brendan's case the important thing is that he's not happy with his GP's diagnosis and IMHO his priority should be seeking a second opinion from a specialist.

Regards Martin

I agree 100% Martin, the best course is to stop trying to find a work around for a curable affliction and go and get this thing sorted because at best the delay is a complete waist of time. At worse, restricting mobility over the long term to avoid pain could lead to permanent deterioration of tissue that no amount of surgery will fix...the old adage, move it, or loose it, comes to mind.

Cheers

Kim
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[jeffhigh]

Having had the Carpal tunnel operation about 18 years ago and not now 100% sure that it was appropriate, I would say the first thing you need to do is get an accurate diagnosis.
You cannot just diagnose CTS from the symptoms 100%, so don't rely on the GP, get a referral to a hand specialist in the big smoke who can get nerve conductivity tests.
There are a number of other conditions which can mimic CTS such as nerve compression in the elbow, neck or shoulder, so this is important.
Some people do recover without surgery and in my practice, I suggest a trial of vitamin B6 (short term high dosage) and teach clients self massage of the carpal ligament. For some it will work, others will need surgury