“She made the guitar specifically designed for women”: Olivia Rodrigo on her love of St. Vincent’s feminine signature guitars
If you’ve ever laid eyes on a St. Vincent signature axe, you’re sure to have clocked its distinctively angular design. While its certainly reflective of Annie Clark’s experimental and bold musical identity, her guitars are designed with something else in mind – boobs.
In a since-deleted Instagram post, Clark wrote that her initial 2016 Ernie Ball Music Man signature was made to be “ergonomic, lightweight, and sleek” while also allowing for “room for a breast – or two” [via Dazed]. Ever since, Clark has continued to release guitars designed with a feminine edge – and Olivia Rodrigo loves them.
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On her recent Guts tour, Rodrigo was seen wielding Clark’s Ernie Ball Music Man St. Vincent Goldie. We awarded the guitar we awarded a strong 9/10, and Rodrigo is equally as enthusiastic about it. “It’s such a fucking cool looking guitar,” she praises on the Music Makes Us podcast.
What really excites her about the guitar is Clark’s consideration of women when designing the axe. “She made [the] guitar specifically designed for women,” she explains. “Because she plays her guitar really high up, it’s cut so that you can have boobs and play guitar, which is so awesome.”
Ironically, some argue guitars were initially designed to mimic the shape of a woman’s body. As The Guardian’s Cate Le Bon pondered in 2017, if guitars are “inspired by female bodies” then “why are they uncomfortable for women to play?”
Clark took this problem and worked to produce her own solution. Prior to the release of her first signature, a 2016 interview with Guitar World saw Clark explaining her mindset when designing the guitar. “For me a guitar that is not too heavy is really important because I’m not a very big person,” she said. “I can’t even play a ‘60s Strat or 70s Les Paul! I would need to travel with a chiropractor on tour in order to play those guitars.”
While she would love to be capable of using a ‘60s Stratocaster or ‘70s Les Paul, noting that they are great guitars, she explained how “they render themselves impractical and unfunctional for a person like [her] because of their weight”.
Rather than elevating her performance, she noted that that these guitars are “prohibitive” for her stature. Her guitar, on the other hand, “redistributed” its weight, making it easier for smaller players to play while still looking great – be that female, male or anything in-between. “I wanted to make something that looked good and not just on a woman, but any person,” she said.
And it isn’t just Olivia Rodrigo waving the St. Vincent signature flag; The Last Dinner Party’s Emily Roberts has also given Clark’s guitar her seal of approval. Speaking to Guitar.com in October, she explained: “What I like about the St. Vincent is that it really cuts through a mix, and it’s quite high-end. That’s a great quality that it has and it just doesn’t sound like a Fender or a Gibson. I wanted something that, when you hear it, it’s not obvious what it is. I wanted people to go, ‘What is that?’ and for it to sound new.”
She also shared her love in an interview with Guitar World last year. “I started out gigging on a Music Man Mariposa… but I had my eye on the St. Vincent one and saved up to get it,” she said. “It’s now my main guitar.”
“It’s iconic-looking and quite trebly and really sticks out,” she continued. “I’m only 5ft 2in as well, and some guitars give me backache, but this one fits really well. There aren’t many guitars designed by women, so it was kind of a no-brainer.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
