Arm rest

[Olarte]

I also just ordered one from Kris Barnett for my Baarslag and hope it'll arrive soon.
I'll keep you posted as sooun as I have used it.
The communication was very easy and making fast.

best wishes to everybody

Well I talked to Kris Barnett, and have ordered one for my beloved "Clarita" it should arrive next week, and I will be sure to post some pix, and a short review.

Hi rojarosguitar, I guess it's a race then. I hope to get mine in the mail today or tomorrow and will post accordingly. The thing I'm more curious about at this point is installing the magnets inside.

Ivan Olarte

[goni]

So Ivan?
Did you get it?

Gonzalo

[Olarte]

So Ivan?
Did you get it?

Gonzalo

Well yes and no, I got the arm-rest, but apparently Kris had made 1/2 dozen and sent me the wrong one by mistake. He was very apologetic, and we made prompt arrangements to return it, in exchange for the correct one.

I will say that it is pretty much a work of art. It's a beautiful piece, and the magnets work great, I had the old one installed in less than two min and then realized that the curvature was off at the apex.

We agreed to leave the internal magnets in place and he would make sure the arm-rest he sends me has the magnets in the same location. I'm sure I will love it, as even the one the did not fit perfectly worked great on my guitar.

I hope to get the new one before by the end of this week, and will post accordingly.

I will say that I think it's a fair price as it's more than just a piece of wood, it has little wood inserts that press against the bout on the front, nice padding where it presses against the top of the guitar, the wood and workmanship is very nice, and the magnets are incredibly strong. in fact when they got stuck together by accident I needed pliers to get them appart.

Ivan

[wianno]

If anyone else gets the magnets stuck together, an easy way to separate them is to insert an old credit card or similar item between them. It takes some effort but it works. There is little chance of damaging the magnets this way.

Jack

[Rick-in-Annapolis]

If anyone else gets the magnets stuck together, an easy way to separate them is to insert an old credit card or similar item between them. It takes some effort but it works. There is little chance of damaging the magnets this way.

Jack

Make sure it's an OLD credit card though. You will certainly demagnatize the stripe on the back of
the credit card; it will never work again!

[choros]

So Ivan?
Did you get it?

Gonzalo

I will say that I think it's a fair price as it's more than just a piece of wood, it has little wood inserts that press against the bout on the front, nice padding where it presses against the top of the guitar,
Ivan

Yes. Please update us. This looks interesting to me until I read the part about it actually pressing against the top of the guitar. Is this true? Does it touch the guitar top? Either padding or wood? Either way it would defeat my purpose for wanting one: To enable the top to vibrate freely without my arm or any portion of the armrest touching the top. Shouldn't the armrest just touch the sides of the guitar and then "float" over the top where you rest your arm? Please explain further. I may call Kris to order one if it doesn't touch the top.

Thanks!

[wianno]

choros,

The arm rest does touch the top of the guitar but contact is pretty much limited to the binding. See an illustration from Kris' site below.

Jack

[rojarosguitar]

Hello together,

I wanted to let you know that I got my arm rest from Kris Barnett wtoday and it's a great workmanship. It exactly fits the contour of the lower bout and sticks to the magnets well without moving or play but yet not difficult to remove.

It has very slight contact to the rim of the top (where the inlay is. As this is not the freely vibrating part of the top (the top is supported by the small wooden blocks underneath to which it is glued), there is no substantial damping of the top vibration. The width of the little wooden surfaces on the armrest contacting the top also couldvstill be optimized to even diminish that residual damping, (I think). Damping of the top is certainly ways less than when touching the top with the forearm or clothes.

Installing was easy. Playing comfort is very good. It looks great. Personally first impression is it's a good construction. It's certainly much better than any other arm rest I ever tried (had already three others). Will keep you posted when some new insights appear ...

best wishes

[rojarosguitar]

Hi,

as you can see in this illustration there are four white pieces of wood that are meant to touch the top along the binding.
After asking Kris Barnett I shortened them around 25% to have even less contact with the top.

The stability of te arm rest is unimpeded by that and the sound became even more free - so I believe, but that can be auto-suggestion as well.

There is a very slight damping of the guitar as compared to not touching the guitar at all with the right forearm (which is what some players do) but very much less as compared to the situation without the arm rest.

Accoustically the plenosom arm rest had even lesser damping effect (ut's not touching the top at all, nowhere), but in terms of playing and using comfort, stability and esthetics the one made by Kris Barnett is unbeatable. And plenosom just didn't want to stay attached to my guitar, it moved or fell off in unconvenient moments. Also it is too short for me.

choros,

The arm rest does touch the top of the guitar but contact is pretty much limited to the binding. See an illustration from Kris' site below.

Jack

[Happyguitarist]

I'm interested in knowing more about arm rest use. My right hand has a tendency to fall asleep while playing at times. Will the arm rest eliminate this problem? If not any suggestions.

Happy

[rojarosguitar]

I'm interested in knowing more about arm rest use. My right hand has a tendency to fall asleep while playing at times. Will the arm rest eliminate this problem? If not any suggestions.

Happy

Depending on your arms' anatomy you could press some nerve or vein to hard onto the edge of the guitar. An arm rest could help insofar as it is more rounded, some are more, some less, but generally more rounded than the edge of the guitar - so it might help.

Of course it could also be an issue of having your right forearm to tense - in that case you might need to become aware of tensions and learn to relax during playing ...

best wishes

Robert

[Happyguitarist]

Thannks Robert for the response. I will pay attention when my hand falls asleep again and make sure I am not tense in my right arm.

Happy

[choros]

Hi,

as you can see in this illustration there are four white pieces of wood that are meant to touch the top along the binding.
After asking Kris Barnett I shortened them around 25% to have even less contact with the top.

The stability of te arm rest is unimpeded by that and the sound became even more free - so I believe, but that can be auto-suggestion as well.

There is a very slight damping of the guitar as compared to not touching the guitar at all with the right forearm (which is what some players do) but very much less as compared to the situation without the arm rest.

Accoustically the plenosom arm rest had even lesser damping effect (ut's not touching the top at all, nowhere), but in terms of playing and using comfort, stability and esthetics the one made by Kris Barnett is unbeatable. And plenosom just didn't want to stay attached to my guitar, it moved or fell off in unconvenient moments. Also it is too short for me.

choros,

The arm rest does touch the top of the guitar but contact is pretty much limited to the binding. See an illustration from Kris' site below.

Jack

Thanks for the pic and info wianno. And thanks rojaros, that is exactly what I needed to hear. My Plenosom is also too short, doesn't fit my plantilla exactly and less stable than I'd like. I wanted to get away from suction cups and try this magnet approach but if it impedes the top even slightly, it's a deal breaker for me. I'm going to try the Mukava armrest next. Looks like it may be more stable and hopefully a bit longer than the plenosom. Thanks.

http://www.kantareguitars.com/in/index.php?section=36

1Mukava.jpg

[goni]

Choros,
you need to consider that between the thickness of the sides / binding, and the kerfed lining underneath ( 6mm as sold by LMII) you have about 1/4" all around the top that is not vibrating freely and those little squares are REALLY little, I would say not more than 5 mm x 5mm...
I don't think these 4 contact points affect the top at all...

Regards

G

[Olarte]

Hello together,

I wanted to let you know that I got my arm rest from Kris Barnett today and it's a great workmanship. It exactly fits the contour of the lower bout and sticks to the magnets well without moving or play but yet not difficult to remove.

It has very slight contact to the rim of the top (where the inlay is. As this is not the freely vibrating part of the top (the top is supported by the small wooden blocks underneath to which it is glued), there is no substantial damping of the top vibration. The width of the little wooden surfaces on the armrest contacting the top also couldvstill be optimized to even diminish that residual damping, (I think). Damping of the top is certainly ways less than when touching the top with the forearm or clothes.

Installing was easy. Playing comfort is very good. It looks great. Personally first impression is it's a good construction. It's certainly much better than any other arm rest I ever tried (had already three others). Will keep you posted when some new insights appear ...

best wishes

Thanks for posting this review, I will add mine a few pictures as soon as I'm able to.

I love the arm rest, I got it about a week ago, and even my teacher want one for his 10,000+ Humphrey.

The workmanship is superb, definitely luthier made. it looks absolutely as good as the rest of the guitar and if you did not know that you could simply pull it off, you would swear it was built with the guitar.

I find it more comfortable, and the Brazilian Rosewood feels great against my arm. the finish is nice, smooth and round and seems to warm up to my body temperature as I play.

Installation of the magnets too no more than 2 minutes to do, and I find that it fits fine with arm rest and all in my hiscox case.

The inserts that do touch the front are small enough to fit against the binding and I don't think they dampen the sound at all.

I think that the $100 price tag is appropriate because it is a hand made piece customized for your guitar, and has several components including the wood inserts, layers of wood glued together, and very nice padding for the side of the guitar.

Kris was nice enough to make it about an inch longer on each side at my request.

I highly recommend this piece as I feel it upgraded my guitar in quality, looks and sound to a much better instrument. Kris was very professional, quick to communicate and turned this around in a relatively short time.

And the design and great idea of using the earth magnets make it quite an interesting and useful accessory to own!

Ivan Olarte