St. Vincent Created a Women-Friendly Guitar That Has ‘Room for Breasts’

This March, Indie pop babe Annie Clark—known by her stage name, St. Vincent—will be unveiling her own signature instrument: a guitar she designed with women in mind. In collaboration with Ernie Ball Music Man, a California guitar manufacturer, Clark crafted a guitar that would more comfortably accommodate breasts. It’s also a lighter instrument, making it easier to carry for musicians with smaller bodies.

“The weight is redistributed so that it has a thin waist,” Clark told Guitar World. “I was always finding when I was playing onstage and wearing various stage outfits the guitar would cut across one of the best features of the female body, which is your waist. I carry my guitar pretty high so I had to make all of these costumes based on the fact that you wouldn’t be able to see if I had a waist or not. I wanted to make something that looked good and not just on a woman, but any person.”

Her Ernie Ball design takes a lot of inspiration from retro styles—she says she drew upon influences like the Memphis design movement and classic cars, including the ’67 Corvette. The guitar’s body, made of African mahogany, tapers elegantly at the waist. Clark says the shape was designed to be “ergonomic.”

“I hope that people will enjoy … that men and women will enjoy the ergonomics,” she said. “But smaller people and women especially.”