What size Dynarette?

[sgcim]

Help! My neck is killing me! I need a Dynarette fast!
I need it for my Borys Jazz Solid- here are the dimensions:

• BODY: 13" wide at lower bout, 2" deep on edge, carved arched spruce top, carved arched flamed maple back
  
• NECK: 25" scale length, 1.75" wide at nut
  
  Me: 5 foot 5 and 1/2
  
  Which one should I get- the Small Size or the large size?
  

[RJVB]

Or maybe check out the recent thread about the Guitar Lift? You'd need the optional "adapter set" for archback guitars but the advantage over the Dynarette is that you get much more flexibility in finding your ideal playing position, plus the support is fixed to the guitar.

I've been experimenting with something to put between my leg and the DeOro supports I use because I find they're a bit too low for me, and it's just too much of a hassle. I forget the thing is there when I lift the guitar ... it falls off. The guitar+DeOro will slide over the additional support plus that support will slide over my pants, and getting everything back into position can't really be done while playing.

[0zoro]

I see the reply above and concur. I received my Guitarlift just a week ago, to be used on a tele of 4+ kg, for the same reasons you need help. After the initial minutes of positioning and getting used to I find it works like magic Much better than the Dynarette I purchased a few years ago but that I never got adapted to, nor it to me. I found it moved about where as the Guitarlift was easy to position, and stable.

[sgcim]

, The Borys Jazz Solid is a heavy monster. When I weighed it on my regular digital scale it was 10.6 lbs. Here's some pictures of them:
Jazz Solid — Borys Guitars

It's like a mini B120 with a bit of a Les Paul shape. I'll check out the Guitarlift, too, but if I got a Dynarette, which size would be better-small or large?

[Jim Soloway]

You could do it with the larger Dynarette. I've began using one about 8 years ago and it served me well, but I have to say that I'm very happy that I've recently switched to a Guitarlift. The only down side to the Guitarlift is that it's a very large piece of gear. I'm actually working with a friend who does industrial design on an alternative that would essentially provide the functionality of a Guitarlift but with much better portability but I'm sure it's at least a few months away from reality.

[sgcim]

You could do it with the larger Dynarette. I've began using one about 8 years ago and it served me well, but I have to say that I'm very happy that I've recently switched to a Guitarlift. The only down side to the Guitarlift is that it's a very large piece of gear. I'm actually working with a friend who does industrial design on an alternative that would essentially provide the functionality of a Guitarlift but with much better portability but I'm sure it's at least a few months away from reality.

Thanks, but I already bought the smaller Dynarette on ebay, because the guy said it was the last one he had left, and it only cost $27 used. It came with a pouch you can carry it in. I've got three gigs in the next four days, and my neck/shoulder area is still hurting from yesterday's gig.
At some point, I have to rely on a strap, because certain things seem to need it.
Hopefully I'll never need a strap again.

[Jim Soloway]

Thanks, but I already bought the smaller Dynarette on ebay, because the guy said it was the last one he had left, and it only cost $27 used. It came with a pouch you can carry it in. I've got three gigs in the next four days, and my neck/shoulder area is still hurting from yesterday's gig.
At some point, I have to rely on a strap, because certain things seem to need it.
Hopefully I'll never need a strap again.

I haven't used a strap since I first got the Dynarette. Without that thing I'd have switched to pedal steel or keyboards. My left shoulder was basically shot and my lower back wasn't far behind. And if the smaller Dynarette doesn't give you enough lift, try folding a terry cloth hand towel and draping the over your thigh under the cushion. It's reasonably stable and will give you about an additional inch of lift.

[sgcim]

I haven't used a strap since I first got the Dynarette. Without that thing I'd have switched to pedal steel or keyboards. My left shoulder was basically shot and my lower back wasn't far behind. And if the smaller Dynarette doesn't give you enough lift, try folding a terry cloth hand towel and draping the over your thigh under the cushion. It's reasonably stable and will give you about an additional inch of lift.

Thanks for the advice Jim. Tonight I had a weird experience. It was the first night of the show, after three painful paid rehearsals, and I decided to put on a new E string, because the show was going to be taped. I put the E string on the Parker P-44 that I always use for shows that require acoustic (it's got a piezo pickup) and electric playing.
I decided to use my Korg Pitchblack Plus tuner to get it up to pitch, and I played the high E on the 12th fret, just to check the string's intonation.
I couldn't believe it, the 12th fret E was way higher than A440. I checked the other strings, same thing, way sharp.
I got a little Philips screwdriver to adjust the intonation, but it was already screwed in all the way. Same with every string that moved the bridge pieces.Then I looked at the bridge, and it was tilted up off the body, instead of being flat against it.
Since I'm basically a jerk about the P-44, I knew this was a repair that I couldn't get done before the gig.
When I told the bass player in the pit (who's also a guitarist), about it, he asked me if the guitar had a whammy bar.
When I replied yes, he said that I was gonna have to open up the guitar from the back, and shove a piece of wood in there to fix it.
I didn't tell him that the guitar came with four springs, but only three were stretched out and attached.

Anyway, I wound up using a Mexican Strat that a student had given me that I never used on a gig before, because the fret ends were sharp, so I thought it would cut my hand. Sitting down with the Strat I didn't have to use the strap as much as I did with the Parker or the Borys Jazz Solid, and had a completely painless night. As a bonus, the intonation on the Strat was close to perfect, and the sound was much more expressive than the Parker, and sounded much better.
Why I've never done anything about the Parker, just shows what an idiot I am about guitars like that.

[sgcim]

I opener the Parker up, and found one of the three springs fell off. I reattached it and the bridge leveled out, and the high E string was cool at the octave, but the other strings are still playing sharp on the octave.

I'll try attaching a fourth spring, and maybe that can help move the bridge pieces back. The distortion I had to use on the guitar part sounded much better on the Strat than the alnico humbuckers on the Parker.

When we finished the show this afternoon, the drummer threw his part at the feet of the conductor/pianist.
It was a freaking 100 page part! I told him all the tunes he played will disappear from his memory in a week or two. He's afraid they'll keep running through his head forever. He's new at this. After something like 60 shows, he'll find out...

[sgcim]

I got my Dynarette yesterday and after some experimenting with different chairs and resting my feet on some things, I found that it was perfect just as it is, with the right chair.
I couldn't believe the difference that little cushion made! I can play my Jazz Solid without a twinge of pain in my neck, shoulder or back. It seems to put me in a better playing position than I could get, even using a strap. It seems to even help my right arm too, something I never expected at all.
I can understand what that great player/luthier Jim S. said when he first got his Dynarette. It's like magic!
I haven't tried it out on my B-120, Parker P-44 or '35 D'A yet, but I'm sure there will be some improvement with those guitars, too, if not complete comfort like the Jazz Solid.

I was so desperate, I took my problem to the evil hordes of TGP, where they tried to tempt me to sell my Jazz Solid, and replace it with 'instruments of the devil', including strats, teles, Gibson SG's etc..., but one of them mentioned the Dynarette, and for $27, I held out against those demonic forces, and found my salvation in the mighty Dynarette!

[sgcim]

After finishing out the show i was playing with my Mex. Strat, I used the Dynarette for the first time with my Jazz Solid with a big band tonight, and it worked out great, except for the times I had to turn around and get charts out of the book. The Dynarette would fall off my leg and go flying. A trumpet player near me looked very puzzled about the black thing bouncing around.
I was even able to conduct one of my charts, and then go running back to my chair with the Dynarette waiting for me to take a solo in the middle of the thing
I just finished a new arr. of a chart that can best be described as Steely Dan meets the Beatles.
It's so crazy, I had to rename it as Eleanor Rugby, so people wouldn't get too confused when they hear it.