Should you’ve ever laid eyes on a St. Vincent signature axe, you’re positive to have clocked its distinctively angular design. Whereas its definitely reflective of Annie Clark’s experimental and daring musical id, her guitars are designed with one thing else in thoughts – boobs.

In a since-deleted Instagram publish, Clark wrote that her preliminary 2016 Ernie Ball Music Man signature was made to be “ergonomic, light-weight, and modern” whereas additionally permitting for “room for a breast – or two” [via Dazed]. Ever since, Clark has continued to launch guitars designed with a female edge – and Olivia Rodrigo loves them.

On her latest Guts tour, Rodrigo was seen wielding Clark’s Ernie Ball Music Man St. Vincent Goldie. We awarded the guitar we awarded a powerful 9/10, and Rodrigo is equally as smitten by it. “It’s such a fucking cool wanting guitar,” she praises on the Music Makes Us podcast.

What actually excites her in regards to the guitar is Clark’s consideration of girls when designing the axe. “She made [the] guitar particularly designed for girls,” she explains. “As a result of she performs her guitar actually excessive up, it’s reduce so to have boobs and play guitar, which is so superior.”

Paradoxically, some argue guitars had been initially designed to imitate the form of a girl’s physique. As The Guardian’s Cate Le Bon contemplated in 2017, if guitars are “impressed by feminine our bodies” then “why are they uncomfortable for girls to play?”

Clark took this drawback and labored to provide her personal answer. Previous to the discharge of her first signature, a 2016 interview with Guitar World noticed Clark explaining her mindset when designing the guitar. “For me a guitar that’s not too heavy is absolutely necessary as a result of I’m not a really large particular person,” she stated. “I can’t even play a ‘60s Strat or 70s Les Paul! I would want to journey with a chiropractor on tour with the intention to play these guitars.”

Whereas she would like to be able to utilizing a ‘60s Stratocaster or ‘70s Les Paul, noting that they’re nice guitars, she defined how “they render themselves impractical and unfunctional for an individual like [her] due to their weight”.

Reasonably than elevating her efficiency, she famous that that these guitars are “prohibitive” for her stature. Her guitar, then again, “redistributed” its weight, making it simpler for smaller gamers to play whereas nonetheless wanting nice – be that feminine, male or something in-between. “I needed to make one thing that seemed good and never simply on a girl, however any particular person,” she stated.

And it isn’t simply Olivia Rodrigo waving the St. Vincent signature flag; The Final Dinner Get together’s Emily Roberts has additionally given Clark’s guitar her seal of approval. Chatting with Guitar.com in October, she defined: “What I like in regards to the St. Vincent is that it actually cuts via a mixture, and it’s fairly high-end. That’s an awesome high quality that it has and it simply doesn’t sound like a Fender or a Gibson. I needed one thing that, if you hear it, it’s not apparent what it’s. I needed individuals to go, ‘What’s that?’ and for it to sound new.”

She additionally shared her love in an interview with Guitar World final yr. “I began out gigging on a Music Man Mariposa… however I had my eye on the St. Vincent one and saved as much as get it,” she stated. “It’s now my foremost guitar.”

“It’s iconic-looking and fairly trebly and actually stands proud,” she continued. “I’m solely 5ft 2in as nicely, and a few guitars give me backache, however this one suits very well. There aren’t many guitars designed by girls, so it was type of a no brainer.”