Bagusla™ - a guitar / bass pick for amputee

thingiverse

Update: I added a version with a heavy-duty steel embedded in the mallet head, giving it more mass and a better "thump". The steel gets coated in Plastidip for extra protection. It's a solid design improvement, if I do say so myself. Check it out in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BZRRaeMA2c I'm a hand amputee and a guitarist with 40 years of experience. These devices are designed to help people play guitar who've lost their hands. They work for either hand, but you might need to flip them around to fit your needs. Plus, they're tailored to my forearm/wrist diameter, so you may need to scale them up or down. Bagusla is the brand name (say "bag GOOZ luh"). It stands for BAss GUitar SLAp bass prosthetic. One version has a built-in "thumb" for slap bass. I use Plastidip to coat it and make it look like flesh over bone, just like a real thumb. I've added a new version that's optimized and now features a xylophone mallet in place of an anatomically correct thumb. This should work better than the thumb design for slapping. I've also adjusted the pronation angle needed to slap by tweaking the "thumb" position on the collar, and shortened the plectrum a bit. The other prosthetic uses a nylon guitar pick held in place with a small bolt and lock nut. You put it in the slit and drill a hole through the pick (nylon picks work better and don't snap like regular ones do). I've been playing for 40 years, and I've refined this design over time. With 3D printing, I've finally got it just right. Instead of an anatomical thumb, I've evolved the prosthetic to have an idealized thumb that looks like a xylophone mallet. This new design works way better and looks less creepy than before. Want to see it in action? Check out my YouTube videos using the prosthetic pick: The latest version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aroRdShZSPk https://youtu.be/Ji3FdTzLWaM https://youtu.be/pCcEtKJk1hI https://youtu.be/DfZlVVBKpW0 https://youtu.be/deOhv5JC0Yg And one of my bands using an earlier version: https://youtu.be/5B3bw2ifpRY Good luck, and let me know if it's helpful. PS - I remixed the thumb from the iPhone hand 3D model. Thanks for that!