I think it comes down to respect.

Build an instrument, fine, but...

1. Don't misrepresent where the idea behind it comes from.

2. Tout your features, but don't put down others for the features they choose to include, especially if it make the instrument a much better instrument.

These are not criticisms of anyone in particular, just suggestions for how to get along in a small community of specialized instrument with lots of enthusiasts. Emmett never publicly criticized other people's designs, ever, even though he was subjected to it for years (and still is based on some of the video podcasts I've seen lately). He was a class act, even under attack. It all comes down to respect.

Here are some things about The Stick's design that are unique and make it a highly playable instrument, and one that is easy for the owner to maintain (these days it's expensive to ship instruments, especially to foreign countries, so owner adjustability is a big money saver in the long run).

1. 4-way divided rear truss, easy to adjust and instantly effective. Keeps the action very low for easy tapping, which also giving the player control over relief near the nut end. It's far superior to traditional truss designs that try to straighten the neck from within, and more effective than his original single nut adjustable truss.

2. Optimized pickup, nut and bridge adjustments. These make it easy for the player to change their setup should they decide to change their tuning, or if they buy a used instrument that is out of adjustment, they can fix it themselves, and don't have to cut a new nut.. Perfect height, output and tone for each string. Stick pickups are selected to sound good throughout the entire tonal range of the instrument.

3. Bodiless 24-fret design. This makes it easy for both hands to reach the entire fretboard, which maximizes arrangement possibilities, without have to adjust your technique for different areas of the instrument, and with lots of room for both hands to move about "freely". On a Grand Stick this equals a tremendous range with lots of string overlap. 10 strings, IMO, is the minumum to really have freedom in arranging. With less you always have to compromise your ideas to fit the surface.

4. Custom frets which are be machined and worked for optimum action, and that will last much longer than conventional guitar frets. Tapping on conventional frets causes them to lift over time (and wear extensively), which means repeated trips to a luthier if you play a lot, or raising the action to compensate for lifting frets.

Emmett always valued playability first, because he was all about spreading the Free Hands technique. If better playability makes his instruments more expensive, it also makes them easier to learn on.

Just my 4 cents.

"Some things are timeless. Not all things need change."

"Back in the day, when something worked you left it alone. Today you have to make it better, sometimes it helps sometimes the old way was better, it's up to the person using to know."

Yup.... Ironwoods were and are to me the very best Sticks of them all, and I proudly own two of them.

I find the nylon string Dragon fly very intriguing, but I'll happily stick with my highly modified RB-8 set up in crafty tuning instead

Personally, I like variety when it comes to different folks making instruments.

Variety is the spice of life.

It's also Freedom baby !!

I know I'm early, but Happy Independence Day.... as I'm off line these days more often than not thankfully.

Cheers........

Hmm now I've looked at these Dragonfly things ... made me count my money! I always liked the acoustic thing, crawl out of bed you know and make music, without having to plug in or turn on anything. Had a luthier build an acoustic six-string fretless bass guitar for the same reason when I was into bass, I found out it was good for me practicing-time-wise. I could order one in my favourite Stick tuning ... Do they really take two years to deliver?

The thing you have to remember about tapping though is that, really, you always need to plug-in. Even the folks who've made a living doing some phenomenal tapping on acoustic guitars will tell you that, unless you're plugged in, you're going to get audible notes from the other half of the string. You can practice things that way but but it never really sounds that good.

For guitar players, the Tonewood Amp has been a revolution allowing you to go anywhere and play amplified using your guitar body as a speaker. There's no reason this couldn't work on an acoustic tapper as well so long as it had a body.

You can play the dragonfly unamplified. But you do need amplification for anyone listening more than about 6 feet away. Since the soundhole is pretty close to your head (it’s at the top of the body ) and projects ok , given it’s limitations , i don’t notice much sound from the other side of the string. It does sound better with amplification, but I do play it unamplified with some frequency and it has pretty good tone that way. It sounds better than you might expect.

I would like to try the tonewood someday. The body should be able to handle it


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Not sure what you mean Greg, I've been here for a few years and have always had the same attitude about these things. The Stick will always be the OG and current king of tappers, I'm not disputing that. I'm disputing elitism, it's different strokes for different folks when it comes to manufacturers. If I pick up a Warr tomorrow and decide I like it more than the Stick than that's my bread. Even if this is the Stickist forums, its the only outlet for us tappers to congregate on. Heck the name of this thread is "Teflon Instruments" lol

I mean no disrespect sir, I love your playing and think your instructional material is great important stuff. Greetings from RVA btw

I think we agree with each other. It's not about what players and customers do, it's about what companies do. We're still a small niche community, so I'm just saying things go better when people play nice.

Whenever some new business comes along, I can usually tell right away if they're going to be a positive or negative influence on the community's vibe. I do keep my eyes open, because I am an advocate for Emmett's legacy.

Perhaps this forum used to be the only place, but there are myriad places on Faceook, etc.