Introduction
It has been almost three years since I sold my Railboard to fund my invention work. As I ended said work earlier this year, my “what now?” thoughts turned to the Chapman Stick.

I emailed Emmett Chapman on April 22 to catch up, as our last exchange was prior to my Railboard sale, and to inform him of my desire to return to Stick; he recommended that I get an Alto Stick, owing to its short scale length and narrow nut. Two days later, Greg Howard (operating the Stick Enterprises account on Stickist) posted that Stick Enterprises had four used Sticks in stock—including Alto Stick #5275; I reserved the Alto the next day, thanks to my parents loaning me the money (since repaid) for the required deposit.

This post will not include pictures, as I am quite tired.

Specifications

• Wood: Laminated Rosewood
• Pickup Module: PASV-4 Block
• Tuning: Bob's Expanded Alto

My “StickWait”
All Chapman Sticks are handmade, and for the most part Emmett himself is doing the work. This results in the “StickWait,” the wait for a Chapman Stick's arrival, which in some cases has been measured in years. Whereas buying from Stick Enterprises' used stock is a good way to minimize the interim, the fact that Emmett reconditions used Sticks prior to shipping means that some delay will still be encountered: my order was completed on May 30.

Whilst I waited, I returned to the Chapman Stick show I used to cohost: Free Hands Friday. It has been great to reconnect with old friends from the Stick community, and my excitement in returning to the show can be seen in the most recent episode (particularly its sequel, which will be uploaded later this week). I also developed a plan to become a Chapman Stick teacher—provided I can develop the requisite skills. To this end, I added additional tuition to my order. I intend my Stick to be the instrument through which I learn and explore music theory, analogous to a piano.

The Arrival
A UPS representative unceremoniously dropped my Stick's box, from a height (with all due respect to Jamie Oliver), onto my concrete porch—blocking my front door—and did not bother to ring the bell. Immediately after confirming that no damage had been done to my $2,300 musical instrument, I started warming some tubes.

Playing my Stick was enabled by a “Holder” which Dave himself made for me a few years ago, and I used my office chair—I plan to try my drum throne after I have become accustomed to the Stick itself. I have long loved the sound of the PASV-4 pickup module, and that love remains after playing one myself. I cannot believe how clearly the lows come through my Jet City Custom 5 Full Nelson head and my Weber Gray Wolf: surely, that is helped by the fact that I am using a 5W amp with a 30W speaker. Said clarity is also due to the remarkable clarity of the pickups: they are louder than Strat pickups, yet they do not create preamp distortion until the gain is maxed (and not much then)—only compression increases, which means that I can control sustain with my dynamics; that is quite nice with a clean tone as lovely as this. Here are my initial amp settings, to contrast with the ones I posted in my NAD thread:

• Preamp Mode: Neutral (i.e. “Off”)
• Bright Switch: Disengaged
• Gain: 5
• Treble: 4
• Middle: 6
• Bass: 6
• Master: 5
• Power Mode: 5W

Next, I will connect the Stick to my mixer to see how much fun I can have with headphones.

The above was written for my friends on a guitar forum, as you may have guessed, and I removed a lot of links because folks here are (obviously) familiar with the Stick.

I can now report that my mixer's 968kΩ “Hi-Z” inputs nicely fatten the high notes, at the expense of some harmonic content. Obviously, the sustain and harmonic complexity is nothing like that of my guitar amp. Those shortcomings, which are not enough to make this a poor solution, are offset by my mixer's massively more useful EQ: I was able to get the accompaniment side deep and a bit growly, which helped me realize that I have a deeper effective range than my Railboard's Raised Matched Reciprocal tuning (owing to my spasticity).

Though I still like the tone from my guitar rig, I am seriously considering saving for a rig which will allow me to hear the accompaniment side in a room the way I heard it in headphones.

Great to hear Rob! I'm so glad to hear the StickWait is over. Looking forward to talking more in detail about the PASV-4 and your adventures in sound.

Congratulations, Rob...play, play, play!!!

Have fun I almost bought an alto by got the SG12 instead. They both sound awesome. Actually any Stick sounds awesome looking forward to hearing you someday

Thanks, folks!

Pictures

Looks great! I'm jealous...

I just noticed that 'The Block' and 'The R-Block' are mirrored.
The toggle switch and audio connections are reversed to each other.

Cool axe! When do we get to hear you rock out on it, Rob?

Congratulations, Rob! Can't wait to hear you rock out on it!

You will get to hear me when I can spare the energy and have some idea what I am doing. Today has proven quite difficult, and I still do not know how much energy I will need to save for tonight.