Traktor, no matter what happened in the past, or the personal biases of other ppl whether paid or not, in the end your instrument has to stand on it's own. If your instrument was better, or if it ever got better in the future, it would succeed in spite of rather than because of.

As for the present, your instrument does not weigh up to the Stick. Thats the bottom line. If it does in the future, good luck to you.

Tritone

Tetrachord...

Is that Traktor Topaz?

Hi Matt,

You hit on the real problem for building precision instruments, and that's consistency. With enough labor, any builder will be able to have some playable instruments turn out. But if they don't develop a process for building them that produces consistent results, then it will be hit and miss.

Emmett has solved these problems by using very stable materials and construction (which makes it possible for him to offer 36"-scale instruments), developing custom hardware for easier setup, etc, and he still has some very subtle and involved fretwork to do. It's not simply a matter of assembly. Every Stick that leaves Emmett's shop will play really well (though you may have to tweak the truss when it arrives after a 3000 mile flight, that's okay, you're supposed to tweak the truss, don't be afraid of the truss)

I'm sure when people begin to understand the need for a good design AND skilled human hands, they will see what the real issues with mass-production are. Until those issues can be solved, you won't see consistently-playable less-expensive instruments (of any type).

Sticks offer much flexibility to the user for tunings (crossed or uncrossed), setup (adjustable nutand easy truss adjustement) and playability (no body to interfere with access to the highest frets). They are truly blank slates, (hey, you can even play them with a bow).

Also, to Fiddle, I agree about Stu Box's instruments. I really like what Hettory does with them, and I think Stu's music is really interesting as well. They're not very much like Sticks, but they obviously work well. It helps when the designer/builder is also a good player (same goes for the Kelstone) as I've said in the past:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=722
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1267&p=9785&hilit=kelstone#p9785

I would very much like to see you play one with a bow.

Um, so, Tetrachord... is that Traktor Topaz?

k

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWXVWP__JAQ[/youtube]

I'd like to see me play one with a bow, too (but I doubt I'll ever be as good as Jim or Michael is at it). Colin Jenkinson is the first guy I ever saw play with a bow, back around 2001 or so.

Great bowing, Jim!

There were points in their tour where all the Stick Men were bowing (Mastelotto bowing cymbals):

I really like this one of Micheal's:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0geVKTSJdk[/youtube]
RSS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0geVKTSJdk

I confess my skepticism, but would totally love to see you play one with a bow, and I'm totally humbled by the Stickdudes.

k

Something that sometimes comes into play with imported 'instruments' is that sometimes they are imported as 'toys' and not 'musical instruments'...it's cheaper to import them that way. BUT the item can't play as well as an instrument or it gets reclassified = more cost.

Case in point - a number of years ago we were selling some 'major manufacturer' 4-string acoustic bass guitars. These were very inexpensive 'instruments'. Intonation was always a problem with them when you went above the 7th or 8th fret. Eventually after many returns to the manufacturer we were told that these were being imported as toys and as such could not be made to function properly. Needless to say we were very suprised. They could be made to play ok - not perfect, just ok. But it took man-hours to do it which translates to cost.

I'm not saying that this is what happened with your Ibanez experience - but it is a possibility. And I'm sure that some companies can produce an ok instrument for a reasonable amount of money...whatever that equates to in your checkbook.....

Dave

Well, the Mandolin certainly wasn't marketed as a toy, but it was at the low-end of the "real instrument" price scale. I hadn't considered the tariff classifications would be different based on the cost/type of instrument, but we certainly have some goofy tax laws. I used to import auto parts years ago and some items like bearings would be taxed at an exhorbitant rate if the invoice description was "ball bearing," but it they were declared as a "bearing repair kit" the duty was a fraction of the cost. Go figure...

After playing a friend's new Godin mandolin this week I got inspired to mess with it again. I put new strings on it, dropped the action and adjusted the bridge to correct for the sharp intonation and now it's at least playable. Not great, but good enough for my own entertainment, not really being a Mando player and good enough to learn on.

Yea, those basses were not marketed as toys either. I guess it was kind of a corporate secret... I guess they do whatever ever it takes to compete.