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 Alto Stick thread 
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Post Alto Stick thread
Hi everyone,

The Alto has been out and about for a couple of years now, and I just wanted to see what those of you who have them have been up to.

There have been some nice recordings featuring the Alto from Toshiaki Kanamaru, Mike Kollwitz and Glenn Poorman.

Sean Malone also posted a great blog about his experiences with it, that is now reprinted on stick.com

http://www.stick.com/articles/malone_alto/

Anyone else got one?

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Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:00 pm
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Post Re: Alto Stick thread
Yeah if you guys haven't, check out Glenn Poorman's song "A Thousand Words" off of 121 Normal.

I would love to get an Alto one day but I'm basically broke. If I have enough money when I have a kid, I'm for sure getting him/her one.

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Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:51 am
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Post Re: Alto Stick thread
Petary791 wrote:
Yeah if you guys haven't, check out Glenn Poorman's song "A Thousand Words" off of 121 Normal.


Seen him live too...
http://www.sb.smugmug.com/gallery/40687 ... 38991-M-LB

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Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:24 pm
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Post Re: Alto Stick thread
MichNS wrote:
Petary791 wrote:
Yeah if you guys haven't, check out Glenn Poorman's song "A Thousand Words" off of 121 Normal.


Seen him live too...
http://www.sb.smugmug.com/gallery/40687 ... 38991-M-LB


Well played on both your guys' parts.

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Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:50 pm
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Post Re: Alto Stick thread
Greg,

Do you if the wait time is longer or shorter for Alto sticks for new units?

Or is there a cache of Alto's hidden somewhere :D ...I've never seen one for sale.

Charles


Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:53 am
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Post Re: Alto Stick thread
Charles,

I could be wrong, but I think Greg's one of the few people who has owned an Alto and subsequently sold it (?).

Cheers,
Andy

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Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:37 am
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Post Re: Alto Stick thread
cguerin wrote:
Greg,

Do you if the wait time is longer or shorter for Alto sticks for new units?

Or is there a cache of Alto's hidden somewhere :D ...I've never seen one for sale.

Charles

Hi Charles,

They are included in regular production runs, but they have only been around for a couple of years, so you're not likely to see them out there in large numbers, yet.

I'm hoping that players who have spent more time with them than I have will start sharing their experiences here.

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Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:39 am
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Post Re: Alto Stick thread
greg wrote:
I'm hoping that players who have spent more time with them than I have will start sharing their experiences here.


Hi all,

Just returned from snowy Jackson Hole and so I'm just catching this thread now. Thanks for all the positive feedback on the "A Thousand Words" tune. It's very nice to hear.

The Alto is definitely a cool instrument. Before Stick, I was a guitarist and keyboardist. I loved the full range of keyboards and started playing Stick in hopes of marrying that range with the feel I loved from guitar. I believe that mission was accomplished.

Now with the Alto, I lose some of that range and for that reason the instrument will likely always be a "secondary" instrument for me (just my personal take on it). With that said though, it has a feel and even a sound that's all it's own. Some of the music I play on that instrument could just as easily be played up high on my Grand but it just wouldn't have that beautiful sparkly sound (the sound Emmett has dubbed "icy").

The other thing I found was this. On a few occasions while recording, I found myself reaching for it in places where before I would have grabbed an acoustic guitar and started picking. A good example of this is the tune "To Walk In Time" from my 121normal record. I had actually recorded the tune once before back in the late 80s and this go around, I replaced the picked guitar with Alto and really like the result.

Glenn

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Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:14 am
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Post Re: Alto Stick thread
Glenn / Greg / anyone,

As I will be getting an Alto Stick, I'm curious about your tuning choice.
Did you guys go with "Extended" tuning to retain BM fingering, or was it based on getting the extra whole step in the high range?

Does anyone use an Alto tuning with a "Classic" configuration between the sides? I'm thinking along the lines of tuning the whole instument up a 5th in relation to a regular 10-string.

Glenn, I'd also like to know if you prefer to run the Alto Stickup through your full stereo setup as per your other Sticks? The smaller/higher range suggests to me that more people might go for "unified" mono processing on this instrument.

Comments from other Alto players would be great too!

Cheers,
Andy

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Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:19 am
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Post Re: Alto Stick thread
I really like the sound of the alto stick. Over the past few days I've been transcribing Don Schiff's Ireland, and I love the tone it has, I can't really describe it, but it has a beautiful "pointed" sound for want of a better description, but flute-like sometimes too especially in the middle section of the piece.
I love it and I love that song, next I think I'll work on figuring out Emmett's cover of Lotus on Irish Stream, purely to hear more of that wonderful sound!
Also due to the range of the Alto Stick I can, with a bit of careful thought about fingering, play most of the song on my 6 string for the time being. :D


Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:14 am
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