Here is a link to the latest Free Hands Friday session. Michael Johnstone was our guest with Gene Perry hosting.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJgmAq8gRRo[/youtube]

Michael shared information about his life as a professional musician, recording engineer and more recently, Chapman Stick Lapdawg creator!

Michael has created a device, the Lapdawg, that clips to the back of the Stick belt hook that then expands and allows the Stickist to play sitting. We got a good look at the unit and got to hear first hand what to expect in the future for the Lapdawg (including a sneak peek at Emmett's custom Lapdawg, which is more a bulldog!)

A+

Some where in there Joel mentions a screw type extension for the arms if the lap dog hangs off the bottom. Couldn't the arms be telescoping? I feel like that would be better to keep everything one unit. I'm really excited to see this thing take off. I'm also glad the issue of using it on lower holes was addressed, being a highest notch setting user.

Yes telescoping arms are being considered for future incarnations and that might help in certain configurations but that would add complexity(and cost) to the product. Still like I said it's being looked into. At present The Lap Dawg offers a pretty usable amount of adaptability for most near vertical seated players with a very simple mechanical design and a non-invasive presence on the instrument. That's what I was shooting for. Moving forward - if the demand arises for more sophisticated and specialized designs,those advances will evolve.

It's a 'golden mean' Gene; golden .

`J`

That's fantastic to hear! I'm incredibly interested and intrigued and am very impressed with your innovation. I admire inventors so much.

Somewhere in there Gene screen shares a You Tube video of one of my performances on electric tenor mandola and due to some technical gremlin the audio is missing in the upload.
For those who are wondering WTF? - Here it is w/audio:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUfEXGe_N6o