Great comparison and article… ALso, mighty fine looking instrument!!
| Stickist.com https://www.stickist.com/ |
|
| NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Keating https://www.stickist.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8103 |
Page 1 of 2 |
| Author: | rwkeating [ Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Keating |
I purchased a used NS/Stick about a month ago. Here is my extensive (or maybe just long) review of it including pictures. http://home.comcast.net/~rwkeating/stick/articles/NSReview/Index.html |
|
| Author: | Per Boysen [ Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea |
Thank you, Russel! That was very interesting reading. It was the the Half Fretless NS Stick that first caught my eye a few years back and led to my first Stick purchase. Then the fretless was discontinued and I found that I'm actually not looking back now when hooked on the SG-12. |
|
| Author: | rclere [ Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:53 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea |
Great comparison and article… ALso, mighty fine looking instrument!!
|
|
| Author: | BSharp [ Sat Jul 05, 2014 2:13 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea |
Many thanks Russell, for your complete and objective review. It seems you focused a lot on the "feel" of the various NS/Stick features, but also on the sound. For me, one does not take priority over the other. "Feel" is the unseen and unheard element, evident only in the player's performance, and has a lot to do with musical inspiration as well as long term dedication. You also focused on setup and adjustable features, which I feel brings good musical fortune to those players who learn to tweak their instruments for very low tapping action and light touch. I would only add to your page 14 that some bridges are set lower than others to achieve the same optimally low string action. Yours should function well as is, but could be corrected by shimming up the inner area of the pocket for the bolt-on neck, thus increasing its angle relative to the body and bridge. Thanks again for an insightful account in excellent writing style. |
|
| Author: | Robstafarian [ Sat Jul 05, 2014 3:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea |
I just skimmed for now, but I will definitely return to read your review in full after I have gotten some rest. I suspected we were similar people when I heard your first barrage of questions in a Free Hands Friday video (I look forward to the 25th), and your thorough discussion of the NS is a sound confirmation. Hopefully, we can get together in the future and forcibly expand some attention spans! |
|
| Author: | AndyJPro [ Sat Jul 05, 2014 5:29 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea |
This was a lovely review. I was thinking about N/S Sticks after I came back to the parent's house for the holiday and played bass some. Was surprisingly better than anticipated given the vacation from bass I've taken and considered the possibilities of an N/S Stick. In regards to your comment on neck pocket depth, you could conceivably fix this with a small shim to change the neck angle slightly to dip back further (I also like that feather light touch action on my basses and love the 70's Fender neck angle change feature on 3 bolt necks. My only critique is very pedantic mathematical technicality but I should point out that a flat radius is an infinite radius, not zero. As a radius approaches zero it gets more and more curved, as a radius gets larger and approaches infinity the radius becomes more and more like a straight line.  In actuality I loved the review Russell and can't wait to try an N/S at the FHA 
|
|
| Author: | Tatsu [ Sun Jul 06, 2014 3:39 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea |
Thorough and professional review. It's interesting. After all that jazz arranged for the stick, I'm starting to get a jones on for a railboard. Your comment about fret rods opposed to fret rails was interesting since sliding is one of my important techniques when playing scalarly. (Obviously not on my last video). |
|
| Author: | rwkeating [ Sun Jul 06, 2014 5:15 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea |
Thanks Andy. I fixed the radius wording by simplifying it and just saying flat. I think of two ways of raising a neck (not sure if my terms are correct) 1) a shim raises the neck at an angle, 2) a spacer raises the neck uniformly. I think a spacer is a better way to go even though a spacer will need to be thicker than a shim to get the same effect of reducing string height. I feel the spacer is less "stressful" to the instrument as it keeps things aligned and doesn't cause any uneven pressure at the neck joint. |
|
| Author: | MichNS [ Sun Jul 06, 2014 6:02 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea |
rwkeating wrote: Thanks Andy. I fixed the radius wording by simplifying it and just saying flat. I think of two ways of raising a neck (not sure if my terms are correct) 1) a shim raises the neck at an angle, 2) a spacer raises the neck uniformly. I think a spacer is a better way to go even though a spacer will need to be thicker than a shim to get the same effect of reducing string height. I feel the spacer is less "stressful" to the instrument as it keeps things aligned and doesn't cause any uneven pressure at the neck joint. Outside of playing Stick, I've been studying with a finger style acoustic teacher on acoustic guitar for the last several years. This changed the way I look at the NS coming from a bass background. Using right hand techniques that classical&fingerstyle players use I find very useful getting around the neck of an NS. As the result, I find myself using my RH ring finger more often on the NS nowadays than I did when i bought mine 10 years ago. Think "PIMA" techniques used with guitars. What seriously blew me away was a few years ago Glenn Poorman asked me to bring my NS to an Interlochen Adult guitar workshop, a classical guitar student from Spain who had just graduated tried out my NS. Since my NS is tuned BEADGBEA, he had no trouble playing songs he knew and I was absolutely amazed with what he was doing. Since the NS has a wide neck, fingering chords like a guitar isn't easy, so adjusting the fingerings to the extra high string, tap and hold certain notes, and using a capo are a few things in addition to using classical/fingerstyle RH techniques that can make playing the NS more interesting. What I'm getting at is try different techniques outside of bass techniques before modifying an NS with shims. You might find the NS is fine as it is. Lately I've been experimenting putting it on my left knee to have easy access to the higher frets. Probably looks silly, but I sometimes play it held between my knees in a vertical fashion just like a regular Stick. |
|
| Author: | Oceans [ Thu Jul 17, 2014 5:04 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea |
Hey, I was reading a bit. What are you talking about, as explained to a caveman. HA, thanks. And your reviews are good. I remember your old site back in the day. |
|
| Page 1 of 2 | All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|