Tapping Instrument Search
It’s been well over a year and I still haven’t landed a good tapping instrument. My top choices would either be a newish Chapman Stick (with the adjustable tailpiece) or a Warr Guitar. I’ve played a Warr Guitar on and off lately, and it’s fabulous. I can’t seem to get the owner to part with it and I’m continuing to explore some alternatives. The design of those two instruments is particularly attractive to me. The Stick has a classic streamlined appearance and I love its minimal design. And the Warr Guitar is simply stunning with its exotic woods. Since I’m planning to approach the instrument as an ultrawide bass+guitar, I want to string it from low to high – unlike the common Stick approach with the bass strings inverted. As a bassist I want the lower register arranged in perfect fourths, and as a guitarist I want the upper register tuned as the top five strings of a guitar. The part of the equation I haven’t settled on is the interval between the two groups. I’d be willing to try a continuous tuning from low to high, and also willing to try two groups separated by a wider interval to minimize the likelihood of hands colliding.
My playing involves tapping and cross-fingering on both bass and guitar, although I also play both instruments in a more conventional approach as well. So the tapping instrument would provide a good wide-range platform for those instances when I really want to cover more ground or generate those percussive tones. If anyone has a spare Stick or Warr Guitar they’d like to part with…