Oh oh...
What's Juan up to now?
This is an NS Stick..brainchild of Emmett Chapman (inventor of the Chapman Stick) and Ned Steinberger (inventor of the Steinberger Bass, NS Cello, NS Upright Bass, and designer of the NS/Spector Bass).
"In addition to being a bassist, I also play 10 string Chapman Stick. I recently added the NS Stick, complete with a Roland GK-2 MIDI pickup, to my collection. Ralph and Dan have been asking me to add the Stick into some of Jupiter Groove's music for years now but it just didn't seem to fit."
Until now.
The NS Stick offers the best of both (or all three) worlds: Stick, bass, and guitar. Adding the synth capabilities of the Roland GK-2 expands on the sonic possibilities. The NS Stick has a unique tone due to it's active, Tele-style EMG pickups. It has a total of four, two for each set of strings. There are four "bass" strings and four "melody" strings. Each set gets a neck and a bridge pickup. The NS can be run in stereo or mono.
"I decided that I would make the NS Stick my main axe as it does provide for me the familiarity of the bass as well as the low tension, low action versatility of the Stick. Indeed, Emmett's vision for the NS Stick was for it to be a "multi-mode instrument" allowing the playing to easily transition between bass, guitar, and Stick techniques. And the tone is amazing and versatile. At first I figured I would play the NS occasionally and as a back-up to my basses. But it ended up being the other way around. In fact, I haven't played bass for our last 5 gigs! They just sit there on stage, waiting...weeping..."
If you wanna check this instrument out in action, make sure you visit our gig calendar at the Official Jupiter Groove Webpage. You can find out more about the NS Stick and Chapman Stick at Stick Enterprises. And to find out more about Ned Steinberger's amazing creations, please visit Think NS.
