Probing the depths... (experimental DIY madness inside)

[Variant]

How low can one go? I can't say, but I'm gonna find out. As some of you may know, my experimental extreme electronic project The Surfacing has ventured heavily into the implementation of softsampled guitar sounds, and at some point in the process of building these tables of thousands of multisamples, I came to realize that the physical limitations of the guitar & bass themselves really have no bearing on what we can deploy from within the mighty box. So, with a little lateral thinking, I give you our latest studio implement, [in Nathan Explosion voice] The Mariana Bench!:

The purpose? Simple: Attach my trusty and sonically flexible workhorse of a guitar to a "bench" which could extend the practical scale out to the extreme extent of available string lengths to DI multisamples into the computer for future deployment via MIDI programming/playing.

With guitar notes, I'll be able to take thinner and, thus, less boomy & excursive strings and make lower notes than ever before. I've gotten down to G0 on the guitar itself, but the practical playable limit is more around A0 with a .125 gauge string and even then, it rattles around a bit.

On the bass side of things, well, We're gonna nab ourselves the .270 gauge monster of string that Garry Goodman makes and find the limit. I'm already using samples nabbed from a subcontra bass tuned down G#00 for my sub-bass reinforcement... gonna see where we can go from there... or at the least, build a more comprehensive table of sounds to cover the current range.

 

[ralphy1976]

i am really REALLY eager to ear / see what this experiment will lead you to conclude.

BUT : what if the result is either :

1 - yep, our guitars are useless piece of junks and you need a "contrabass" scale guitar to do what you want

or

2 - nothing can give you what you want and you just have to be happy with a JPX...

awesome idea...love it!!!

 

[vansinn]

55" scale.. yup, now we're talking bass..

Cool experiment. What's next? a transportable, collapsable rig, with the bass player - sorry, I meant the sonic pilot - strapped in, wearing a Borg device..

 

[scherzo1928]

this is madness!

 

[Explorer]

Quick set of questions/observations...

Is there a reason to retain the Synapse as the pickup engine at the core? Given that you'll be losing the use of the frets for the lowest notes, I wonder if you might not be better served with some sort of pickups on a rail like on the Rail bass, as well as piezo elements Movable pickup elements would allow placing them into sweet spots a bit more easily, as opposed to being tied to one particular place a fixed distance from one end of the strings.

I'm trying to think if there's any published data/articles regarding this pickup placement issue on electric hammered dulcimer and autoharps. I believe that no one I know who has worked on those instruments (and, coming from that world, I know quite a few) has ever written the stuff up, but there might be good data from the electric guitar world regarding better placement for different tonal qualities.

Moving further in this direction, if the idea of fretting is also being abandoned, one could also look at giant harp precedents.....

 

[Variant]

Quick set of questions/observations...

Is there a reason to retain the Synapse as the pickup engine at the core? Given that you'll be losing the use of the frets for the lowest notes, I wonder if you might not be better served with some sort of pickups on a rail like on the Rail bass, as well as piezo elements Movable pickup elements would allow placing them into sweet spots a bit more easily, as opposed to being tied to one particular place a fixed distance from one end of the strings.

Consistency... mainly. All the other multis have been taken from this particular, wonderfully tight-sounding guitar (well, rhythm, anyway... the warm lead notes were all an Ibby Jem 7WVH) so to keep everything consistent output/tonal wise, that's why. Also, it's just plain easier to bolt the damn thing to the bench and have at it. Originally, I was going to get a second EMG preamp & output and integrate it into the bench, then use the quick-disconnects to take the pups to the bench itself and go that route... but again... way easier just to bolt the damn thing in. The resonant qualities of the body & neck of the guitar will be retained this way. Granted, this is only with regard to the guitar samples, that is (no matter how low they go). I believe this to be best so when the sampler shifts from, say, C#0 down to C0 (or wherever the switch-over is, guitar-to-bench as a source), there's no weird change in tonality.

As for the bass notes... I'm not sure. The Synapse actually gets a REALLY convincing bass sound on the neck pup with big, low tuned strings on it... so who knows. Might work, might not. We may need to get a separate/bass oriented set of pups & preamp to get the bass notes working on it, and move them around to sweet spots like the Rail Bass. It's definitely stage one so far as that goes.

As for piezo's: Covered. The Synapse has a piezo system in the bridge so multis of the piezo DI's will be taken as well.

I'm trying to think if there's any published data/articles regarding this pickup placement issue on electric hammered dulcimer and autoharps. I believe that no one I know who has worked on those instruments (and, coming from that world, I know quite a few) has ever written the stuff up, but there might be good data from the electric guitar world regarding better placement for different tonal qualities.

Moving further in this direction, if the idea of fretting is also being abandoned, one could also look at giant harp precedents.....

Uber great idea! Once we get it stringed up, I'm gonna take the usual articulations: Muted, half-mute, open note, slow & fast variations of those... but I will also likely play around with some slaps, harmonics, and now that you mention it, some dulcimer hammer harmonics! Marco (my partner in musical crime) also suggested we invest in a cello bow to take some multis of bowed subcontra notes... which probably will happen as well.

 

[Hollowway]

Totally cool.

 

[technomancer]

Funky. Sort of reminds me of Holdsworth's baritones but in a pedal steel configuration

 

[Variant]

^
You know, as a younger musician, I could have given a dry fart about Holdsworth had he been presented to me (and my earliest music instructor was a fusion guy that had me into that stuff from the very beginning)... and it's uncanny how much I've arrived at the same places he did to decades ago. I mean, I'd kill for this 38" thing:

Not to mention we're putting wired frets on our guitars (see the SynthAxe, also a Holdsworth mainstay from yore). Marco's got all the computer side working through PureData, and is working with Open Chord on the fretwire system, plus his Graphtech Ghost saddles go on his guitar tomorrow as well.

Allan was a brilliant explorer, it's no wonder Fredrik Thordendal has used him as so much of a template as well.

 

[Variant]

Alright kids, Drunken Cybermetal Bob Villa here...

...time for phase one of the Mariana Bench build:












I'm gonna warn you, this thing ain't really pretty. It was meant to be a cheap, efficient solution. In fact, The .270 Octave 00 string will cost more than the bench did overall. You want to see something pretty, look at this:

Important shit first, straight edgers look away at your Crabstance 2011 calendar:

Yup, scotch old enough to buy itself. BTW, this stuff is Amazing. Younger Glenlivit's generally fall in the "Meh, decent." range of things, this is excellent, excellent elixir!

Classy crystal glassware is appropriate here.











Okay, on to actual work: The main run of board came directly from the neck blank for Marco (Cadenhead)'s Home Depot Build. Not so forgotten, simply repurposed:

The actual board length is 72" so there's even more length than I had initially planned. It's a very solid stack of maple, has decent density, and resonates well. It should do the trick.











The first thing that needs to be done, is to add a T-extension at the ass end of the thing to provide a place to anchor the strap hook pins to it:

Told you... ugly.










What's Marco doing during all of this you ask? Fappin' to Food Network ladies as usual?

Nope, he's diligently grinding notches into his OFR-7 basepate to install the Graphtech Ghost piezo saddles into that will later connect to the homebrew MIDI system we're concocting.










Next, I've got to fab up some brackets from angle aluminum to tie the two boards together:

Drill some happy little holes:

Holes are drilled for the wood screws:

Note how they're offset on the main board so they don't clash when screwed in from opposite sides.










Refill time:

A switch to the mighty (but "less special occasion" because of a more realistic price) Ardbeg 10.










Line this dog-ass lookin' thing up...

...And glue and give it the clamps:

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[Variant]

[CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST]


Now, wait for the glue to dry for about a half-hour. What to do? Drink some more? Yup. Make the air duster and WD-40 69? Absolutely:

"How's it going over there mighty Marcoder?"

^
From MAKE MAGAZINE, br00talZ Edition.











Alright, waited long enough on this shit. Let's get to getting the Black Oar Of Doom strapped onto this puppy! Took off the strap hook here so I could use the existing holes to lock the sucker down. Got some longer screws with the same gauge and thread pattern to get through the board, and as you can see here I've dropped a couple lengths of small bar stock into the screw holes. They're cut just longer then the hole depths so they will leave a mark on the board where I need to drill the mounting holes. The electrical tape (I used the white tape, because the black tape is always getting used to do all the work) is to keep the pins from falling out and changing me like a lycanthope, into the Ryan that swears a lot.

Now, lay the sucker out and mark the holes:

And drill away:

I'll admit here that I had to do this twice, as the guitfiddle was not quite far enough back and not straight on with the board. I'll blame the booze.










Well, I somehow forgot to snap a pic of the holes being drilled in the T-extension, so yeah, imagine that with your imagination. Picture the chick from earlier in the thread doing it if it helps. Anywho, here's the bad boy all bolted in:

I hacked the bolts of to length as well... after this pic was taken, of course:

Well, that's as far as I got over the weekend. I made a trip to Home Depot today to get some more pieces. I'm going to add a reinforcement plate on the bottom intersection of the two pieces of wood to further keeping it from flexing, and got myself four rubberized feet to make it so I can actually set it on my desk without tearing the surface all up.










"How are you doing over there, Marco?":

Well, to be continued over the course of the week where. Y'all come back now, ya hear! Ryborg, signing off.

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

 

[highlordmugfug]

You are awesome.

 

[cadenhead]

At some point, I may post up the pics from my side of the Mad Scientist Lab that is my garage. Stay tuned for that as soon as I figure how to get the pictures onto my computer.

 

[ralphy1976]

rulezzzz!!!!!

 

[Hollowway]

Love it! I cracked up at the bit about the Glenlivet begin old enough to buy itself. Happens to be a favorite of mine as well. And I don't know what it is, but I've never met as many scotch drinkers as when I joined SSO.

 

[Durero]

Fascinating project.

Keep us informed about where you get your various extra long strings from.

Or are you using O4P for all of them?

 

[adrock]

cool idea.

now who is the gorgeous red head?? i must know....

 

[jwatso89]

+1 for the Glenlivet i visited their distillery on vacation last summer and it was one of the coolest tours ive ever been on

very pumped to see how this build turns out too aha should be brutal!

 

[Daken1134]

Maybe im misunderstanding the concept but.... this sounds like a multi string version of a Motograter, you know the instrument that the band from texas created. it sounds awfully similar.