Taproot is an 18-string, baritone (28" scale length) Harp-Sympitar. It has 6 strings on the main neck and 12 additional strings on a bass-side harp section. The 12 harp strings can be plucked, strummed, or sounded using a set of flexible hammers, one mounted above each string. They run across an East Indian influenced jiwari bridge, giving them a distinctive sound quality and amplifying their sympathetic response to notes played on the main neck.
The main neck has a scalloped fingerboard above the 12th fret, giving the player unique tonal control over notes played in that area (like vibrato and note bending).
The sympathetic/harp strings each have a custom-made, hand-operated lever on the back of the harp frame that can be used to raise or lower the pitch of a string by a semi-tone. They also each have a fine-tuning mechanism at the bottom end of the body.
This is a fully acoustic instrument that also has a range of electronic options available: the main 6 strings are MIDI-capable, via a set of RMC Polyphonic pickup sensors; the sympathetic/harp strings have a custom piezo pickup built into the jiwari bridge. A unique addition to the electronic array is a set of 8 drum-trigger tap-plates (the rosewood disks arching along the top of the upper bout on either side of the fingerboard). Each tap-plate can drive a separate channel on a digital drum machine, which can be programmed to make just about any sound imaginable.
Materials:
Sitka spruce
Hawaiian koa
Black walnut
Ebony
Maple
Koa
Pegheds Planetary tuners
violin fine tuners
Here's a 10-minute video explanation/demonstration of Taproot.
Taproot is an 18-string, baritone (28" scale length) Harp-Sympitar. It has 6 strings on the main neck and 12 additional strings on a bass-side harp section. The 12 harp strings can be plucked, strummed, or sounded using a set of flexible hammers, one mounted above each string. They run across an East Indian influenced jiwari bridge, giving them a distinctive sound quality and amplifying their sympathetic response to notes played on the main neck.
The main neck has a scalloped fingerboard above the 12th fret, giving the player unique tonal control over notes played in that area (like vibrato and note bending).
The sympathetic/harp strings each have a custom-made, hand-operated lever on the back of the harp frame that can be used to raise or lower the pitch of a string by a semi-tone. They also each have a fine-tuning mechanism at the bottom end of the body.
This is a fully acoustic instrument that also has a range of electronic options available: the main 6 strings are MIDI-capable, via a set of RMC Polyphonic pickup sensors; the sympathetic/harp strings have a custom piezo pickup built into the jiwari bridge. A unique addition to the electronic array is a set of 8 drum-trigger tap-plates (the rosewood disks arching along the top of the upper bout on either side of the fingerboard). Each tap-plate can drive a separate channel on a digital drum machine, which can be programmed to make just about any sound imaginable.
Materials:
Sitka spruce
Hawaiian koa
Black walnut
Ebony
Maple
Koa
Pegheds Planetary tuners
violin fine tuners
Here's a 10-minute video explanation/demonstration of Taproot.