I first heard of and heard/saw the Chapman Stick on reddit.com 12 August, 2015. I think I placed a Railboard order that same day or the next, Blue Railboard with GK-3 pickups. When told it'd be 3-6 months (the Internet said it could be a year!), I bought my current 10-string, #5989, off Ebay and have been playing it since.

I started a longish thread about Stick MIDI Strategy--and a good guitar synth to go with the GK-3 pickups. Cambria just told me the GK-3s would be at least another month out, after already holding up the order some weeks. I didn't want to wait anymore when I already play keyboards and really only got the pickups as an afterthought. I didn't even know what I'd be doing with them--hence the article about which guitar synth goes well. (GR-55 or GP-10--or both--seemed to be the choices, giving you the TL; DR version of the thread).

But I'm dying to do more recording with the Stick and especially a Railboard. I'd love to have it by Christmas. Even pagans--pun intended--like Sticks under their trees! So I asked to skip the pickups and add them later down the road if I still wanted or needed to. Order adjusted--and after upgrading to the hard shell case since I was skipping the GK-3s--I got my email from Cambria: THY STICK COMETH! or something to that effect.

119 days from order to "All Done!" email. I just paid the remainder via PayPal and I'm psyched! Suuuuuuuwwwweeeeeeeet!!!!!

Awesome. I did the same thing. Figured I could add the gk3 later. Wise choice. We want pics.

Our Railboards are of the same anodizing batch. They're kin, or even siblings, as it were. There's a few of us lately in this batch. I'm curious as to how many go each time. Cambria did tell me I'd have to wait a couple of months on the next batch if I wanted a blue one with the linear markers instead of the dots. That was the first change to my order, because I said "No more wait" and went with the dots. The GK-3 was the 2nd wait I skipped.

Ooo very cool! I can't wait to see this, pics! Pics!

I think there might be a batch of us getting ready for Stickmas!

Shipped, and UPS says arrival by Monday!

I'm thinking about what I want to do for an unboxing video. Maybe me just holding the Railboard to my chest and stroking it..."The Precioussssssss..."

Lol off to Mordor you go...

I have a "Days Until" countdown app, and I count down the days I've had my Rosewood, 111 days today, and how long ago I ordered the Railboard, 121 days ago today. I added a third data point months ago, called "Hopeful Railboard Day," and stuck 19 Dec 2015 as the day (hoping to get some Railboard love by Christmas.)

It turns out that that SWAG (Serious Wild-Ass Guess, as we use in the Army), may turn out to be the EXACT day, plus or minus a day or two.

Just thought that was worth mentioning. Also for OCD-like people like me, who hate waiting an indeterminate amount of time, I recommend plugging in a day to give you something to fixate on.

If you tell me Christmas (Stickmas) is 4 months and 3 days away from order, I have no problem waiting. If you tell me Santa is coming sometime over the next 3 or four months, I'm going to go absolutely crazy every day checking for milk and cookie crumbs.

"Know Thyself and Plan Ye Around Thy Limitations" is Sink's Law #3. I hate waiting an indeterminate amount of time. I thought it was worth an extra $1800 to buy my Rosewood off EBay and not wait. And I'll have two Sticks, and I've got a 10 and 13 year old that want to learn to play (they already play piano--and ukulele--and song flute--and percussion in band and trumpet in band. Apples don't fall far, apparently ).

Plus, I'm 4 months into it and already laying down serious (for me) tracks, such as the new PainStickingly I have on the Showcase (and am pimping now).

Five more sleeps dooder!
Stoked for ya!

video when it shows or you're a liar.....

cheers,
kev

Kev, the Railboard Unboxing Video that Rob (known as Jzzb8ovn) and you put together viewtopic.php?f=14&t=10387 truly set the gold and platinum standard for unboxing videos--and not just Stick ones, few as there are. I used to think "Why aren't there more Railboard and Stick unboxing videos when there are 38,419 unboxing videos of every crap product on the planet now?" I used to watch one a couple of months ago that according to it, was only the second unboxing Railboard video on the intertubes. There's more now but still! Having said that, alls I's gots is blue that's different than Rob's. And me stroking the Precioussssss....

Adds: one thought I had was doing a scratch test to try that anodized coating. Did you and Rob do any of that? (I'd pick a spot on the back and then not do it anyway and hope that someone else does it to theirs first!)

Adds again: I just re-watched your and Rob's video again. So awesome! Such a great job. And Rob, that tune at the end is kicking! I dig it more and more every time I hear.
Gollum