Other than the Dragonfly DF-A series (which is an absolutely beautiful instrument in my opinion), are there any other acoustic tapping instruments out there?

I don’t know of any other acoustic model in existence other than the couple that Bob Culbertson had custom made. I have a dragonfly and I find it very fun to play


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Thanks - I'd been searching but hadn't found anything. Was very interested in a Dragonfly, but considering various things, was a little hesitant to purchase something with an almost 2 year wait for delivery!

I think Bob Culbertson said once his dream was to play a Chapman Stick unplugged under a tree somewhere.
He has the acous stick. Don't think they made many. Hard to tap on a purely acoustic instrument. But whatever works for you.

I think I would like to find a portable amplifier that sounds good. Battery powered. Light weight that clips onto your belt. Hard pressed to find one that has the bass response. If you're playing an Alto stick maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
Good luck.



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I forget who mentioned a harpejji in some thread on here, but that sent me down about a 5 hour rabbit hole. Now my wife wants one.

Disregard, I missed the "acoustic" part.

The dragonfly is oriented kinda like a classical guitar. With classical guitar type strings and a classical style bridge which has a different sound and feel than the acoustick which is is more “steel string”. It’s loud enough to play unplugged under a tree [emoji268] , but not as loud as a classical guitar. It comes with a built in piezo / mic system for amplification which sounds great and preserves the acoustic sound pretty well. I believe Rodrigo externally mics his dragonfly sometimes like you would with a classical guitar. As far as playability, it’s quite good. Mine is set up tuning wise exactly like a 12 string matched reciprocal, so I can move between it and my stick without too much trouble. The scale is shorter so it’s not a completely seamless experience. It took me personally about a couple weeks to get comfortable with it but now, for the most part , it’s as easy for me to play as a Chapman stick . Here’s a piece I recorded off the cuff a while ago https://youtu.be/miG4aGF8pIM to give you a feel for what it sounds like

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A guitar player named Kevin Kastning had Emerald Guitars build him a few custom contrabass guitars, a couple of them doublenecks that might be hybrid tap instruments. I cannot find any videos of him playing them, but the pictures show him tapping with one hand on each neck.

I’m not sure if Alistair Hay is doing much custom work anymore, the custom builds are no longer on Emerald’s website. I have a doubleneck Chimeara, he makes fantastic carbon fiber guitars. Kastnings guitars are the closest things I’ve seen outside of Dragonfly’s and Bob C’s Acoustick.

This is one of the pieces I found while researching the Dragonfly, and one of the reasons I'd really like one. I'm just afraid of the wait time at the moment!

I found the idea of acoustic tapping instrument really appealing, but from the videos loaded on Youtube, I found the sound not so good : too much "fingers noises", as if the strings were quite high from the neck and the musician has to tap strong to play notes. I'll pass.