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 Alternate & Prototype Sticks (Schticks) 
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Post Alternate & Prototype Sticks (Schticks)
I keep discovering and hearing about several prototype Sticks that were one-off creations, special orders, experiments, or collaborations with other manufacturers. I love these alternate and prototype Sticks, some of which have now gone "mainstream" and are available for ordering from Stick Enterprises. Many of these surface from time to time in videos, or are whispered about in apocryphal stories told around the Stick campfires of Stick Camps.

In this thread I want to talk about Sticks made from alternative materials, alternative designs, and collaborative designs with other manufacturers, and any and all other prototype Sticks. Here's my categories of alternate and prototype Sticks, which I'm calling "Schticks," and slighting misusing the meaning.

Quote:
shtick.
[SHtik]
NOUN
schticks (plural noun)

a gimmick, comic routine, style of performance, etc. associated with a particular person.

"there are many great comics who have based their stand-up shtick on observational comedy" ·
synonyms: act · performance · number · turn · piece · line · shtick · spiel · patter

•a person's special talent, interest, or area of activity.

"movies about ordinary women who do extraordinary things—that's my shtick"


1) Formerly exotic/custom/prototype and now mainstream:
Railboards with a mirror finish; metal deposition coatings
The original Railboards with the sandblasted “scritchy” feel
Tony Rodriguez’s shiny silver Sticks
Railboard Grands and 8-string Railboards

2) Alternative Materials
Various woods: Rosewood, Ash, Maple, Bamboo Composites, etc.
Exotic woods: Zebra Wood, Paduak, Ironwood
Graphite
Carbon Fiber
Polycarbonate
Aluminum (now known as Railboards!)

3) Alternative Designs
7-strings
9-strings
8-strings (now standard option)
12 strings (now standard option)
Acoustick (only 2 in existence?)
The one used in Dune. (Just a cosmetic thingy added to it?)
Combo double-bass/Stick “Frankenstick” (Mike Kemp)
Whammy Stick?
Custom pickups

4) Collaborative Partnerships with other manufacturers:

NS/Stick, with Stick Enterprises LLC with Ned Steinberger http://steinberger.com/
The Prototype NS/Stick that Dean "Skydiver" has

Bass Lab Sticks http://basslab.de/ (See Bass Labs thread and Greg rocking the Porkpie.)


5) Custom Customizations (inlays, paintings or designs)
I know I've seen some custom paint jobs on a few Sticks. Let's hear about 'em and see 'em!

********************

Please tell us about prototype Sticks in your possession or that you used to own. Pictures would be greatly appreciated and video would rock! Stories about one-off Sticks, or special customizations, or just whatever you want to say about Schticks and their reasons for being would be greatly appreciated. I'd love to hear more about the Bass Labs Sticks for example. This thread is for everyone who has ever wondered about or wanted one of those "weird" Sticks (relatively speaking, of course), or knows what the heck they are and can share.

I'd love to see what Emmett and Captain Strings and Tony Rodriguez (who owns like 32 Schticks!) and a few other longtimer Stickists have to say about the Prototypes as well. Let's talk Schticks!

--Schticky Steve #6, who so far owns 3 Sticks but no Schticks (yet)

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Wed Jun 06, 2018 5:37 am
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Post Re: Alternate & Prototype Sticks (Schticks)
Hmmm

There are a few half fretless sticks Steve Adelson has 2 i believe.

Ive seen older quarter fretless as well

A few of us have custom hybrid Stickup bass/EMG melody pickups. I have one I think mine might be the only one with tone knob for the melody??? i'm not sure if any of the others have this.

Virna Splendore had a beautiful Stick with a high gloss finish, I wonder where that is now.

Keep in mind these custom jobs I'm sure are a LOT more work for Emmett, don't expect to place an oder for any of these.

Brett


Wed Jun 06, 2018 7:27 am
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Post Re: Alternate & Prototype Sticks (Schticks)
Brett Bottomley wrote:
Keep in mind these custom jobs I'm sure are a LOT more work for Emmett, don't expect to place an oder for any of these.

To reiterate this last point, Greg made it quite clear—in one of his Free Hands Friday appearances—that one should not even ask about a hybrid pickup module (he had to beg Emmett, as I recall).


Wed Jun 06, 2018 8:58 am
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Post Re: Alternate & Prototype Sticks (Schticks)
Don’t forget Boris plays a harp/Stick thingy. I know not the technical name but another version of the Stick

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Wed Jun 06, 2018 9:50 am
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Post Re: Alternate & Prototype Sticks (Schticks)
Jzzb8ovn wrote:
Don’t forget Boris plays a harp/Stick thingy. I know not the technical name but another version of the Stick


I forgot about Boris and his Harp/Stick combo!


Robstafarian wrote:
Brett Bottomley wrote:
Keep in mind these custom jobs I'm sure are a LOT more work for Emmett, don't expect to place an order for any of these.

To reiterate this last point, Greg made it quite clear—in one of his Free Hands Friday appearances—that one should not even ask about a hybrid pickup module (he had to beg Emmett, as I recall).

Hey guys! Thanks for the warnings but I wasn't planning on any special orders from Stick, but if someone is selling one of these prototypes in the future, I'll definitely be considering it. I'm not cool enough or specialized enough to customize a Stick to suit my particular needs, other than tunings and maybe some MIDI explorations (and with no MIDI hardware on the Sticks permanently). :D

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Rosewood 10-string, #5989, M4s
Sapphire Railboard, #6763, MR
Wenge-on-Wenge NS/Stick, #170130, Bass 4ths
http://soundcloud.com/stephen-sink-1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-RDlN ... Ez0hN49_Qg


Wed Jun 06, 2018 9:59 am
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Post Re: Alternate & Prototype Sticks (Schticks)
I can add what I am aware of to this already really fun thread.

There was a single double neck Stick that Emmett made for a cat that had to have it. I think this would have been the mid-80s.

The original Railboard has the pickup input on the top and a few extra frets on the melody side.

There have been a number of exotic woods that have had one-offs, too numerous to list.

Joe Conti has an insanely self-modifed Stick. It's, it's like, it's like Joe Conti. Check him hitting Toto's Africa at 8:30. His stick is fretless on the lowest 3 strings. It's sick.


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Last edited by earthgene on Wed Jun 06, 2018 2:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:51 am
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Post Re: Alternate & Prototype Sticks (Schticks)
Africa is tune I want to learn. Maybe SOTM material

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Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:00 pm
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Post Re: Alternate & Prototype Sticks (Schticks)
Nice subject! One of the "shtick" definitions you posted was "a person's special talent, interest, or area of activity". My shtick is of course The Stick in all its variations, including:

- Longer 38" scale Sticks for Paul Edwards and Randy Strom in the late '70s.
- A wider 14-string Stick also in the late '70s.
- An intermediate length "Tenor Stick" for Allan Holdsworth before the guitar scale Alto Stick.
- "The Grid", a dedicated Stick synth controller with ten uniformly thin strings tuned in unison.
- My four "Electric Stick" prototypes from 1969 to first actual production in 1974.
- Failed Sticks (too flexible) made from clear Lucite, hard rubber and fabric laminates.
- Railboard precursor with hardwood neck/headstock and bolt-on 1/4" thick "Railboard" slab.
- And of course a myriad of custom tunings and combinations of features.

The semi-hollow BassLab "monocoque" structure was unique and could have been a contender in my productions, except for problems machining precise fret grooves. Heiko's proprietary molded material was in itself unique with a certain resonance and "bounce" to the tone (and the feel), reminiscent of "Silly Putty" of the '50s or the cellular bounce of soaked and doped violin woods from Stradivarius' time. There are about five BassLab models in existence with metallic colors of blue, black and blue, red and silver. The timber is rich and complex. Dressing the frets was not easy. That's the one that got away.


Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:05 pm
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Post Re: Alternate & Prototype Sticks (Schticks)
This has got to be the coolest thread on sticklist!!!!
More, we want to hear more.... I feel like a kid again, listening to my 106 year old grandmother telling stories about magic worlds and long lost heroes! Thank you Steve and everyone shedding some light :) Thank you Emmett :)



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Wed Jun 06, 2018 4:01 pm
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Post Re: Alternate & Prototype Sticks (Schticks)
Obligatory video from Dan Chapman of Bob Culbertson playing the Acoustick. I love this video so much, especially the closeups of Bob's fingers and the fretboard. Finger-Sticking awesome!


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Steve Sink, Laser Fractals
Rosewood 10-string, #5989, M4s
Sapphire Railboard, #6763, MR
Wenge-on-Wenge NS/Stick, #170130, Bass 4ths
http://soundcloud.com/stephen-sink-1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-RDlN ... Ez0hN49_Qg


Wed Jun 06, 2018 5:55 pm
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