Hi guys...

I'm Mark, I've been lurking here since early May, and am now coming out of hiding. The reason for this is that I had a conversation with Cambria this Wednesday, and put down a deposit on an alto Stick. This one will be made of Tarawa, with a PASV-4 setup, grey tuners, and abalone linear markers. I asked for Bob's Expanded tuning. My guess is that they have blanks nearly ready - She told me they expect to start the build next month. I think if all goes smoothly, I might have it in hand by the end of the year.

I decided on an alto, as long ago I had a chance to play a standard sized Stick, and found it kind of overwhelming. I've got a couple of Warmoth extended range 7 strings, so the scale length and note range of the alto should, in theory, be comfortable. Also, I play guitar in several tunings, including Robert Fripp's New Standard Tuning, which is mostly in fifths.

The real work, of course, will be learning to use both hands at the same time. To tackle that problem, before I placed my order, I bought most of what Greg Howard has to offer from the SE store. I'll be working through that to the extent I can without an instrument.

The signal to noise ratio at the Stickist is refreshingly high. I'm glad to be here.

--Mark

@SJFKRJ%*KFNVNKH%*GFN

just trying to regulate the signal : noise ratio, wouldn't want the environment to be too jarring

under no circumstances take any "advice" from me, I am unqualified.
I can only related, in my experience...you know when everyone says"it's not a guitar"....they are NOT splitting hairs nor being hyperbolic nor poetic

Welcome Mark.




Enviado do meu iPhone usando o Tapatalk

My guess is you will get it few month before the end of the year

Welcome Mark!

Hi Mark, welcome

Quite a few of the videos on my Youtube page ( see below ) are with the Alto, not expert but may be of interest.
Was going to get the same wood as you but they had bamboo ready to go , so it cut the wait down to something like 8 weeks or less.
Cheers
Bruce

Hi, Mark, and welcome! I hear Tarara is a beautiful wood. The pic on the Stick.com site is pretty (the 8-string Stick Bass):


I'm sure you're going to love your Alto! May your Stickwait become Stickmas soon enough! Rock it out!

It's Mark, hi Mark.

Welcome, Mark! Expect that low A (A2 in scientific pitch notation) to be more deep and clear than the same note on a seven-string guitar.

@piratebruce - I've found great stuff on youtube for alto Stick - My initial introduction to it was Glenn Poorman's "A Thousand Words", and I've been listening to Japhlet Bire Attias and Per Boysen (yeah, he plays an SG12, but it's in the same register as the alto). His "Street Stick' was the soundtrack for the Colorado road trip I took with my girlfriend in June. And, of course, I'm listening to a bunch of the usual folks on the standard scale length instrument - Greg Howard, Steve Adelson, Kevin Keith and others.

--Mark