An opinion from someone who has little use for those on either side of this argument:

I've played both.

Emmett's design is better. It's based on minimalism while providing tremendous capacity for customization.

Emmett's design looks better. If aesthetics mean anything to you.

Emmett's sounds better. Both played dry through a basic keyboard amp. The Megataur lacked the crispness and brightness the stick had. First word that came to mind for me was "frumpy".

Emmett's plays better. The tuning argument is for the most part irrelevant because either can work. If your wanting to play linear scale runs and patterns on the bass side fourths works well but the fifths tuning is an easier and more versatile chordal tuning.

Traktor argues that his "bass bottom" tuning is superior. Well, 4ths may be easier for the beginning guitarist when he first picks up the instrument but his "bass bottom" argument is just stupid. The reason is that the neck of the Megataur is as wide as a four lane highway and anyone who wanted bass 4ths would be smart to mirror them with the melody side. And if your gonna have to adjust your mind's eye on the bass side you should go ahead and give 5ths a shot cause most people once they get into it prefer it to 4ths.

And if you're dying to have a bass in 4ths, well the Stick has that capacity as well.

As much as I laugh at the so called "Stick Masters" around here, Emmett's instrument is superior in every way. If you can't afford a new one, used ones usually aren't hard to find.

Good luck to you.

Tritone

The sound files that were linked don't really do any justice to either instrument .. More over you have no idea the quality of the player, the quality of the equipment or recording -- etc. I don't think those are a very good way to judge something like this.

I agree 100% that an instrument is very much like a car in that you want to sit in it, kick the tires and really know what you're getting. To judge an instrument like this without having picked it up and actually seeing it is folly.

Doing this a little out of order:

@dasdude0325: Tappistry.org is a website wholly owned by Traktor and the megatar people and hosted on the same machine as megatar.com. I don't know that it would be any more unbiased than opinions here as it seems to be the place where the megatar folks congregate..

@v015eyjd: 1. Valid point -- and it sorta makes my original question seem a little stupid now.. haha
2. I do need to learn more music theory.. in fact I should go start doing that today.. Don't need an instrument for that.. (You selling your used stick? hehe)

@tritone: Thanks for your input. You say you played both -- can you tell me what you liked didn't like about the megatar?

@greg: I don't know how wild his assertions are.. Are they completely out of line? I mean I have seen a video on the megatar website of a guy playing nicely. (Jan Laurenz) In your professional opinion would that be considered a good demo of the capabilities of the instrument or no?

More over I realize this is somewhat of a "my dad can beat up your dad" argument.. hehe I mean what some folks like others don't and vice versa..

And that instrument has nice inlays so.. that argument is gone.

@traktor: I had never heard of the megatar, I'll admit that. And looking at them, they look very pretty. I can't speak about how they could, should or would play -- but they are visually beautiful. In fact, I think I prefer the look of the megatar over the look of the stick. (sorry Emmett..) If I were buying an instrument on looks alone I'd probably get the megatar over the stick. (though I do worry about the width of the neck) Having said that, I realize completely that looks mean nothing. Less than nothing with a device designed to appeal to the ear.

Please take the following comments for what they are meant to be; A commentary on my observations and feelings. I'm not attacking you.

Your posting style seems a little snarky in my opinion. I understand that there might be bad blood between you, steve, greg, etc.. but why name them like that? I feel that doing so is just rude, bad for business and just adds fuel to the fire..

As an outsider coming to the industry for the first time, I can honestly say that, your extremely aggressive and pushy salesman style has really turned me off the megatar. The instruments merits completely aside, I feel that your style is going to hurt your business in the long run, and if you consider me the average then I'm sure other folks feel the same way..

Suggestions: Instead of aggressive hard core used car salesman pressure tactics, maybe try to get your instrument placed in stores throughout the U.S.? I mean major music cities like Austin would probably be a good place to feature your instrument.. I'm sure a couple of the stores around town would let you put one in there so people can actually pick it up and feel it. I think this would do wonders for your sales numbers.

I for one want to kick the tires! Nothing will help my decision making process more than actual hands on.. More over, you have those folks who will buy in a vacuum -- meaning they will see it as their only choice and buy it since I don't believe the Stick folks have their instrument in stores either..

The online sales model is a good one, but not for instruments -- for the same reason that most folks don't buy cars solely online. With cars, you look them up online, then see that hey its located here.. and you go there to check it out..

It boggles my mind that none of you have demo models or sell on consignment out of a physical store somewhere..

Sure there is an initial cost to make and get the instruments in the store, but the worth in exposure to the thousands of folks a day that go to those stores would be awesome..

Just an opinion -- I welcome your comments.

Several things.

Playability wise, the megataur is too bulky. The neck is wide as hell, and without a way to be more specific, the Megataur to me lacked the "precision" that Emmett's instrument does.

And it seems like all these guys that came around after Emmett felt the need to build their instruments to try to resemble a guitar as much as possible and I'm not sure why. Cause it's not necessary. There's no reason to build a tap instrument with a "guitar like" body unless you plan to play it like a guitar. My guess is it's a somewhat marketing ploy to guitarists whom they apparently think are too stupid to make the mental transition.

Emmett's design has trimmed off all the fat and left an instrument that is streamlined and optimally efficent mechanically.

As far as sound goes, the best way to judge a instrument is completely dry with uniform settings to compare. And for me the Megataur lacked what I call "brillance". Which is the brightness and resonance and crispness in all registers that the Stick has when playing. Then higher melody strings didnt resonate as well for me and the low end was a bit round and kinda flat.

Which goes to my precision argument. The Megataur just isnt made as well. And personally I felt it when I played it. Don't know him personally but my understanding is Emmett has kind of a "jeweler's" mentality when workin on the sticks and for the most part it shows. Fretwork is better. Setup is better. The Stick is better.

Good luck to you.

Tritone

Amen to that!

This has been a sticking point with me for some time. There are those that want to essentially retain their status as guitarists and simply move to a "guitar on steroids" kind of deal for tapping. And that's fine. Emmett himself builds an instrument that fills this role.

But for me, I've always loved the idea that the Stick is a new instrument and I've always felt that to get the most out of it, you need to embrace it as a new instrument and lose the guitar/bass baggage.

The notion of claiming superiority of an instrument by making comparisons to the guitar has always, for me, been roughly akin to complaining about Bach Trumpets because you can't play them with a violin bow.

As I said before, if you want to start on something that is closest to the tapping experience (IMO), then take some piano lessons.

In regard to stores ... I can't speak for the Megetar however I believe the Stick has been in stores in the past in very low numbers. The problem is (If it's a problem?) that they are still made by Emmett and a very small group of people at his home. They're "Custom" made and they can't keep up with orders so populating stores through out the worlld isn't going to happen unless they become mass produced. And of course that's a double edge sword because if they get mass produced the attention to detail will no doubt suffer. This attention to detail, personal hand craftmanship and high instrument quailty is also the reason it takes a year to get a new Stick and THAT'S also a two edge sword because although the wait is often painful for the customer the fact the wait is so long keeps resale value up. The Stick retains it's resale value like no other item I've ever seen.

We would ALL love to test drive Sticks at the local music store but I don't see it happening in the near future.

Palamedes,


There is no such thing as a stupid question. Like I said, I was asking those very same questions not too long ago.

I'm used to things coming fairly easy to me. Music theory is one of those things I struggle with. But I'm convinced it's the only way to really understand what's going on when you play. And yes, I will be selling my current Stick when my new one arrives.

Jim

Hi Pal,

As a teacher of tapping, my concern is what he writes about the tunings — his various claims about speed of learning, etc, which seem to be based on nothing but his own conjecture. Instead of lots of musicians using his tuning on Sticks or any other instrument, what you find is accomplished players using just about every other possible tuning but that one. I think that the recordings of Jan are a good demo of what Jan can do, but they don't prove anything about tt's tuning, since Jan doesn't use that tuning.

Superficially the arguments behind the ttbb tuning might seem to makes sense, but as a way of making music, tapping is a very different from conventional guitar techniques, (something anyone who is seriously teaching this way of making music already knows ).

So to answer your question:

In the complete absence of anything to back him up, it's my opinion that what he wrote on your blog about the advantages of his favorite tuning is nothing but a marketing strategy. It's not like this tuning of his is actually new anymore, either. He's been pushing it for several years now. If it was "all that" then we could reasonably expect to see other players using it, and using it well. Until any of us see proof to the contrary, then, yes, "out of line" would be a good way to describe his assertions on that point.

For the rest...

Plenty of people here with no ax to grind against tt have provided specific commentaries on everything from design and ergonomics to sound. If those opinions mean anything to you, then weigh them against the promises of tt's advertising and see if they hold up.

But, ultimately you should choose whatever instrument speaks to your ear and your heart, not your pocketbook. You'll never be truly satisfied unless you do.

Did you use books or websites or what? I learn better via books myself... If you have any to suggest please do..



Maybe we can work something out!

@greg: Good reply greg.. Thanks for the info..

@traktor: your thoughts on the matter?

I did have a couple of books but that only got me so far. I really didn't understand it all all until I started taking lessons from Steve A. Since then I've learned far more than I ever could have from a book...but I have a *long* way to go because it simply doesn't come naturally to me. Plus, since I'm not doing this for a living, I come home tired from a long day at work and I'm less inclined to study and more inclined to just pick up my Stick and play mindlessly, by rote.


Sure...I'll keep you in mind. When I get the call from SE that my new Stick is ready to go into production, I'll shoot you off an e-mail and let you know. If you're still looking, we can talk.

Jim