After much thought I am forced to sell my Railboard. The reason being that I have arthritis in my left wrist and I'm finding it very painful with having to bend my wrist in order to reach the bass strings etc. The Railboard spec is brown with gold / black tuners, comes with a lapdawg and soft padded case. Total cost was $2370 (£1511), then I had £298 UK import tax and vat on top of that. I got the Railboard on the 22nd of September so it's just over 2 months old and in brand new mint condition. Always been stored in it's case. Comes with leads, new set of medium gauge strings, Emmett's freehands book, and Greg Howard's DVD. Cost me £1809 in total and I'm looking for £1600 ono as it's practically brand new and had limited use. Still have the box and all original packaging. Would ship worldwide if buyer covers costs.

It may be possible that a flat belt hook may be able to straighten out your wrist enough for you to play. The belt hook is on an angle that turns the Stick towards you. This makes it easy to see the fingerboard but causes the wrist to have to turn in a bit.

If you want to experiment, stand in front of a mirror with your left hand on the bass strings. Turn the Stick away from you and see if that puts your wrist at a better angle.

Before you part with your Railboard, you might try my "air Stick" thought experiment. Your two hands already know the twist of the fretboard angle - about 35 degrees clockwise from parallel with your body (looking down).

Or before you shave down the belt-hook pedestal to position the fretboard parallel, try this:

- Play imaginary Stick observing its 35-degree twist.

- Imagine that it's elevated and play with both hands up higher, left hand at ear level or even higher.

- Then imagine that it's lower, with both hands around the chest and belly (the visceral approach).

- Observe the sensation in your left wrist as you shift thru these elevations.

We all have different physiques but surely my findings must be universal. As you move your left hand upward, adhering to the same imaginary 35-degree plain of playing surface, there's increasing stress in the tendons of the left wrist and surrounding muscles.

Is it just me? Everybody "wears" their Sticks at different elevations for their own comfort, attitude, image - whatever. I'm the visceral guy. It feels good.

Looking down at your instrument (as in Greg's "Basic Free Technique" DVD with its special reversed camera player's view), you have three angles to consider for posture, comfort and optimum playability. Borrowing from aviation jargon, they are:

PITCH - How close to the left shoulder you hold the headstock, a shoulder strap adjustment.

ROLL - The fretboard "twist" referred to above, allowing you to see the board without craning your neck forward, with all frets in the player's line of sight, as determined by the belt-hook pedestal's angle.

YAW - The fretboard's angle from the vertical, often more upright for 3-fingered melody and more diagonal for the 4-fingered technique, adjustable by the shoulder strap.

Then there's ELEVATION, adjustable by the belt-hook's four settings plus the type of belt you wear and where you wear it on the hips or waist. All the above four elements are interactive to make The Stick ergonomic on your body and comfortable to the arms and hands. Each player needs a different combination of adjustments for "pitch, roll and yaw", also for altitude on the assigned flight path.

So as to avoid sending your Railboard on tangental autopilot for a crash into the sea (now I'm getting carried away), you might want to view Greg's "Free Hands" DVD mentioned above, which focuses on the physical aspects of two-handed Stick tapping - fingers, hands, wrists, arms, maybe even a little shoulder movement. Happy piloting.

This post should be a sticky in some relevant section of this site. Thanks yet again, Emmett.

Word!

Hi Ronny,

You shouldn't have to bend your left wrist much, if at all, with the proper positioning The Stick is the most ergonomically sound stringed instrument out there. I can evaluate what you're doing very easily over Skype, of you are interested. PM me.

Hello, my name's Chris.
I may be interested in the railboard for sale.I live in France but am in the uk over the christmas period for 10 days...where are you located? I may be able to drop by to try the instrument...Let me know.I arrive in the uk on the 22nd and leave on the first january.I am mobile.
Let me know.look forward to hearing from you soon, Chris

Great idea, done. It's now a sticky in the "Stick Methods" forum.

hi,
is it still up for sail?
Cheers
Rodrigo

Still selling?