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NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Keating
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rwkeating
Artisan Contributor
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:27 pm Posts: 553
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NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Keating
I purchased a used NS/Stick about a month ago. Here is my extensive (or maybe just long) review of it including pictures. http://home.comcast.net/~rwkeating/stick/articles/NSReview/Index.html
_________________ Russell Keating http://www.youtube.com/user/rqkeating
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Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:44 pm |
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Per Boysen
Elite Contributor
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 8:05 am Posts: 2268 Location: Stockholm/Sweden
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Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea
Thank you, Russel! That was very interesting reading. It was the the Half Fretless NS Stick that first caught my eye a few years back and led to my first Stick purchase. Then the fretless was discontinued and I found that I'm actually not looking back now when hooked on the SG-12.
_________________ Cheers / Per Bamboo SG12, Wenge SG12, Bamboo Grand. PASV4 on all. (+ Stickup modded by Emmett 4 the PASV4 blocks). Fractal Audio AxeFx-III, 2 x RCF NX-10 SMA, Apollo Twin USB http://youtube.com/perboysen
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Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:24 pm |
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rclere
Multiple Donor
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 8:53 am Posts: 1518 Location: Seattle, WAq
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Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea
Great comparison and article… ALso, mighty fine looking instrument!!
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Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:53 pm |
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BSharp
Master Contributor
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2023 4:45 am Posts: 1183
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Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea
Many thanks Russell, for your complete and objective review. It seems you focused a lot on the "feel" of the various NS/Stick features, but also on the sound. For me, one does not take priority over the other. "Feel" is the unseen and unheard element, evident only in the player's performance, and has a lot to do with musical inspiration as well as long term dedication.
You also focused on setup and adjustable features, which I feel brings good musical fortune to those players who learn to tweak their instruments for very low tapping action and light touch.
I would only add to your page 14 that some bridges are set lower than others to achieve the same optimally low string action. Yours should function well as is, but could be corrected by shimming up the inner area of the pocket for the bolt-on neck, thus increasing its angle relative to the body and bridge.
Thanks again for an insightful account in excellent writing style.
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Sat Jul 05, 2014 2:13 pm |
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Robstafarian
Site Donor
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 12:55 pm Posts: 2486 Location: Virginia, USA
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Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea
I just skimmed for now, but I will definitely return to read your review in full after I have gotten some rest. I suspected we were similar people when I heard your first barrage of questions in a Free Hands Friday video (I look forward to the 25th), and your thorough discussion of the NS is a sound confirmation.
Hopefully, we can get together in the future and forcibly expand some attention spans!
Last edited by Robstafarian on Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Sat Jul 05, 2014 3:44 pm |
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AndyJPro
Site Donor
Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2013 4:34 pm Posts: 781 Location: Fargo, ND, USA
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Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea
This was a lovely review. I was thinking about N/S Sticks after I came back to the parent's house for the holiday and played bass some. Was surprisingly better than anticipated given the vacation from bass I've taken and considered the possibilities of an N/S Stick. In regards to your comment on neck pocket depth, you could conceivably fix this with a small shim to change the neck angle slightly to dip back further (I also like that feather light touch action on my basses and love the 70's Fender neck angle change feature on 3 bolt necks. My only critique is very pedantic mathematical technicality but I should point out that a flat radius is an infinite radius, not zero. As a radius approaches zero it gets more and more curved, as a radius gets larger and approaches infinity the radius becomes more and more like a straight line. In actuality I loved the review Russell and can't wait to try an N/S at the FHA
_________________ Green Ash 10-string Stickup+StepABout = <3 Serial Number 6290
Last edited by AndyJPro on Sun Jul 06, 2014 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Sat Jul 05, 2014 5:29 pm |
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Tatsu
Master Contributor
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2012 8:35 am Posts: 1210 Location: Indonesia
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Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea
Thorough and professional review. It's interesting. After all that jazz arranged for the stick, I'm starting to get a jones on for a railboard. Your comment about fret rods opposed to fret rails was interesting since sliding is one of my important techniques when playing scalarly. (Obviously not on my last video).
_________________ www.soundclick.com/gongchime
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Sun Jul 06, 2014 3:39 am |
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rwkeating
Artisan Contributor
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:27 pm Posts: 553
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Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea
Thanks Andy. I fixed the radius wording by simplifying it and just saying flat.
I think of two ways of raising a neck (not sure if my terms are correct) 1) a shim raises the neck at an angle, 2) a spacer raises the neck uniformly.
I think a spacer is a better way to go even though a spacer will need to be thicker than a shim to get the same effect of reducing string height. I feel the spacer is less "stressful" to the instrument as it keeps things aligned and doesn't cause any uneven pressure at the neck joint.
_________________ Russell Keating http://www.youtube.com/user/rqkeating
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Sun Jul 06, 2014 5:15 am |
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MichNS
Multiple Donor
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2007 4:39 am Posts: 1350 Location: Northern Lower Peninsula, Michigan
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Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea
rwkeating wrote: Thanks Andy. I fixed the radius wording by simplifying it and just saying flat.
I think of two ways of raising a neck (not sure if my terms are correct) 1) a shim raises the neck at an angle, 2) a spacer raises the neck uniformly.
I think a spacer is a better way to go even though a spacer will need to be thicker than a shim to get the same effect of reducing string height. I feel the spacer is less "stressful" to the instrument as it keeps things aligned and doesn't cause any uneven pressure at the neck joint. Outside of playing Stick, I've been studying with a finger style acoustic teacher on acoustic guitar for the last several years. This changed the way I look at the NS coming from a bass background. Using right hand techniques that classical&fingerstyle players use I find very useful getting around the neck of an NS. As the result, I find myself using my RH ring finger more often on the NS nowadays than I did when i bought mine 10 years ago. Think "PIMA" techniques used with guitars. What seriously blew me away was a few years ago Glenn Poorman asked me to bring my NS to an Interlochen Adult guitar workshop, a classical guitar student from Spain who had just graduated tried out my NS. Since my NS is tuned BEADGBEA, he had no trouble playing songs he knew and I was absolutely amazed with what he was doing. Since the NS has a wide neck, fingering chords like a guitar isn't easy, so adjusting the fingerings to the extra high string, tap and hold certain notes, and using a capo are a few things in addition to using classical/fingerstyle RH techniques that can make playing the NS more interesting. What I'm getting at is try different techniques outside of bass techniques before modifying an NS with shims. You might find the NS is fine as it is. Lately I've been experimenting putting it on my left knee to have easy access to the higher frets. Probably looks silly, but I sometimes play it held between my knees in a vertical fashion just like a regular Stick.
_________________ Photography website:http://www.sb.smugmug.com YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/MichiganNS Vimeo:Steven Balogh Graphite Grand Stick MR NS Stick Wenge body Wenge neck Bamboo Grand Stickup
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Sun Jul 06, 2014 6:02 am |
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Oceans
Artisan Contributor
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2008 5:54 pm Posts: 734
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Re: NS/Stick Review and Comparison to The Stick -Russell Kea
Hey, I was reading a bit. What are you talking about, as explained to a caveman. HA, thanks. And your reviews are good. I remember your old site back in the day.
_________________ "The society for the advancement of harmonic abstraction exists" www.youtube.com/oceansinspace
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Thu Jul 17, 2014 5:04 pm |
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