What can you tell me about the Chapman Stick?

[Snooooopy]

I read about this in a King Crimson review -- that band apparently has two Stick players. What is it? Does anybody else use it frequently? Has anyone on the SDMB ever played one?

[yojimbo]

Never heard of it before but Google has.

http://www.bassfrontiers.com/archive/050896/stick.htm

http://www.stick.com/

[Egad]

Well you've probably already read about it by now, but from what I've seen it looks like a headless, body-less fretboard, that has 6 guitar strings and 4 bass strings, and is played with both hands on the fretboard. I expect it has very sensitive pickups. It and sounds really cool.

[mack]

Actually Trey Gunn plays a Warr Guitar, which is essentially a tapping instrument like the Chapman stick, but a little different. It has a body like a regular bass, and it's designed to be played like a regular bass in addition to being tapped, like a Chapman stick. It's also significantly more expensive.

Sticks are extremely sensitive to setup, so if you get one from eBay, for instance, send it to Chapman and have it set up and tweaked. Otherwise you'll be miserable.

[Crafter_Man]

I saw the band SmokStik about a year ago. John Kiehne played the Chapman Stick. He was unbelievably good.

[Montfort]

A stick is my dream instrument. When I have about $1500 extra cash sitting around in my wallet one day I'll be sure to pick me up one of them.

Anyway, the Stick website should tell you everything you want to know.

One of the King Crimson Stick players (actually, he's not in the present version of the band), Tony Levin has played with everyone from John Lennon to Peter Gabriel, and many many others, too. Odds are you own an album that he's played on, and he probably played the Stick on it, too.