What
the hell is this instrument?
I explained in a
radio interview that it was part Chapman Stick, part
Bass and part Guitar.
But that's not entirely accurate.
.
. There are too few
strings and the dampening device that doubles as
a first fret (Wait
what? More on this later...) is too inadequate to be able
to refer to as a
Chapman Stick. Sure, this instrument has the body and
neck of a Steinberger
Bass, which is where it's namesake comes from...
But its strings
are too close to be referred to as a bass. It isn't a guitar
either - it's scale
length and strings being too far apart.
This instrument
is in a league of it's own. And that's not necessarily a
good thing. Are
you great at guitar? Awesome! The moment you pick
up the NS/Stick,
you'll find yourself struggling in the amount of effort it
takes for you to
do your chords and runs. You wanna slap and pop and
funk it up with
your bass chops? Well good luck adjusting to the narrow
string separation,
you'll find yourself accidentally hitting three strings at
once. And are you
a master of the chapman stick looking for the ability
to play open strings?
You'll find the
NS/Stick severely limiting, without the inverse tuning your
hand positions are
limited.
If you're looking
for an "all-in-one" instrument like how the NS/Stick
website proudly
states "Now you can tap, strum, pick, pluck, even play
open strings, on
one instrument." You will be severely disappointed.
Then why the hell
do I play this instrument?
And in death metal
of all genres? Because this is the best bass I have
ever played. And
I have played Dingwalls.
I already feel the
clout of the Dingwall army coming towards me so let
me elaborate. I
said this is the best bass I have ever played. Dingwall
is the best sounding
bass, especially for metal, that I have ever played.
But as far as playability,
NS/Stick is the best.
The neck, in true
Steinberger fashion, is a mix of ebony and synthetic
material like carbon-fibre.
Which makes the whole instrument one of the
lightest basses
(8lbs) and it's an 8 string bass. Four total pickups and
the ability to separate
the top four strings from the bottom ones with
individual EQ control
ensures you sit in the mix.
And then, we have
the first fret. The first fret has a dampener built in.
Quickly, in under
a second, you can engage it and now you have an
instrument with
a mute for clean tapping.... Or so you think.
The dampener, in
my estimation, is 80% effective. There is some bleed,
you will definitely
hear it. It's definitely not a gimmick, I use it all the time,
but it's not perfect.
So it's an instrument
that pretty much half-assess all aspects of the bass,
guitar, and Chapman
stick. How does this tie into death metal?
When you're playing
at 240 to 300bpm, the strings being closer together
than a traditional
bass is actually very helpful. I sacrifice the ability in
being able to slap,
but I mean, I never liked funk anyways.
By engaging the
dampener, I also get rid of the biggest problem that
plagues extended
string basses: open string bleed. The fierce tremolo,
no matter how much
control you have, sends vibrations throughout the
body that indivertibly
engages the open strings. A lot of modern bass
players these days
use fret-wraps to counter this issue. (I think it's equally
effective)
The light-weight
of the instrument ensures that your shoulders remain
without pain even
after hours of playing.
I'm pretty sure
I can say that I've had the most fun playing the NS than
any other instrument.
It is no wonder
due to it's steep learning curve and limitations that
this instrument
isn't as loved or known as much as the other exotic
instruments like
the Chapman Stick or Warr guitars.
The community of
NS/Stick players has remained constant: it's pretty
nonexistent. But
to me, it just comes down to one thing: I got mine on
sale for super cheap
at a second hand instrument store.
