Other Ideas
This is where everything begins … as just a crazy idea. Here are some of the current ideas that I think have some really interesting musical potential but are still waiting to have the necessary time and energy put into them to bring them to life. If you’re interested in any one in particular you can help move the development along by financing it … you’ll get the finished instrument at a much lower price than the work thats gone in, and the satisfaction of seeing the idea take shape. This sort of vision and collaboration is crucial in helping these crazy ideas materialize, and I’m so grateful to those have contributed and been a part of the journey so far!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions as this will help define the direction these instruments take.
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DF mod’s
(optional modifications to the standard DF design)
At the moment we are working on some ideas for split tremolos, where 2 or three bass strings remain fixed while the others can be bent with the tremolo. There are also ideas for an in-built, sliding capo, and a bridge damper system that would allow for some quick and easy onboard control of string vibration (a bit like pedals on a piano) … offering even more versatility!
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Lap Tapper
Hopefully in the near future we will be able to present a new model that is designed for horizontal use … on your lap or on a table. If all goes to plan it will have 8 strings and you’ll be able to raise the strings to also use it as a lap steel. There is also the possibility of a semi acoustic model.
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Harp Tapper
This would be a model with no fretboard and works solely on the light tapped contact of you finger on flatwound strings … with ‘fret’ positions marked on the strings themselves. The exact format of such an instrument is well and truly open for discussion but we would like it to be a longer scale instrument with electromagnetic pickups.
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Tube Stick
The idea here was to use accessible materials to try out a stick-like instrument in a tube format. Personally I’d like to take the idea further building a slightly tapered hollow ‘tube’ out of wood with flat fretted facets and individual string pickups set into the body. We might do some further PVC experiments yet!
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Interval Tapper
This simple instrument is about exploring the tapping of two notes on one string … using the vibration of the string from either side of where it is tapped. The photo below is just an initial experiment and it could go in many different directions from here. Obviously we need to install appropriate pickups to make it useful as more than just a toy, but theres a lot of interesting things that could be developed here … and it really challenges the way one thinks about traditional string instrument playing!
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5 Key + Drones
The photo below shows a very crude mock-up with 3 keys and one drone – we would ideally like to use 5 keys, a longer scale and at least a couple of drones. Its really not a tapping instrument (so maybe it shouldn’t be here at all!) but its included because I feel that its an idea that compliments my own use of the DF line of instruments together with the E-bow, acoustic electronic sustaining and hammering techniques. Used this way it would be something of a mix between a dulcimer, a clavicord and a hurdy gurdy!
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Finally … if you want to check out some other instruments that have been made over the years that don’t fit under the Dragonfly umbrella, then have a look here.