Skip to content

Q: How to map the Megatar fretboard?

A: We are working on a chart that shows all the notes on the fretboard, and hopefully that will become available soon.

However, in the meantime, in the Method Book #1, in the Appendix, you will find some blank fretboard graphs, which can be photo-copied. These are only 8 frets long, and don’t cover the entire fretboard, but of course one can stick several together. In the Owner’s Guide it gives the tuning at Fret Two, so it becomes a simple matter to extend the notes up the fretboard.

However …

A SIMPLER WAY TO LEARN THE FRETBOARD

In ‘Easy Touch-Style Bassics’ — available many places, and free as a bonus with MegaTapper Newsletter subscription — we present a recommended ‘starting place’ for learning.

If you follow our suggested starting place of placing your left hand over bass strings just above the double-dots at fret two, and placing your right hand over melody strings just above the double-dots at fret twelve, then the notes beneath your two hands are exactly identical. This approach allows you to simply focus on an initial nine notes (though the others beneath the hand can easily be filled in), and if you begin your experimentation there, then by the time you have a handle on that position, you will probably discover that other positions up and down the fretboard become rather obvious.

HERE IS THE KEY

The double dots are spaced the distance of a fourth apart, and the strings are tuned a fourth apart.

This means that, if you have placed your right hand just above double-dots on melody strings above fret twelve, then if you move *up* the fretboard to the next double-dots position, you have in effect dropped all the notes one string lower. So the notes originally on the bottom string have vanished, and you’ve ‘gained’ a new string at the top, which has three new notes.

And likewise, if you moved your hand down one double-dots position below the double dots at fret twelve, then in effect the notes beneath your hand at fret twelve will all have moved *up* one string, so that the notes that used to be on the top string have vanished, and you’ve gained a new lowest string with three new lower notes.

DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?

If not, get your Megatar and work it out. If you don’t have a Megatar, we offer our condolences, but you can get some stick-on dots to put on the fretboard of your Chapman Stick. (We think that’s why they call them stick-on dots.) It’s much more clear if you have six melody and six bass strings, like on a Megatar, and it’s lots more clear if you’re using all fourths tuning, what we call BassBottom.

If you experiment wih this just a little, you’ll discover that it makes mapping the fretboard rather easy, once you’ve learned the notes at the original position. It will become remarkably clear.

One simple step at a time … and soon you’re dancing the rhumba!

Posted 16 May 2008 § All § BassBottom Tuning § Chapman Stick § Ease of Learning § Easy Touch-Style Bassics § Fretboard § Fretdots § Starting Position § The Nine Holy Notes ‡ Comments (0) °

Q: How does one adjust the relative volume across the strings?

A:Without seeing and hearing an instrument, of course we cannot diagnose the specific issue of an instrument (any instrument) and its action, But here is some general information …

(1) First, it is a fact that little tiny strings wiggling in a magnetic field create a smaller signal than great big ‘ol strings wiggling in a magnetic field. The mass of tiny strings is smaller and so it disrupts/alters the magnetic field less. Also the swinging of a big string is somewhat larger than a smaller string, I think, so its wiggling is both further and more mass.

(2) So the first line of approach on the instrument is to see if you can get the magnetic field to be closer to the small string, because as the magnetic field grows closer, within certain boundaries, the magnetic field reacts to the wiggling string more.

The general way you do this is either to (a) raise pole pieces under tiny strings, if you have pickups like the gold-case pickups on the Dragon instruments, or if you have pickups like on the Chapman Stick, or (b) if you have rail or solid pickups then you adjust the mount screws so that the end of the pickup under the small strings is closer to the string.

How close?

One good way to do it is to bring the pickup high until the string strikes it when playing at fret 25. Then back it off. Now when the string is very close, the magnets will pull on the string, and it will have a slight distorted sound. (Depending on your rig, this may be subtle.) Back the pickup away until the distorted sound just diminishes.

The other way to approach this is to move the other end of the pickup away from the fatter strings. Because it’s the difference in closeness that makes for a difference in volume output from the thinner and fatter strings.

In the Mobius factory shop when prepping instruments to go out, we test the relative loudness of bass strings at fret 3-4, and the relative loudness of melody strings at fret 13-14, as a good general overall test.

(3) The other part of the equation is — what are you playing the instrument into? If you run it into a bass amp, the nature of a bass amp is to be very kind to bass strings, but it will absolutely eat up your highs, and tiny strings have very little sound t offer other than highs, so their volume is naturally diminished.

Likewise the tone control, if your instrument has one, if it’s rolled off will kill more sound on your highest strings. The Chapman Stick instruments don’t normally have tone controls, but Warr Guitar and Megatar instruments do, of course, because it gives you more control over your sound during the gig.

In a similar fashion, on any amp, your EQ settings create a large difference in what frequencies come out. In our factory shop when we set up instruments, we use an unusually flat-response P.A. type amp (Barbetta) with no boosts nor cuts in the EQ. We don’t want to hear the sound sweetened or colored in any way when we’re setting it up. But of course, for your music, you will choose the amp and effects which best present the music you are creating.

And also, some effects (even when not labled EQ) change EQ in order to accomplish their effect. Phasers and chorusers can cause phase cancellation, and some distortion effects boost mids (at the expense of highs).

Try carrying your instrument into Guitar Center and try other amps. They will all present different sounds, including a difference in the relative volume between high strings and low strings.

One favorite sound, for many of us, is a ‘jazz guitar.’ But it’s also a fact that this distinctive sound is created by rolling off highs, and so to compensate, your fingers have to be lighter on big strings, and heavier on little strings.

(4) The action of strings does absolutely have an effect on relative loudness. If you have a relatively low action, and you have the gain up, usually a good balance is available.

Sometimes overlooked is that, if you have a high action, then you have to hit all strings hard, and this gives you very little control over dynamics. So how could you create, with your fingers, more volume from the high strings? You can’t.

With a nice low action, and the gain turned up a little higher than seems reasonable, then you can play lightly, and your fingers will have far more control over how loud the strings sound.

Although tiny strings absolutely make less sound than fat strings, and that continues to be true for any guitar or bass, all these other things will affect the volume that you hear.

Posted 11 May 2008 § All § Amps § Effects § Tone/Volume Controls § Volume ‡ Comments (0) °

Q: How can I get a Megatar when I don’t have enough money?

A:Well, who hasn’t been broke? Pretty much anyone who’s had a full life has had that experience at one time or anther. If you’re interested to hear about Traktor’s poverty in the college years, read this.

But of course, you realize that ‘poverty’ and ‘doing well’ are mainly states of mind, depending upon your being grateful for the wonderful life you live, and that pretty much anything can open up, pretty much at any time, and that as soon as you realize — it;’s like walking up the street and a bird startles out of a bush and flies rapidly away, maybe left maybe right I don’t know where it went — and you suddenly realize that you can have anything you want, assume only that you desire it and you focus your mind and picturing clearly and so you knowing you can have it oddly the opportunities will just appear, and you ask questions and what if and before you know it will be the money appears and click click click you open the box and the Megatar in your hands and you like the way you feel it and the strings beneath your fingers, and sound is rich and the music floats into the air and then it is

So. Call us. Tell us how can we help you to get an instrument into your hands?

Posted 11 May 2008 § All § Economy § Improvements § Megatar § Prices ‡ Comments (0) °

Q: Where can I try a Megatar? Any music stores?

A: Someday, tapping instruments will be found in any music store. (If in fact, in that future, music stores still exist.)

But that day is still some years in the future. And in some ways this works to your advantage.

For example, one of the reasons our pricing is (relatively) low for a specialty instrument is that we sell direct.

We did experiment slightly with selling through dealers, but it became obvious that we’d have to raise all prices quite a lot and we didn’t want to do that. (There is one manufacturer who does sell through dealers; and you’ll notice how their prices are considerably higher than ours.)

And so this is one reason that we don’t have any music store dealers. Not even in Los Angeles or Noo Yawk; not nowhere.

We do realize it’s a bit of a ‘leap of faith’ to order an instrument without playing it first.

Because, usually, when we want to buy a guitar, we trot down to Guitar Center and try some off the wall.

But a touch-style instrument is a different kind of beast. You won’t normally find them in a music store, because …

  • The instruments don’t fit on the racks on the wall;
  • The salesmen don’t know what it is;
  • The younger customers all want to try it, but then hang it horizontal trying to pick it and don’t know why their hand won’t reach all the strings in that position;
  • Then it gets banged up;
  • And after failing to sell it for a few months, naturally the music store wants to return the banged up instrument. Bummer.

So this doesn’t actually work well, quite apart from the 40% markup that they want to charge.

I (Traktor) remember the first time I took that leap of faith. It worked out for me, and it works out for most folks.

However, since we cannot offer you the opportunity to visit our instrument at the music store, this is why we have our “Universal Guarantee of Satisfaction.”

It says: “If less than completely delighted with any standard instrument purchased from our factory, return it within one week in new condition for full refund of your purchase price.”

Now please realize that when you try a guitar off the wall at Guitar Center, it becomes immediately clear that you either like it or you don’t. And if you’re not quite sure, then you go back the next day to check. And that’s really all it takes to know.

So since you can test the instrument on your own gear in your own home for up to seven days, this is plenty of time to make sure it’s going to be fun and productive.

Posted 11 May 2008 § All § Chapman Stick § Ease of Play § Economy § Guarantee § Guitar § Music Stores ‡ Comments (0) °

Q: What Amps work best with Mobius instruments?

A:We cannot answer this question exactly, because your music and your ears will determine what’s true for you. However, as an overview, here is some information about
the three ways we’ve seen people use amplification for touch-style instruments –

TWO AMPS

Because the instrument has bass and melody outputs, some people simply use a bass amp for the bass sound and a guitar amp for the melody sound. If you were gigging, this can be a lot of stuff to haul, but at home it’s not all that difficult.

Of course two amps cost more than one amp, but it is a fact that bass amps are built so as to be very *kind* to the sound from bass strings, and guitar amps are built so as to be very *kind* to the sound from guitar strings. So this two-amp plan does work pretty well for getting a great sound.

ONE AMP

Tapper Teed Rockwell, for one, uses a Fender Twin Reverb. He plugs both the bass and the melody leads into the single amp. His reasoning is that the instrument is *one* instrument, and so he wants to have *one* amp. Now Teed is also a guy who uses very little in the way of effects.

He says his fingers are his effects. And he gets a great sound from the single amp.

If you’re selecting a single amp, the thing to beware of is this — Some bass amps will produce rather a muffled sound for the guitar strings, and some guitar amps will produce rather a weak bass sound. However, other bass amps and guitar amps can produce excellent results.

Your ears must be your teacher. And most any guitar store will let you try amps, as much as you like. (Just don’t play ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ OK?)

ONE KEYBOARD-TYPE AMP WITH EFFECTS

Some use this particular method, because it allows them to have a rather light-weight amp which can handle very low and very high sounds. Keyboard amps or PA-type amps are made to handle both very low and very high sounds.

Now, bear in mind that keyboard or PA amps are *not* designed to be *kind* to the sound of bass or guitar like bass and guitar amps are made to do, and also anybody playing loud rock and roll should be aware that over-driving a keyboard amp doesn’t get a great sound but can damage the amp instead, because they’re built differently from guitar and bass amps.

Also, most everybody who uses a PA-amp uses *something* to condition the bass and melody sound before it goes into the keyboard amp. Some folks use two direct boxes, and sometimes these direct boxes have amp modelling built in, so it sounds like your melody is a guitar amp and your bass is a bass amp.

Other folks use guitar stomp boxes on the floor. Other folks (including me) have experimented with floor-type keyboard effects which can then produce a wide range of lush and exotic sounds.

We’ve also had good results with amp-emulating and effects units like the Johnson J-Station or the Line Six units. And I’ve also had totally great results with the Guitar Rig software from Native Instruments. It runs on your computer, and lets you choose amps and effects, and has great sound. (The videos I’ll mention below were done using the Guitar Rig software, but with very minimal effects, as I wanted a very clean and bare sound.)

We cannot really recommend a particular amp or effects chain. For one thing, they change every year, and so who can be up to date? But, more importantly, your own ears will tell you the answers fast, and we could never guess those answers, just because we’re all different guys and different musicians. I (Traktor) play ‘elevator music’, and I like jazz harmonies and ‘beautiful music’ mixes, used in standard, Beatles tunes, and bossa novas. Your music will be different, and even if you played the same songs, you’d treat them differently, and you’d best enjoy some different
sound.

However, though we don’t know the answer, we know where the answer can easily be found — Go to any music store, and plug in and try the things. Your ears and your budget will tell you the answer quickly.

Also, remember that you can *start* with almost anything, because your earliest practice will be getting the feel of it. Luckily, your past training will transfer quickly, and the process is a lot of fun. And after a couple of weeks playing through *anything*, you’ll probably be in a better position to specify what you’d prefer more exactly.

Posted 11 May 2008 § All § Amps § Effects ‡ Comments (0) °

Q: Where are Mobius Megatar instruments made?

A: Mobius Megatar instruments are made in our factory shp in the little village of Weed, California.

Yes, Weed, California. No joke.

On some of our models in the past (and perhaps in the future) we have obtained bodies and necks from overseas, mostly Korea and China, where they have very good factories for doing that kind of work.

However, we have not found anyone to whom we could reliably subcontract the rather exacting fretwork and setup, plus of course we install the Buzz Feiten Intonation System so your playing sounds more in tune than do normal guitars or basses. The fretwork we do is of far greater precision than even very expensive guitars hanging on the wall at Guitar Center … because the action must be much better for your touch-style playing to be easy and good-sounding.

At present, we are manufacturing our own bodies and necks. We use computer equipment, for the exact laser-like precision it affords to the placement of the fretslots for example, and we use hand-finishing for the beauty of the instrument.

As always, we obtain parts for our instruments from all over the world. Our custom long-length strings, the GraphTech custom nut and saddles, the custom ‘flat top’ dual rails TrueTalker pickup used on the Eclipse and the ‘gold case’ pickup used on the Dragon, plus parts like strap buttons and our patented MegStrap are all anufactured for us in different countries. This is one of the reasons that our instruments cost less than would otherwise be the case (and of course in many other countries we can get more control over custom work than we can from US factories).

And naturally, some parts are best procured in the USA. Bartolini Pickups, for example, are made to our spec in San Leandro in California.

Posted 11 May 2008 § All § Economy § Foreign Countries § Made in USA § Megatar § Weed ‡ Comments (0) °

Q: I like the Mobius Megatar mission. What can I do to help?

A: Thanks. What we’d ask is that, if you find this instrument interesting, if you’ve downloaded a copy of the method book or maybe you get the free newsletter, and you think it’s a good thing, then we’d ask just one thing – Spread the word. Thanks.

Posted 11 May 2008 § All § Ease of Learning § Ease of Play § Megatar § Method Book § Mission § Newsletter ‡ Comments (0) °

Q: If I buy an instrument, what guarantee do I have that I’ll like it?

A: Whenever you purchase something by mail or phone, the worrying possibility is that you might not like it! We don’t expect this, but who knows? And so, as our way of looking out for you, and to make it safe for you to purchase an instrument without any fear of being stuck, we have a very clear guarantee, so you can get the instrument and check it out for yourself. It goes like this:

“Our Guarantee of Satisfaction – If you were ever less than completely delighted with a standard instrument purchased from our factory, just return it within one week in new condition for a full refund of your purchase price.”

Posted 11 May 2008 § All § Ease of Learning § Ease of Play § Guarantee § Megatar ‡ Comments (0) °

Q: Many Megatar instruments are inexpensive, but your sound is better than others costing more. How you do that?

A: It’s a matter of priorities. In our design process, we’re mainly interested in the sound and playability. So you think, what do we know sounds best? How can we utilize the science of sound? And what will give us superior playability?

For example, guitar-builders know if you want good tone, the instrument must be somewhat stiff, so you need a body with good strength longways. It need not be wide nor heavy, but it must avoid flexing, so it must not be too thin. It’s also common knowledge that to get long sustain you run the string ball to the rear of the body, and tilt the tuner head so the string makes firm contact at nut and saddles. So for starters, you build a small but stiff body, with through-body string anchoring and a tilt-back head.

I once saw a guy building a gorgeous guitar, and he installed the pickup where it *looked* good. No experiment, no science. Man, that’s not smart. For ours, we took an instrument and cut a huge hole in it, and put the pickup on modeling clay and moved it back and forth. Sure enough, some locations sound best. So that’s where you put the pickups. You let your ear tell you where it should go. This is just sensible engineering. If your priorities are right, and you go carefully, step by step, you get good results.

Our neck is beautiful, but our body looks kind of clunky. Sorry. That’s just what gave us the best sound and the best playability. When you feel how the instrument rides so comfortably, and how smooth the neck feels beneath your hands, and when you hear how grand your music sounds … you get the point.

It fits with our goals to give good value. And we do.

Posted 11 May 2008 § All § Design § Guitar § Improvements § Megatar ‡ Comments (0) °

Q: Has Mobius Megatar developed the perfect instrument?

A: They’re pretty darn good, but we don’t think they’re perfect. Perfection is a moving target. As soon as you’ve improved one thing, it’s impossible not to see something else that could be done better.

In the southwestern United States, there was once a tribe who believed that if they made a pot or a blanket without any slightest flaw that the gods would become angry and it would be big trouble. Well, in that sense of things I am pleased to report that we have so far avoided angering the gods!

We don’t think that the ‘perfect’ instrument has yet been built. To develop something that can never be improved seems impossible to the engineering mind.

Posted 11 May 2008 § All § Design § Improvements § Megatar ‡ Comments (0) °