Stick

[Tony Hardie-Bick]

Michael Zacherl wrote:
> Tony,
> 
>    are you still reluctant to incprorate the full potential of your  
> filterbox?

The sound I'm going for peaks the spectrum around 500Hz to 1k5, using 12dB 
resonant filters, but completely without distortion. I also selected some 
capacitors to put directly across the pickups, also causing resonance (this time 
fixed frequency) at around that part of the spectrum.

The classic Stick sound is very open, like a harpsichord (or, most 
appropriately, like a clavichord), but this does not suit the sound I had in 
mind when first seeing the Stick. It suits low bass notes, certainly, but having 
many harmonics, especially the seventh harmonic (which pianos avoid by placing 
the hammer to hit at the F7's nodal minimum), is completely opposite to my 
concept of the sound, which is more like a Fender Rhodes, or, if one can imagine 
a piece like Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (so called), and think of the lack of 
harmonic density but incredible harmonic character thus conveyed, then, that is 
something that I am after, from the Stick.

I have a long way to go before my playing matches the capacity for music 
inherent in the instrument.

But, yes, the filters are an essential part of the sound. So much so, I built 
the latest circuit into the pickups, and threw out the crazy transformer circuit 
that was really cutting the lows and highs, and confusing the beautiful 
character of the instrument (NB, the classic pickup, as used by Tony Levin and 
Gert, has much greater simplicity).

I found this rather awesome op-amp to use in the latest circuit:

http://tinyurl.com/5sdwm8

Strange that I now spend my whole time trying to get rid of distortion and 
noise, because this is what limits electrified string instruments to the rock 
domain.

Tony (HB)