Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi all,

This is my first post, so I apologize if this is too off topic for this forum. The expertise here made it worth giving here a try though, and I'd really appreciate some help!

I'm looking into building a tapping style alternative instrument, which I've crudely drawn up here:
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad67 ... cWicki.jpg

I envision a playing style similar to a harpejji:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liGDMa0PNgc

What I'm interested in getting help with is knowing what standard technologies are going to work off the bat when building this instrument, and what parts, if any, I'm going to have to do completely custom. For instance, will I be able to use a combination of multiple guitar bridges and pickups to accommodate so many strings, or would I need to modify the parts themselves to make it work? Because all of the strings stop at different lengths, would it be easier to modify existing nuts and tuning peg configurations, or should I look into building my own?

I'm mostly inexperienced in luthier-ing(?), but I'm motivated to learn and will follow any links to relevant information you can provide.

Thanks for any advice,
John M

PS. If you're having trouble finding your way around the note configuration of the instrument concept, the notes are laid out like in this diagram:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... Layout.png
It's what's called an "isomorphic note layout" where every key has the same fingering. It's similar to how, on a guitar, you can just move up a fret and play the same pattern to get the same music.

You should replace your first link with something people don't have to sign up for. Just a thought.

_________________
http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Thanks for letting me know you had to sign up to see the images, I didn't realize. The link is changed now in the first message, and here it is again just in case:
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad67 ... cWicki.jpg

Any thoughts?

John M

This looks kinda like a hammered dulcimer to me....(without the hammers )
You could probably get by with similar construction and tuning hardware that they use. You would need to add a hard spot to hammer-on the string against. I think regular fret wire would work fine for that.

Sorry for the slow reply, that's definitely a neat idea. It seems obvious looking at it now to approach it like a hammer dulcimer, though I'm not sure the string height would be low enough for a tapping style, hammer-on instrument. It might actually be worth it to look into making it a hammer dulcimer, with the hammers

I drew up another design, this one actually being an alternative hammered dulcimer:
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad67 ... lcimer.jpg

I think I'll look into this option, it might be an easier build (especially if I just go acoustic) than if I were to go with my original design.

John M