Harpejji - Starrett-inspired instrument

http://www.marcodi.com/

I'll say it's Starrett-inspired. It's even got his tuners.

"In late 2001, I e-mailed Emmett Chapman (he�s a neat guy), asking
if he could build a custom instrument of this nature for me. Focused
on his existing work, Emmett respectfully declined but mentioned
that a man named Dr. John D. Starrett (then a mathematics professor
at the University of Colorado at Denver) had invented and patented
something similar to my idea, which he called the StarrBoard. I
phoned Dr. Starrett and found out that the StarrBoard was indeed
conceptually close to the idea I had brewing in my head. Moreover,
Dr. Starrett had a few prototypes left over from his experimentation
and offered to sell me one. So, I bought a 35-string prototype, which
happened to be his first prototype."

I studied at school that had one of John's StarrBoards. We
tuned the strings to harmonic and subharmonic series segments,
and left the frets in 12-ET. Quite a good combination, I
must say! I wonder if the MarcodiBoard is available in alternative
tunings...

Great find!

-C.

At 01:00 PM 3/11/2008, you wrote:
>http://www.marcodi.com/

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <carl@...> wrote:
>
> I'll say it's Starrett-inspired. It's even got his tuners.
>
> "In late 2001, I e-mailed Emmett Chapman (he's a neat guy), asking
> if he could build a custom instrument of this nature for me. Focused
> on his existing work, Emmett respectfully declined but mentioned
> that a man named Dr. John D. Starrett (then a mathematics professor
> at the University of Colorado at Denver) had invented and patented
> something similar to my idea, which he called the StarrBoard. I
> phoned Dr. Starrett and found out that the StarrBoard was indeed
> conceptually close to the idea I had brewing in my head. Moreover,
> Dr. Starrett had a few prototypes left over from his experimentation
> and offered to sell me one. So, I bought a 35-string prototype, which
> happened to be his first prototype."
>
> I studied at school that had one of John's StarrBoards. We
> tuned the strings to harmonic and subharmonic series segments,
> and left the frets in 12-ET. Quite a good combination, I
> must say! I wonder if the MarcodiBoard is available in alternative
> tunings...
>
> Great find!
>
> -C.

The Harpejji is essentially identical to the StarrBoard except for the
tuning (whole steps) and and string spacing. The patent ran out and
the idea is fair game. I am hoping that these guys will be successful
and give the StarrBoard another run. Now that there are so many
tappers and Youtube for do-it-yourself publicity, things might work out.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=harpejji&search_type=

John Starrett

Hi John!

Whatabout the pickups? Didn't the StarrBoard have magnetic pickups?

-Carl

>The Harpejji is essentially identical to the StarrBoard except for the
>tuning (whole steps) and and string spacing. The patent ran out and
>the idea is fair game. I am hoping that these guys will be successful
>and give the StarrBoard another run. Now that there are so many
>tappers and Youtube for do-it-yourself publicity, things might work out.
>
>http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=harpejji&search_type=
>
>John Starrett
>

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <carl@...> wrote:
>
> Hi John!
>
> Whatabout the pickups? Didn't the StarrBoard have magnetic pickups?
>
> -Carl

Yes, apart from the first prototype (the one the Marcodi people got
ahold of) which had piezos. I hope Marcodi will add magnetic pickups,
or maby optical, because to me the piezos alone sound a little thin.

John