Day 2.
Thinking about direction is funny. Up and down being relative is biting me. Decided to actually try to tune the thing. "I know how to tune an instrument". As it turns out, I know how to tune a guitar or a bass guitar and that doesn't exactly transfer to Chapman Stick. Broke the high string. Fun.
I'm looking into preamps to get a stronger signal before hitting my interface. That sound is nice already but the melody side has pretty low output. I can't tell if my playing is just too loud because "What even is technique?". I've gone with the SP2. The Stepabout looks nice but I think it would be more than I need since I'm using the R-Block (to fiddle with tone) and a nice audio interface (Can fiddle with tone endlessly in the box.).
(No real playing days 3-6)
I did play… just… not a lot.
Day 6
The buzzing is really getting to me. I finally watch Greg's truss rod video and am unsure about how much of this applies to the Railboard. It does make me look at the instrument in profile and not the difference in clearance between the first fret (almost none) and the 'highest' fret (a couple milimeters)
Day 11
Restrung the Stick. It… took a long time. A very long time. I received the Jam+ and playing through that is nice and straightforward. Switch to mono and the sound is clear without nearly as much fiddling as my computer setup. After all of that restringing, though, I didn't actually play too much. It has been a long while since I restrung my classical guitar but the tension seems much lower on these string. (medium )
Day 12
Watching Robert Culbertson's getting started video and thumbing through all three (Stickology, Stick Book vol 1, Free Hands) to find some foothold. Playing the A minor tetrachord over and over an just thinking about how little I changed position while playing the guitar. It all falls apart in the pinky.
I've been trying to play way too close to the fret. Even adjusting for that, the 6th string still buzzes much more than I think it should. When I look at the nut, the bass side is slightly lower so… maybe that's it? I don't want to change the setup too much since this is actually Mad Monk's Stick (Many thanks again!)