How is the New Megatar different from the classic Mobius Megatar?

classic mobius megatar maxtapper banshee

Honestly, although there is a pretty long list of tweaks, the Megatar has always been an excellent instrument, with a focus on the mechanics of playability and tone and a sparse, functional aesthetic that belied it's sonic capabilities. 

Take that foundation and run it through a design optimization cycle and what you get is something like this:                                                                 

I like them both, but I actually like the old one better.

Shameless, I know.  Seriously I could use a shave too.

Or really mostly like this:

OK, enough of that.

Here is a list of some of the differences:

-Removed poorly applied headstock decal or sticker.  Added options for custom inlay.

-Made the hole in the headstock a little smaller to strengthen the tip and make room for moving the tuners slightly inward for a more direct string path. 

-Added megatar script logo inside the headstock hole, and “hand made in Mt. Shasta CA by:” and hand signing of each instrument.

-Increased the radii all around the headstock hole and softened outside edges for better integrity and aesthetics.

-Increased thickness of headstock slightly which embeds the tuners a little more to increase the pull down on the zero fret/nut area.

-Got rid of crude nut/string guide and replaced with string guide integrated into the end of the fret board.  Simple, elegant, no tone robbing assemblies of parts.

-Replaced drawer liner string deadener with piano felt.  Looks good, works good, better access to first fret.

-Went up a size on the zero-fret and switched to Jescar Evo ™ ultra-hard alloy fret wire.  Better energy transfer at the zero-fret.

-Went up a size on fret wire and upgraded fret work.  Better feel, more sustain.

-Fret board is slightly thicker for more integrity and to accommodate lower action.

-Added option for custom fingerboard inlay.

-Added some contour to the fretboard base.

-Minimized truss rod adjustment access cavities.

-Added optional carbon fiber reenforcement rods embedded in the neck.

-Strings are spaced evenly across the neck at the nut to increase string spacing.  While maintaining gap between strings at bridge to eliminate crosstalk.

-Added optional multi-species neck laminations.

-Added figured wood options.

-Added exotic and figured wood choices.

-Upgraded standard wood to 1/4 sawn sapele.

-Ditched plastic pick guard and huge front side control cavity.

-Switched to direct mount pickups and ‘rear route’ design. Pushed control cavities into the wings.

-Added solid matching hardwood control cavity covers.

-Modified glue choices for better tone and serviceability.

-Adjusted body angles for better balance visually and physically.

-Sculpted rear of body and removed delicate end grain serial number label cavity.

-Sculpted front side and narrowed base of body creating shoulders that make the Megatar fit in standard folding guitar stands.

-Overall less weight with more rigidity and response.

-Ditched faux-international paper serial number label.

-Re-arranged and upgraded electronic components for better tone and ergonomics.

-Added hard grounding in place of wire to foil connections.

-Starting lapping bridge plates.

-Thicker, more professional finishes.  Added traditional oil finish as an option.

-Switched to side mount output jack.

-Added manual switching for active circuits instead of dual switched jacks.

-Added custom electronics options.

-Added standard strap locks on every instrument.

-Added choice of hardware finish at no cost.

-Removed some superfluous bolts and fasteners.

-Added luxury strap option.

-Upgraded machines and tooling for tighter tolerances and consistency.

-Upgraded finishing processes, equipment and facilities.

-Base Price New Megatar: $2250.  Equivalent classic model in old prices: $2080 

-New Megatar with Acoustiphonic Piezos:  $3250  Equivalent to classic "Maxtapper Nitro":  $3300  Is the New Megatar worth $50 less dollars than what you would have paid before?  Probably. Yeah.

What's with the "Mobius" Megatar thing?

Classic Mobius Megatar Logo

Mobius Megatar was the company founded by the illustrious Traktor Topaz, inventor of the Megatar touch-style bass.  Instruments were sold all over the world under that name for many years.

As of Mid 2014, long time Production Manager for Mobius Megatar took over the company, redesigning the instruments and the brand.  Among many changes was choosing to leave off the Mobius and just work with the name Megatar.

Megatar still supports older "Mobius" instruments, and the New Megatar is essentially just an evolution of the already successful classic mobius instruments.

Which Pickups should I get? or Are the Bartolinis or Piezos worth it?

Short answer:  Yes, get the Bartolinis.

For more information on Bartolini pickups follow this link:

http://www.bartolini.net/

Standard Pickups:

Our "standard" pickups are a gold or chrome cased alnico 5 magnet humbucker with individual pole piece adjustments.  They are made by WSC or WooSung Chorus, a Korean guitar parts manufacturer.  Their pickups are used in a lot of top guitar brands for OEM applications and are something of a well-kept secret.  Variations of this same pickup are often sold in the $100-$150 and up range.  They are fully wax potted to minimize noise and feedback.  

I have a stockpile of these pickups and include them in the base price as a way to keep the entry price down.  They offer an especially high sensitivity and output level, necessary for a responsive touchstyle feel.   The tone is punchy, almost dirty, somewhat compressed on the high end, with plenty of growl on the bass side.  These are solid pickups for rock, blues, metal, and the like or for modeling guitar or bass amps.  People who use a lot of effects would be happy with these.  For non-connoisseurs and people on a tight budget, these will out perform many higher-priced pickups.   

They are standard-size humbuckers and as such can be upgraded or swapped out by any qualified technician. 

Bartolini Pickups:

Our standard pickups are pretty good, but once you get used to hearing Bartolini's all day, well you get sorta spoiled. The wide-open luxurious sound of the Bartolini humbuckers really is in a class by itself.  The output is high yet not distorted.  With separate pickups hand picked for the bass and melody string sets, the frequency response is even from the lowest lows, right up into the upper reaches of the fretboard.   When used passively, without active preamps, the sound is very pure and open.   Playability and headroom are improved due to increased sensitivity and the broader tonal palette.

Running passive pickups saves the bother of worrying about and dealing with batteries and any additional electronic complexities.  Some players actually prefer the cleaner sound of passive pickups.

Bartolini Active Preamp:

Our active preamp circuitry was custom designed for our application in collaboration with Bill Bartoini himself.  It includes a Bartolini TC-6 stereo preamp powered by a 9v battery in a flip out battery box and internally adjustable boost circuits with treble bleed caps that can be used to balance the output and/or to dial it up to 11.   With active circuits, the output, and headroom go up a couple notches, letting the full, robust character of the tone shine through. Playability is improved as well with the increased sensitivity and broader tonal palette. Good for players who need extra signal strength due to their setup and musicians interested in maximum sonic potential.

Acoustiphonic Piezos:

Manufactured by Graph Tech, these are piezoelectric sensors, basically like tiny microphones in each bridge saddle right where the string contacts the saddle.  They are installed just like normal bridge saddles but with wires that run under the bridge to specialized preamp circuits. The resulting tone is very bright with an aggressive attack.  Often described as producing a more "acoustic" tone.  They work especially well when blended together with the Bartolinis to provide a highly sensitive, fast, rich, powerful, feeling and tone with absolutely nothing missing.

Can you please explain the various electronics options?

Please also see this article for more information about pickup choices.

Standard with nested volume, dual tone, stereo output jack - No Charge
The bass and melody string sets each have their own tone and volume controls.  The volume knobs are 'nested' one inside the other so that not only can one adjust the volumes separately, but it can also be used like one knob so that both signals can be turned down or up together.

Add 3-way humbucker switches (series, parallel, coil cut) + $50
Adds 2 subtle sound/response variations to the pickups output.

Add stereo-mono switch + $25
Allows for easy mono-amping, but with the option to split out the signals as needed.   

Add dual mono output + $40
Works well for switching preamps at the jack.  Requires 2 separate guitar cables.  Classic Megatars with preamps were built this way.  

Add active bypass switch + $25
Emergency backup for professionals that want to be able to bypass the active circuits in case of unexpected technical issues. 

Add Custom Electronics - Inquire
Have some specific pickups, switching options or other electronic fantasies that you would like to share?  Let me know what you have in mind. 

Tech Hint: Tuning By Ear

Here are some off-the-wall ideas for training your ears:

For semi-advanced practitioners.

Use a tuning fork to tune 1 string.  Then tune by ear.  

And/or use a good quality recording of your instrument when you know it is perfectly in tune, or a piano or other dependable instrument to fine tune by ear.  Like a good teacher might do at the beginning of each lesson, just playing the proper notes for you to locate.

Or use an electronic tuner to get one string in tune and try to tune by ear.  

I guess the obvious point is to try tuning by ear, every time, in an attempt to do it better each time, and therefore you will get better and better at it.

Then use the best electronic tuner you can afford to check your ear.

Then practice intervals in unison while singing the notes along with the instrument.

Spread out the harmonics by singing chord tones along with your instrument.  For example practice singing 3rds in between a root and a fifth.

Practice semi-tones, note bending, various harmonic relationships around a droning note. Using your voice in harmony with the many voices of the Megatar.  

Optional:   Work on one "Key" for an extended period, like a week or longer, such that you really start to inhabit the space that is "The key of D major" before moving on.  Take on the scales and the intervals, progressions, try some songs in that key, identify recordings in that key and jam along.  Pick up licks and ornaments in that key.

When you get full of that key, put down your instrument for a few days to let it soak in. Then get back at it in another key. 

Do these things and your pitch will get better.  

With disciplined practice one will quickly achieve the ability to tune by ear, and with more practice one will be able to identify notes, intervals and harmonies.

Tech Hint - Electronic Tuners.

Q: Will I need some sort of tuner?

Short Answer: You will need some sort of "chromatic" electronic tuner.

Tech Hint:  Tuners

Electronic tuners have to have a ‘window’ of frequency that is acceptable. If the window is narrow, then it is very very difficult for the human to hit the exact spot where the light turns green.

But if the window is wide, the tuner is easier to use, but one string might actually be flat, and it’s inside the window, and the next string is sharp and it’s inside the window, and they are just far enough off from each other to rob the tone of some of it's purity. Therefore, you will have better luck with any tuner that lets you see yourself getting closer to the correct spot. So this suggests a priority for tuners –

• A strobe tuner is best but they are expensive and large;
• A virtual strobe is next best (Peterson makes good ones)
• A tuner with a needle would be next best, if they’ve done a good job with it;
• A tuner with a row of lights next best; and
• A tuner with a single red/green light not very good.

Of course, if you tune carefully and often, then your ear gets better and better, and after a while you’re using the tuner, but your ear is telling you the truth.

In the end, the entire point is so that the instrument sounds good while you play it. And nothing helps like practice. Practice tuning.

The History of Touch-Style and the Two-Handed Tapping Method

What is 'Touch-Style"?

By:  Traktor Topaz

Introduction

Twenty years ago, Alvin Toffler's book "Future Shock", described a "demographic wave", which means a fundamental shift within a culture which changes the way we live. 

For example, "personal" computers have changed the way we work and live and play, forever. Toffler also predicted that more of us would work at home. Many laughed at this prediction, but now lots of folks work from home.

The musical community is witnessing a major demographic wave in the spontaneous evolution of "Touch -Style" music, meaning to play an amplified stringed instrument by tapping the strings with both hands, making two-handed play possible.

A demographic wave evolves due to underlying shifts in the culture. In our case, improvements in amplification and instrument construction, and also changes in popular music. Emergence of guitar and bass as primary instruments since the Big-Band era, with consequent diversity in guitar and bass music have caused a phenomenon:

The spontaneous discovery, by many different musicians, of the tapping approach — the spontaneous eruption and evolution of Touch-Style music within different genres and upon different instruments. 

There have been pioneers, and this is the history of those pioneers and developments which led to the Touch-Style technique.

In 1952, Jimmie Webster described his new way to play guitar in a book called "Touch System". There were pioneers Merle Travis and Mark Laughlin, and then Dave Bunker, all playing with two-handed tapping.

Simultaneously, guitarists and bass-players have discovered many systems of Touch-Style play. Touch-Style systems exist in speed-metal, rock and roll, funk bass, and even upon acoustic instruments. Notable guitarists include Stanley Jordan, Steve Vai, Allan Holdsworth, Eddie Van Halen, Victor Wooten, Michael Manring, Michael Hedges, and others. 

Numerous specialty instruments have also been developed: Webster's split-pickup guitar, the Biaxe, the TrebleBass, the Hammatar, the Warr guitar, the Megatar bass and others. 

The word "TouchStyle" was coined by Frank Jolliffe, using variations as trademarks to describe his company, "TouchStyle Publications", and his products, such as the "TouchStyle Quarterly" newsletter. The word Touch-Style was adapted from the guitar term "fingerstyle" (which describes a method of finger picking). Jolliffe routinely grants permission for others to use variants, such as "Touch-Style" or "touchstyle", so that we may all have a generic label for the method of playing stringed instruments by two-handed tapping.

The 'Touch-Style' label then is an appellation for any and all methods of two-handed tapping, including those popularized by Webster, Bunker, Chapman, Van Halen, Jordan, Culbertson, Wooten and others, and including any two-handed tapping method yet to be discovered.

And when you play by tapping on your guitar (or megatar, or bass), you're part of an emerging community of players worldwide, part of a new method, a new approach, a new future. You have been picked up by a demographic wave.

We think it's the Wave of the Future.

And you're riding it.

Ride 'em, Cowboy!

 

Changes in the Music World

Evolution of Electric Guitar

Hundreds of years ago, guitars evolved as one of the more generally useful stringed instruments — more portable than a concert harp, easier to tune than a piano. 

Popular music then wandered through the classical period and into the 20th century and in the war years the dance-band grew into the big-band, riding the popularity of that newly popular idiom called "Jazz". 

During the hardships of these years, popular entertainment focused primarily on propaganda movies and on movies showing elegant life. These movies tended to feature big-band music.

But as the US economy returned to normal, economics and popular taste began to downsize the bands. In the '50s, television began competing with live entertainment and with the movies, and during this same time, Mr. Les Paul's new electric amplifier for guitar was coming into greater use among combos. The rise of "rhythm & blues", and its adoption by the mainstream white community as "rock & roll" was accelerated as radio abandoned drama as a lost cause and began to focus on musical programs.

And the result?

A singer, plus what was originally the "rhythm section" of the big band — bass, guitar (now amplified), and drums — became the whole band. The economics were right, the popular taste was right, and the radio desperately needed material. Big-bands disappeared; Elvis and then the Stones took over.

Electric guitar design adapted to amplification, dropping the (now unneeded) resonant sound-box, and acoustic basses adapted in the same way. Since a guitar-player could often sing while playing, the bands got very compact.

So in a way, as we will see, Touch-Style music evolved from the small combo, and in particular, the electric guitar of the rock band!

 

Dateline 1940-1960

Early Pioneers

The pioneer of modern two-handed tapping is Dave Bunker. On his website, which can be found at www.conceptsnet.com/~bunker/, he describes how two-handed tapping began. As he was there, and saw it with his own eyes, this is probably the most accurate report we have. 

Here's what he says:

"Lots of controversy exists over who did what and when on the Touch Method of play. Well, here it is. And this is right:

"Actually Merle Travis was one of the first artists to play using two hands [tapping] on the fingerboard. The first artist to really bring it out and do something with it was Jimmy Webster, who wrote the first Touch System method book for a single neck type electric guitar played with two hand tapping. 

"I was the first to build and patent [a specialty tapping instrument] that you could tap on two necks , and also wrote and copyrighted the first double neck method book.

"One of the earlier great contributors has been Emmett Chapman and the Stick® design, which is probably the best known of the touch type instruments. Some great artists followed such as Eddie Van Halen and Stanley Jordan."

There you have it, straight from the source. Perhaps this will clear up some misunderstandings about the origin of touch-style and two-handed tapping! And now let's visit these pioneers of touch-style --

Merle Travis

According to the website of the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame, which can be found at www.songs.org/~nsf/frame-hof.html, Merle Travis (1917-1983) is generally credited with designing the first solid-body electric guitar (electric Fender). He brought a banjo-style fingerpicking to guitar, using thumb to play accompaniment while the forefinger plays the melody on the higher-pitched strings. Seven gold records and 12 BMI awards for top songs, including "Sixteen Tons" and "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette!"

According to Dave Bunker, Travis was the first to employ two-handed tapping on guitar.

Merle Travis

Jimmie Webster

And as Bunker describes, in the '50s, a pioneer named Jimmie Webster also noticed that, with an amplifier, you could turn up the volume and play notes just by tapping the string to a fret. It was no longer necessary to strum or pick a string. (Strumming or picking on acoustic guitars is necessary in order to vibrate the string strongly enough to set up sympathetic resonance within the sound-box, which then results in a sound loud enough to be heard by an audience.) 

Webster developed and taught a complete system of two-handed tapping, and in 1952 he wrote a book about his technique, called "The Illustrated Touch Method." 

In 1960, he obtained U.S. Patent # 2,964,985 on a pickup design which separated out the "bass" and the "melody" strings. Both sets of strings were on one neck, but the magnetic pickup fed the bass strings out to one amplifier and the melody strings out to a separate amplifier. This patent was assigned to Gretsch guitars.

Webster had a sponsorship from Gretsch Guitars. He toured and visited music stores, selling the Gretsch line, and even had a signature instrument named after him. However, specialty guitars with his pickup and his new method only attracted a few visible players, and did not survive into the age of Rock & Roll. 

Guitarist Chet Atkins produced some of Webster's recordings, which can still be occasionally found in specialty shops.

Jimmy Webster

Mark Laughlin

This musician was also popular, around the same time as Webster, and Laughlin also played with a two -handed tapping technique, but we have so far not located any information about Laughlin and his technique or recordings. We would welcome any information.

Dave Bunker

Dave Bunker
​
In the 50's guitarist and luthier Dave Bunker first began to experiment with the design of an instrument designed especially for the two-handed tapping technique. Unlike Webster's approach, which was to play with two hands on the neck of a single instrument, Bunker's designs led to his double-necked instrument "The Touch Guitar." ™

The first Touch Guitar was called the 'Duo-Lectar' ™ and was built by Dave and his father Joe Bunker in 1955, later receiving a U.S. Patent # 2,989,884 in 1961. On Bunker's website he describes how they lacked money to buy proper fret wire so they had to make the frets out of an old chain saw blade!

The Duo-Lectar was the first touch-style instrument to use a manual mute on the strings, such as a strip of felt or other soft and spongy material under the strings between the nut and the first fret. Most tapping instruments ever since have used the manual mute, although Bunker has gone on to engineer an electronic mute (U.S. Patent # 5,162,603) which improves upon the manual mute, providing equal muting for all strings.

Bunker has received several other patents for his Touch Guitar and other guitar models, including U.S. Patents # 5,431,079 (Improved Tremolo Guitar Mechanism), # 5,018,423 (Anti-Torque Neck Adjustment Device), and # 4,201,108 (The Wedge, an electric guitar design with removable body parts), and others! He designed the first headless guitars (with tuners at base of instrument), the first bodiless instruments (built in the 1950's), the first individual-string through-the-body bridge, the reflection shield (a metal connector transmitting highs from the bridge to the neck), early individual-string pickups, early fine -tuners applied to guitar, and more!

The Touch Guitar has an upper neck with a standard guitar scale of about 24 inches but with a super -wide neck so that the strings can be played with the fingers parallel or perpendicular to the strings, and in Bunker's method of two-handed tapping the guitar hand can be used in either orientation. 

The upper neck (melody) can be played as a two-handed instrument, though the instrument has a second, lower neck normally used for bass, which is tuned as a standard 4-string bass. The bass neck is a 32 -inch scale bass neck, played in a traditional position, but by tapping with the left hand. Bunker's 'Touch Guitar' method book shows much more detail about the method of playing the instrument.

Bunker's Touch Guitar contains his patented "Electro-Mute" electronic system that silences the sound from open (unfretted) strings during tapping play. The Touch Guitar contains a large number of pickups and electronic filtering, so that it can emulate almost any known guitar sound.

Bunker resides in Washington state and builds some of the finest guitars in the world.

Dateline 1970

Two-Handed Tapping: Later Contributors

Emmett Chapman

In the '70s, a guitarist named Emmett Chapman discovered a technique for two-handed tapping on guitar, when one day he realized that if he raised the tuners high, so that the fretboard was nearly vertical, then both hands could more easily approach the fretboard with fingers reaching across the strings. This minor-sounding change makes playing more fluent, and this playing position has become popular among musicians making two-handed tapping music.

Chapman made a specialty instrument for himself, with five melody and four bass strings. Musicians were intrigued with the unusual-looking instrument and the two-handed tapping method of play. Chapman began manufacturing and selling his instrument, now called The Stick®, or The Chapman Stick®, and bearing ten strings.

In the 1970's, Chapman filed patents for: (a) the method of play [two-handed tapping on the guitar]; (b) his instrument construction including the split-pickup design; and (c) his system of tuning the strings [melody in fourths, & bass strings tuned in inverted fifths]. The Patent and Trademark Office granted the patents, and Chapman "owned" not only his particular instrument and his particular tuning, but two-handed tapping in general!

However, a few years later the Patent Office threw out Chapman's claim to have invented two-handed tapping as invalid, because they became aware of the similarity to the two-handed tapping method shown in Dave Bunker's earlier patent (June 1961), which reveals a stringed musical instrument in which the "frets are essentially horizontal and the fingers of each of the performer's hands are disposed essentially parallel to the individual frets during tapping" [Stanley J. Witkowski, Primary Examiner, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office]; and also because the Patent Office became aware of Jimmie Webster's method book 'Illustrated Touch System for Electric and Amplified Spanish Guitar.' [Copyright in 1952 by the William J. Smith Music Company in New York].

Chapman appealed, but lost the battle. But even though Chapman wasn't the first in the world to invent a method of two-hand tapping, there is no question that the unique tapping on guitar method which he devised has been popular ever since, and the result is that Chapman has probably done more to popularize the two-handed method of play than any other individual.

The Chapman Stick instrument was a unique synthesis and a creative rethinking of the guitar. His instrument made unusual use of the belthook, along with new fret-markings, minimalist design, two string-groupings on one fretboard, and a new design of upper strap to maintain correct vertical positioning. All of the Stick features were radical departures from standard guitar practice, producing an instrument with great playability, and unique visual appeal. Further, many tappers worldwide have discovered that his unusual 'inverted fifths' tuning of the bass strings provides access to a new set of chording possibilities and ways of thinking about string relationships.

The Emmett Chapman method book ('Free Hands') is quite good. It grew from typed pages with penciled graphs to a compact encyclopedia of two-handed tapping technique. This book was normally included with the Stick instruments that he sold, and as he steadily sold instruments all over the world, this excellent book has helped propagate Chapman's two-handed tapping techniques to the world of music. 

Emmett Chapman's contributions -- often overlooked in arguments about 'who was first to tap' -- are extensive, and he has surely earned a unique position of respect in the Touch-Style Hall of Fame.

Charles Soupios

In the early 80's, Charles ("Churchman") Soupios in New York designed a dual instrument called the "Biaxe," on which he obtained patent #5,315,910. The instrument was a combination of a normal guitar and a stick-like instrument joined together, designed so that the musician could play upon one or the other, or both, using a two-handed tapping technique which Soupios called "String Percussion."

However, the Biaxe is no longer in commercial production.

Sergio Santucci

Sergio Santucci

Sergio Santucci was a musician working on cruise ships. In this job, the musician must often double on different musical instruments, which for Santucci meant guitar and bass. In order to make the transition easier, he developed an instrument called the "TrebleBass," which combined the strings of a 4-string bass and a 6-string guitar on one neck, with separate pickups for each set of strings. The TrebleBass was awarded U.S. Patent # 4,377,101 in 1983.

The TrebleBass was sold from Santucci's offices in New York and Rome, and has been endorsed by internationally famous tapper Stanley Jordan (who can be seen here demonstrating his tapping technique on Santucci's TrebleBass).

Although the TrebleBass was originally intended as a 'do-all' instrument to be played with traditional fingerstyle and picking methods, it has since been popularized as a tapping instrument by political street-musician Robert Turley. Turley, known as R.O.B. (Robb on Bass) has demonstrated his amazing two -handed funk tapping technique in New York and in Japan, and on television shows such as Donahue.

Pictures of the TrebleBass will be seen in the 'Players' Section of this website.

What does it all mean?

Whither Touch-Style?

Two hand tapping is starting to be big and getting bigger; and with your interest in learning this innovative style, you're riding an expanding demographic shift in our popular-music culture.

There will come a day in the near future when tapping will be as common as picking and strumming, and instruments like Warr or Megatar instruments or the Chapman Stick will be as common as bass or guitar. Fender and Gibson will someday jump on the bandwagon and you'll see specialty tapping instruments on the wall of any music store in the world. MTV will have tappers inventing wild gyrations while tapping out new and interesting pop rhythms.

And you're part of it.

 

About Megatar Brand Guitar Strings

ABOUT OUR MEGATAR STRINGS:

Extra-Long, Extra-Light, Heavy-Core, Nickel-Steel, Round Wound, Ball-End.

Our strings come in a set of 13 including an extra .009 string (the most likely string to break soonest).

Sold factory direct in plain packaging to keep prices low.  Currently $36 per set.  Which is less than most 6-string bass string sets sell for.

Bass Bottom Tuning (tuned like Standard Bass)

Melody string gauges: .009, .011, .012, .016, .029W, .040W

Bass tring gauges: .025W, .035W, .050W, .065W, .085W, .100W

"Inverted-Fifths" Tuning (Chapman Stick)

Melody String gauges: .009, .011, .012, .016, .029W, .040W

Bass String gauges: .095W, .080W, .060W, .030W, .016, .010

Features:

•Slightly heavier core of high-tensile steel to minimize the 'chiming' sound of lighter strings, yet modest-gauge ratings overall to provide fluid playability.

•Wound with premium nickel-plated steel -- known for its distinctive clear tone, excellent intonation, and reduced fret wear.

•XL 114cm length, longer than standard guitar strings, fits many styles and models of tapping instruments.  

•Available in two optimized tunings -- Bass Bottom (straight 4ths) Megatar tuning, and inverted-fifths.  Available string gauges cover many other tunings as well.  Use of multiple gauges or changing string gauges is not recommended, because to play in tune, resetting intonation after any change of string gauges is required. Since Megatar instruments use the Buzz Feiten intonation system, to preserve the intonation, you should replace with the same gauges every time. 

•On Bass Bottom tuning, all bass strings are wound to provide consistent 'bass' sound across all six bass strings.  For inverted-fifths tuning,  like original Stick strings, we provide four wound and two plain strings.

•Useable on 10 string instruments.  Simply do not use the two extra strings.

•String lengths and core wire sizing works with normal tuner machines, and fit both parallel and fanned-fret instruments.

How much does a Megatar weigh?

This has to do mostly with wood choices.  

Typically the weight is between 8.5 pounds (3.85kg) and 9.5 pounds (4.3kg).

For reference the average electric bass guitar is usually in the 8-12 pound range.

That is to say, that Megatars are not unusually heavy. 

The included strap is quite comfortable, doing a great job of stabilizing the instrument in the proper playing position and distributing the weight around your body.  Customized 3" glove leather straps are available as an upgrade and are highly recommended.  

If weight is a primary concern of yours, an ultra-light model can be put together with appropriate woods, hardware and electronics choices.  Inquire.

Attachment points can also be built into a Megatar to allow the use of 'lap bars', 'belt hooks' and other forms of support.  Inquire.

String Guages

String Gauges

Megatar offers two different string sets. One is optimized for the Bass Bottom tuning we recommend (tuned like a Standard Bass), and the other is optimized for the Inverted-Fifths tuning that is popular among Chapman Stick players.

Because we offer our instruments with the Buzz Feiten Intonation System installed, we do not offer multiple weights of strings.

Why? Because whenever you change the weight or tension of your strings, your intonation must be reset if you wish to play in tune. Normal guitars are only set to ‘standard intonation' with a certain string set, which may be adequate as long as you don't make major changes to the set up, for example big jumps in string gauges.  

Prioritizing intonation means that we therefore provide a single optimized set of strings for each of the two most common tunings:  The Megatar "Bass Bottom" straight 4ths tuning and the Chapman Stick "Inverted fifths" tuning.  These string gauges also overlap with the vast majority of alternative tunings.  This means that we can add the sonic benefit of the Buzz Feiten intonation system to many common tunings.  

Bass Bottom Tuning (Megatar)

Melody string gauges: .009, .011, .012, .016, .029W, .040W

Bass string gauges: .025W, .035W, .050W, .065W, .085W, .100W

"Inverted-Fifths" Tuning (Chapman Stick)

Melody String gauges: .009, .011, .012, .016, .029W, .040W

Bass String gauges: .095W, .080W, .060W, .030W, .016, .010

"Bi-Melody" Tuning
Here we install two melody-string sets on an instrument. The set of melody strings are tuned in the standard way, and ascend in the direction expected by any guitar or bass-player. We'll call these the 'Hi-Melody" strings.

For the "bass strings," we'll install another melody-string set. We'll call this set the "Lo-Melody" strings, and it will be tuned one whole step lower (two frets). The benefit of detuning the "Lo-Melody" strings is that we've created the same relationship for your two hands that we had in the Bass Bottom tuning.  This tuning is excellent for six-string tap guitarists who never want to run out of string again.

Hi-Melody String gauges: .009, .011, .012, .016, .029W, .040W

Lo-Melody String gauges: .009, .011, .012, .016, .029W, .040W

Other Tunings

Although we do not normally maintain stocks of all possible string gauges, we can create instruments with many other tunings, such as Daniel Schell's "Mirror Fourths" tuning, New Standard Tuning, the "Teed Rockwell" tuning, Ricky Wade's "Dropped-Bass" tuning, the "Crafty" melody tuning, dual bass, etc. For most of these we can install the Feiten Intonation System. Please contact us if you are interested in one of these variant tunings.

In Bass Bottom tuning the bass strings, are tuned exactly like a standard 6-string bass, which means that any bass player in the world can pick it up and immediately know where the notes are. 

In Bass Bottom tuning the standard melody strings are in straight fourths, ascending in the normal direction used by guitar and bass players. Because of the long neck, these strings cannot be tuned quite as high as a standard guitar without breaking, so they're pitched lower by 1.5 steps (3 frets). But since Megatar instruments have 25 frets, instead of 22 as in most guitars, you can still play as high as on a guitar. You've just got yourself some extra low melody notes!

In the Inverted-Fifths tuning we have the same standard melody tuning as in Bass Bottom tuning, but the bass strings are tuned in fifths rather than in fourths.  And the bass strings ascend in a direction opposite to the way that the melody strings ascend. 

Is Buzz Feiten Intonation Really a Thing?

The Buzz Feiten intonation system is a series of subtle intonation offsets that stretch the tuning slightly to account for the interaction of different string gauges and scale lengths. The result is kind of like the ‘stretch tuning’ commonly used on pianos to make them sound more ‘in tune’ to our ears. Pianos have used this advanced system for 700 years. But guitars never had such an adjusted tuning until Buzz Feiten, a southern California studio musician, developed the system.

Megatar instruments sound more in tune with other instruments thanks to the improved intonation, which is a good thing.  The real benefit is that the instrument is in tune with itself all over the fretboard so that individual notes, harmonies and chord structures are more pure and focused.

Here is link to the Buzz Feiten website:   

http://www.buzzfeiten.com/

[Techie/Geeky Warning: Rather technical info following] -

Our factory shop recently got an email from a Buzz Feiten authorized shop in Italy, with the following question. 

>I’m having trouble intonating the 4th melody string using the formula for BassBottom tuning because it keeps being sharp. I tune it C# no offset (at fret 2), then intonate +2 cents at the 14th fret, where I intonate. And then it’s increasingly sharp further up the fretboard.  This bugs the owner.

Now intonations can change over time, and I cannot see the instrument, but it sounds like the owner has a misunderstanding about how Feiten works, and the authorized shop is not able to explain it to him. (Or maybe this particular shop doesn’t quite understand the Feiten system, could that be?)

Here’s our shop’s response –

Thanks for writing.

First I want to make sure I correctly understand what you said –

You have set the 4th melody string intonation to no offset at fret two.
Then you set the 4th melody string intonation to +2 cents at fret fourteen.
Then you noticed that the string is sharp *above* fret fourteen, that is frets 15-25.
Is that correct?

If I have understood you correctly, then here’s what I think is true …

Of course the string is at least 2 cents sharp above fret fourteen, because the formula tells you to make it sharp by two cents at fret fourteen.

And in fact, the string should continue to become sharper as you move further toward the bridge. For example, fret 17 or fret 20 or fret 25 should be *more* than 2 cents sharp.

And of course, any string that is set to be sharp halfway up the fretboard will be even more sharp higher up the fretboard. If you had zero offset at fret fourteen, then you’d expect zero sharpness above fret fourteen. But if you’ve sharped the string at fret fourteen, then as the string length is reduced as you move higher up the fretboard toward the bridge, so it will continue to become increasingly sharp at each successive fret as you move further up the neck.

As you go down the fretboard from fourteen toward fret two, of course the sharpness will go away until there is no sharpness at fret two. Because that’s how we set it.

Another Illustrative Example of How Buzz Feiten Intonation Works

If you had set the offset at fret 22, for example, to +2 cents, then as you came down to fret 14, then fret 14 would be "less" than 2 cents sharp. And so if you set fret 14 to be 2 cents sharp, then of course fret 18 or 21 or some higher fret will be more sharp.

In other words, that’s exactly what we set it to do. That’s what it’s doing. And that’s how it has to work.

It will not be different on any other string, and it will be exactly the same on any other string, where there is a greater sharpness at 14 than at fret 2.

Buzz Feiten Intonation and Your Ears

However, you may notice it less on some other strings. For example on bass strings and strings that are lower pitched, our ear hears less. And at lower frequencies, there will be less change one fret to the next in terms of actual frequency of vibration.

On some strings where the offset is less, there will be less additional sharpness further up the fretboard. So string #3 will be less, and there should be NO sharpness on strings #2 and #1.

Precision Fret-Placement Needed for Feiten Intonation System

Each fret is in one place, the same for all the strings, on parallel fret instruments, and so one string cannot act differently than another string. Even on fanned-fret instruments, the principle is the same.

And we use computer-controlled, high-precision machinery to cut the frets, so that we have no variance on the cutting of fret slots. That is, they’re not cut by hand, and there’s no human error when they’re cut. So we can assume that the fret is in the correct place, and of course it cannot be in the correct place for string #3 and string #5 and be in the wrong place for string #4.

String Gauges and the Buzz Feiten System

There can also be some slight differences between plain and wound strings, and between one gauge and another. These are largely the differences that the Feiten intonation improves. But the formula you have is the one given us by the Feiten folks, and the strings gauges you have are the ones we used to set up the formulas. (If Fabrizio has changed to different gauges, then that’s a new can of worms!)

So What to Do?

We are left with this –

Now, that particular string #4 is the lowest-pitched plain string.

If you ears and the owner’s ears say that string #4 is “TOO SHARP” as you go up the frets, then the two of you should TRUST YOUR EARS.

That’s how Buzz Feiten and Greg Back developed the formula. They *listened* and set the offsets to what sounds the best to their ears.

So if you think that string #4 is going TOO MUCH sharp as you go up beyond fret 14, then CHANGE THE OFFSET at fret 14 to a lower value. Do this till it sounds correct to your EARS. Test against the other strings by playing simple major triads up and down the strings, if you want to really check your ears.

That’s what Buzz Feiten did.

How to Correctly Play While Setting Intonation

Now, one last thing –

As you test the intonation and as you set the intonation, PLEASE do this by TAPPING on the string. Do NOT fret the string and pluck it. Set the intonation at fret two by tapping the string, and set the intonation at fret fourteen by tapping the string. (You can get very different results picking and tapping, and this instrument is designed to be played by tapping.)

Tap ON the fret, and turn up your amp, and tap softly to do the work.

Happy intonation!

Do you build custom guitars?

Megatars are spec'd and built a-la-carte.  That means that each and every one is built specifically to match your desires and preferences.  

For an even more one-of-a-kind experience, a custom neck can be built up of any available woods.   Scroll down to see some sample images of different possible wood combinations.   

Figured woods, burl woods, and unique specimens are also available.    

For more information on wood choices, click here.

In addition, instruments based on the Megatar platform can have a custom headstock shape, custom body shape, custom inlay, custom graphics, string spacing, etc.   

Full custom from the ground up is also possible.  

Contact Megatar to talk about your ideas.

Serious inquiries only please.