Stick and Megatar player Darrell Havard has a friend who raises a special kind of crayfish, a species called Marmokrebs,  as  well as seahorses and pet shrimp (with different colors!).

These crayfish are unusual creatures, for they are all born female, identical even down to the DNA, and their reproduction is a natural-world form of cloning. This kind of crayfish is called the Marbled Crayfish.

Darrell’s friend asked him to edit a video for his Marmokreb website, and to create a soundtrack as well. This was Darrell’s first opportunity to bring his Megatar into his home studio.

Usually, Darrell’s work shows a strong and powerful rhythm, but he  saw this  soundtrack as a chance to do something different. He typically rehearses (and re-rehearses), and arranges (and re-arranges) a tune “until Judgement Day,” but in this case he wanted the fresh feeling of just sitting down and playing something for the project, and had the inspiration to feature the bass  side for the melody for a unique sound instead of using the melody side for melody.

Visit Darrell at http://www.darrellhavard.com/ and on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/darrellhavard … but first …

CLICK HERE, and a new tab will open, where you can hear the lovely, floating sound of Megatar in the watery world of the Marmokrebs!

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This promotional offer gives hundreds of dollars of discounts on Mobius instruments, between November 15, and December 31 of 2008.

All Mobius Megatar instruments have huge savings available, from the simple Eclipse to the astounding Hammer of Thor.

MaxTappers, ToneWeavers, Storms, Dragons, MidiTappers, PiezoTappers, and customizing to your hearts content, huge discounts available on all instruments and configurations … if you act quickly.

Very probably, you will also find the Holiday Cheer page entertaining, and informative. The posted information shows you how to save money three ways, plus free gifts just for signing up. No obligation, no cost. It’s like free money.

LIMITED TIME

>>> This limited time offer ends New Years Eve at Midnight.  <<<

HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS IN DISCOUNTS

Hundreds of dollars of discounts are available on all Mobius instruments, free $90 factory-installed edgedots will be given to the first ten who claim these prizes, and there are also free gifts just for signing up in the club.

FREE GIFTS JUST FOR SIGNING UP …

http://megatar.com/promo/holiday-cheer/

But please remember, limited offer ends Midnight December 31, 2008.

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PS: For a bit of fun, go over to Tappistry.Org, and describe what the page looks like when it first appears in your browser … To see the Tappistry.Org discussion thread, please CLICK HERE.

After a few people have looked and then posted there, you’ll see what I mean …

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As some will recall, at the end of last year our shop was all taken apart so that we could install machinery for greater production and greater precision.

We’ve been producing our new instruments on this enhanced machinery since February, and now all Mobius Megatar instruments are made in this new way, which delivers more value than ever before.

Here are the new enhancements:

NECK-THROUGH DESIGN

Our older bolt-on design was emulating Leo Fender’s breakthrough, because bolt-on design generally provides more instrument for less money.

However, with our new machinery — which wasn’t available to Leo Fender — we can now create the enhanced sound that neck-through design delivers, and at the same pricing as for bolt-on.

On a bolt-on instrument, any imperfection in the join of the bolt-on neck creates some loss of conductivity of the vibration in the wood, the sound changes. The frequencies most lost by reason of bolt-on construction are the lowest ones.

Therefore when you change to neck-through design what your ears hear is a smoother and slightly deeper or more mellow sound naturally coming from the instrument, as it is now delivering all of the natural lowest frequencies.

COMPUTER-PRECISE FRETS

We now own and operate our own computer controlled (CNC) machinery, which cuts fretslots with precision down to about 0.002″. A human with a saw just can’t match it, no matter how careful he is. More precise fretslots gives more precise fret placement.

More precise fret placement means the best intonation for your music.

DARK ABALONE FRET-DOTS FOR TRUETAPPERS

We have upgraded the dark plastic fret-dots, and we now install abalone fret-dots, on all of the maple light-wood TrueTapper models (Eclipse, Dragon, and Storm).

NEW FINISH

In the past, our finish was so-so. It did a good job of preventing water-vapor exchange, which is the number one job for a guitar finish. But it was not as clear and beautiful as we’d like.

So we’ve been experimenting, and now provide finish which is very clear and lets the grain of the wood show through. [Rosewood or Wenge fretboards on dark-wood instruments are still oil-finished, of course.]

SUMMARY

So — Computer cutting for precision, and hand-finishing for beauty. New abalone dot-markers and enhanced finish. Neck-through design at the same price as bolt-on.

Our website pix are not yet updated, but as of today on our EBay Megatar Store, you can see a Storm and a MaxTapper. So you can see the abalone dot-markers, the new finish, and detail photos of the neck-through design.

(Of course these particular listings could easily vanish soon, as these particular instruments can be purchased at any minute on EBay. But we’ll have more up on EBay, as production permits.)

EDIT: Oops! The Storm on EBay sold while I was entering this post. So I’ll put the two item numbers here, so you can see them for some time after they’re sold. (I *think* this will work.) –

TrueTapper Storm with new abalone dots, enhanced finish, computer fretslots, and neck-through construction is EBay EBay Item #290131836371

MaxTapper Dual with enhanced finish, computer fretslots, and neck-through construction is EBay EBay Item #290135409253.

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Now you can build your own custom instrument, just the way you like it. Choose a model, and if you wish add piezos or midi, change the saddles, change the trim from chrome to black or gold. There are well over 2000 possible combinations.

Also be sure to check out our new PiezoTapper “SongBird” model.

And if you’re looking for the popular TrueTapper, MaxTapper, or ToneWeaver just the way we’ve always offered them, then that works, too.

If you need another Megatar instrument around the house, to bring you years of music and fun, please visit the new Mobius Megatar Online Store. Available now at a computer near you.

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