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Since last June 2005 my family has grown by three. Thanks to my kids I'm now the proud grand-dad of two gorgeous little grand-daughters and one perfect little grandson. Whilst I realised these littlies were a few years away from needing their very own electric guitar-like instruments, I thought I'd do some early research so by the time they're able to handle a neck and some strings and a body of some sort I'd have something simple for them to play that might get them interested in making some music.  |
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| Looking on the web I found some instruments that use two of the basic principles of the mountain dulcimer - diatonic scale fretting and drone tuning. This means that there are only frets for whole notes, and because three notes form a chord, by fretting any note you get a chord that's in key! These instruments only have three strings (usually tuned GDG' or DAD') which fit nicely along the very slim neck. With the small body they're light enough for children and adults to handle, so players of all ages will have a lot of fun on the "Strummer From Downunder"! | ||
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| There are several makers of acoustic
versions of these instruments. In no particular order there's the PicStrum,
the McNally Strumstick,
the Sweetstick
from Mole in the Ground Music, the McCafferty Pickin'
Stick, the Strum
Stick from Smokey Mountain, the Olympia Walkabout
dulcimer, the Longneckby
Wendell Powell, and the Woodrow
by Dan Williams. I'm purely a maker of solidbody instruments, so if people
want to buy an acoustic those names and websites are a good start, and
you might even find an electric strumstick in one or two of those websites,
but I'm confident you'll come back here after!
While we're on the subject of websites
I'd like to recommend two to you: The McNally Strumstick,
website has a lot of good info on the principles behind these instruments
and how to play them, so rather than me plagiarising that site why not
pay them a visit?
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| Over the past little while I've been working on designs and doing some testing for my version of a 3 string, diatonically fretted, handy sized, lightweight, fun little instrument, and after far too much strumming and picking I was satisfied that my version of the "strumstick" was the best solidbody electric version available. | ||
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| The body is shaped to allow total access to all frets, contoured with a belly carve as well as a carve under the right arm, the scale and neck length have been designed for balance and comfortable playing whether sitting or standing, the volume and tone pots and cap have been selected to optimise the pickup output in the midrange and higher frequencies, and as always I've chosen good looking and functional Australasian timbers to make an instrument that looks as great as it sounds. | ||
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| "Strumstick" is protected by trademark, so I needed a name... Jamstick... Funstick... Heaven on a Stick? The acoustic models are all named around the "stick" concept, but my feeling is that the strumming is the important bit. Within minutes of being handed one of these things a person who's never played a fretted instrument can be strumming away making acceptable sounds, so I thought I'd go with the "strum" more than the "stick". Being an Aussie I strum from the land downunder, so I decided to call it the "Strummer From Downunder". | ||
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| The "Strummer From Downunder" is made from select Australasian timbers, including Fijian mahogany, Australian oak and Jarrah. The body is solid Fijian mahogany, clear finished in gloss or satin to protect the timber but still show off the character of the grain and colour. | ||
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| I've put dot markers on the top edge of the Jarrah fretboard at the 7th (octave) fret. | ||
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| The neck is made from Australian oak or Jarrah and the fretboard is Jarrah. Fretwire is Stewmac medium, and the tuners are either chrome plated open backed or diecast units, depending on specification. The headstock for the diecast tuners is smaller than the headstock for the open backed tuners. | ||
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| This was a brand new instrument for Jupiter Creek Music, so I used cut down hardtail Strat bridges for the first few. There's a definite demand for the "Strummer From Downunder", so I've designed a custom three string bridge with three individual saddles to allow precise adjustment of action height and intonation, a matching control plate and a neckplate to suit, all fabricated from solid brass and chrome plated. | ||
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| Depending on the specification the pickup is either a WSC or EMG Select P-bass unit wired with volume and tone pots selected to accent the midrange and higher frequencies. As always I use large diameter strap buttons, my logic being that if it's hard to get the strap on it'll be even harder for the strap to fall off! | ||
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| Dimensions of the "Strummer From Downunder" are (approximately) 30" - 32" overall length, 10" body length, 7 1/2" body width, 1 3/8" body thickness, 15/16" nut width, 3/8" string pitch at the nut, 10mm string pitch at the bridge. | ||
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| From time to time I get asked to make Stummers of different scale lengths, timbers and designs. I've included a few here: | ||
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