Been Around the Block. Got Some Stories. These are Them.
November 12, 2009, Weed, CA: It’s not a Chapman Stick on Steroids? It’s not a sweet-voiced Mobius Megatar. Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s .. an Eigenharp!
Check out this amazing instrument, and then click the Link beneath the Video to pass it on to your friends!
Chapman Stick? Megatar? Nope. Eigenharp.
[reprinted from my former site How to Tune a Human, January 9, 2009]
I make and sell guitars. Unusual guitars that you can play without strumming or picking, and this lets you play strings with both hands, so you can play bass strings and guitar strings at the same time. The name of this instrument is the Mobius Megatar.
Recently, a college student had inquired because he wanted to get one of our instruments. We wrote back and forth, and he was all set to go, but then he sent me this email —
“I’m sorry but the Megatar is not in the picture any more. I was coerced into buying a 2700 dollar classical guitar from a company that gives referral bonuses to the teacher who I was coerced by, so I’m left broke and on crappy terms with my main teacher for the next 3 years.
“I really wish I had the cash and time to delve into a tapstyle instrument right now, and if I could, it’d be a Mobius with Bartolini pickups, but it seems like that won’t be available for a while. With student loans and a no emergency funds (thanks to the aforementioned jerk of a teacher) I’ll be lucky if my car makes it without scheduled servicing for the next 6 months.”
What is really odd is that I got another email from another college student, in a similar situation who told me something of a similar story, that he’d been required (or perhaps urged) to get a nylon-string guitar for some upcoming course work. However, the second student seemed much less bitter.
And it got me to thinking. I can understand the disappointment he must feel.
And actually, it does sound kind of crappy behavior for the college music instructor, to push the student toward an instrument that pays the instructor a commission.
On the other hand …
Weed, California, January 27, 2008 — In November the Bloggard moved into new property in the historic logging town of Weed, California, and we began moving the Mobius Megatar company into the new shop building.
After setting up the spraybooth, we tested and got it working, then got the place painted, and moved the office and essential computers. All OK?
OK.
In December, disassembling the computer-controlled cutting machinery — 800 pounds! — this was a good opportunity to upgrade some electronics — and the two hired guys flaked out on moving day, so Patrick (shop foreman) and Bloggard moved it … very, very carefully. After reassembly, with the upgraded electronics it runs faster and better. [Make Tim Allen Tool Time ape noises here.]
In January, we hired a truck and two burly fellows, and ‘Everything Must Go!’ by golly! Everything moved. Now all the essential systems are re-assembled, and Weed, California is the world headquarters for Mobius Megatar.
Whew!
—
Before the move —
After the move —
[Parts Store A]
[The Bloggard makes tuning adjustments]
[Patrick the shop foreman works on a fretboard]
[Computer-controlled cutting machinery carves Megatars from wood]
[New-cut instruments on the right; finished and assembled on the left]
[Shipping station, and two boxed Megatars on the right head for Cleveland and the UK]
If you’d like to see the entire photo essay of the building of the new factory shop, just go to the Mobius Megatar News section and click on “Open the Mobius MegaBlog.”
And now, with all the moving done … we’re happy to be here!
