Innovation and design
The Neoloncello
Apr 28, 2010
That's it, the first prototype of the Neolin's Cello-version is finally born !
Some technical features:
-built-in pick-up which makes it an electro-acoustical instrument as the Neolin - pick-up from the Swiss brand "boton" with an astonishing sound-quality close to that of a good mike
- machine heads by Gotoh - a real miracle of precision !
- Hybrid-style like the 4/5 string Neolin (see page "Neolin") - possibility to add a fifth low f-string, giving the Neoloncello nearly the range of the double-bass
- anti-mute bridge - if you take off the wings of the bridge, you get an Apocalyptica sound without any amplification or effects !
- construction-principle of the Neolin, giving the instrument a very straightforward sound, lots of power and ease to play.
- black/red vintage Urushi varnish, a traditional Japanese lacquer which is extremely resistant - see article on the "design and innovation" page
- bigger corpus, achieved by deeper ribs to properly amplify the low f-string - the upper part of the back is bent to get to a normal playing height at the button
- kind of a cutaway like on the Neolin, to give easier access to the high positions
To start with, I decided not to fret the Neoloncello. I'll give a thought to that later on.
First tests, played 4- and 5 string, with and without amplification, with and without anti-mute, have been very convincing !
If you are interested by the project, thank you for sending me an e-mail with your impressions and/or inquiries.
Here are some recordings made with the Neoloncello, played by Stanley Adler. It begins rather well-behaved, but it gets nasty soon enough ! Turn up the volume from piece 3 onwards :-) No effects (except "wahwah" track), raw recordings.
click on the images to enlargen !
