The Megatar is a stringed

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...

designed to be played using a two-handed

tapping Tapping is a playing technique that can be used on any stringed instrument, but which is most commonly used on guitar. The technique involves a string being fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion. This is in contrast to stand ...

technique. It is manufactured by the American company Mobius Megatar.

Description

The Megatar is a

fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical inst ...

ted instrument with 12 strings, divided in two sections of six, where one set of strings is for bass and the other for melody. Both sides are normally tuned in fourths intervals. Other tunings and setups are common. The scale length is similar to an electric bass guitar. It uses electronic pickups that should be connected to an

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power su ...

to produce sound. The instruments have two embedded, dual-action

truss rod The truss rod is a component of a guitar or other stringed instrument that stabilizes the lengthwise forward curvature (also called ''relief'') of the neck. Usually, it is a steel bar or rod that runs through the inside of the neck, beneath the fi ...

s and a stereo 1/4" output. The Megatars are usually made with

bolt-on A Bolt-on neck is a stringed musical instrument neck that attaches to the instrument body with either bolts or screws, as opposed to glue and joinery as with set-in neck joints. Methods The "bolt-on" method is used frequently on solid body ...

necks. However, from 2007, all new instruments are exclusively "

neck-through Neck-through-body (commonly neck-thru or neck-through) is a method of electric guitar construction that combines the instrument's neck and core of its body into a single unit. This may be made of a solid piece of wood, or two or more laminated ...

". All models are either built from light-colored maple and alder or premium dark woods like mahogany, sapele, wenge, and rosewood. A redesigned version was released in 2014.

Models

There are several models of the Megatar available, the "TrueTapper" and the "MaxTapper" being the basic models. One model, the "ToneWeaver", is equipped with the Ralph Novak "Fanned Frets" System. The "MidiTapper" is also equipped with a

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

pickup system, which can drive

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

. The "Piezo-tapper" has GraphTech "Acoustiphonic" piezo pickups installed. A Megatar LapTapper comes with a custom table-top support system built in, so that the instrument can be played on a table or stand, like a keyboard.

References

External links

*
Comparison to the Chapman Stick
* {{YouTube, 0_RmLwv-2ug Demonstration Fretboard tapping instruments

Description

Models

See also

References

External links