The Moodswinger is a twelve-string electric

zither Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a ...

with an additional third bridge designed by

Yuri Landman Yuri Landman (born 1 February 1973) is a Dutch inventor of musical instruments and musician who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a number of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars (band), Liars, Jad Fair ...

. The rod which functions as the third bridge divides the strings into two sections to cause an overtone

multiphonic A multiphonic is an extended technique on a monophonic musical instrument (one that generally produces only one note at a time) in which several notes are produced at once. This includes wind, reed, and brass instruments, as well as the human ...

sound. One of the copies of the instrument is part of the collection of the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

History

In March 2006 Landman was contacted by the noise band Liars to make an instrument for them. After 6 months he finished two copies of ''The Moodswinger'', an electric 12-string 3rd-bridge overtone koto, one for guitarist/drummer Aaron Hemphill and one for himself. Although it closely resembles an electric guitar, it is actually a

, as it has neither frets nor a proper neck. The pickup and electronics are built into the neck instead of in the body unlike usual electric guitars. In 2008 the ''Moodswinger II'' was released as a serial product. Jessie Stein of The Luyas owns a copy. In 2009 Landman created a derivative version of the instrument called the Home Swinger, for workshops at festivals, where participants built their own copy within four hours. In 2010 the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix included a Moodswinger as well as a Home Swinger in their collection as two of the pieces of the Dutch section of musical instrument inventions.

Physical background

The 3rd bridge divides the strings into two segments with different pitches. Depending on where the string is played, a bell-like harmonic second tone is created. The string resonates more or less when the back side is struck, depending on the position of the 3rd bridge along the string. This can be explained by

acoustic resonance Acoustic resonance is a phenomenon in which an acoustics, acoustic system amplifies sound waves whose frequency matches one of its own natural frequencies of vibration (its ''resonance frequencies''). The term "acoustic resonance" is sometimes u ...

and

microtonality Microtonality is the use in music of microtones — intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of twelve equal interv ...

. At

harmonic In physics, acoustics, and telecommunications, a harmonic is a sinusoidal wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'' of a periodic signal. The fundamental frequency is also called the ''1st har ...

nodal positions, the string resonates more than at other positions. For instance, dividing the string 1/3 + 2/3 creates a clear

overtone An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...

, while 24/33 + 9/33 creates an indistinct overtone. The color dotted scale indicates the simple-number ratios up to the 7 limit (on the Moodswinger II to the 8 limit.) On these positions just intoned

dyads occur.

Tuning and scales

The Moodswinger is focused on a non-

atonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on ...

playing technique. A mathematical scale is added to specify 23

positions on the strings. Because the instrument has 12 strings, tuned in a circle of fourths, it is always possible to play every note of the equal tempered scale. However some positions have a + or - indication, because the equal tempered scale is not a perfect well-tempered scale. The tuning of this instrument is a circle of fourths: E-A-D-G-C-F-A#-D#-G#-C#-F#-B, arranged in 3 clusters of 4 strings each to make the field of strings better readable. Because of this tuning all five neighbouring strings form a

pentatonic scale A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to heptatonic scales, which have seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancient ci ...

and all seven neighbouring strings form a

major scale The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at doubl ...

, available in every key. This allows a very easy fingerpicking technique without picking false notes, if the right key is chosen. The instrument has 3 printed scales, used as guides for positioning the moveable third bridge and reading the played notes: *The normal guitar ( equal-tempered) scale *An inverse scale (large steps between the frets at the top of the neck, small ones at the body bridge) *A

microtonal Microtonality is the use in music of microtones — intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of twelve equal interv ...

scale which shows "logical" string divisions in the following color-coded groups: **Grey dot: 1/2 **Red dot: 1/3+2/3 **Orange dot: 1/4+3/4 **Yellow dot: 1/5-4/5 **Green dot: 1/6+5/6 **Cyan dot: 1/7-6/7 **And a smaller subscale for the higher-pitched overtones near the body bridge in colored lines: ***Grey line: 1/8 ***Red line: 1/9 ***Orange line: 1/10 ***Yellow line: 1/11 ***Green line: 1/12 ***Blue line: 1/16 On the Moodswinger II the 1/8, 3/8, 5/8 and 7/8 are Blue dotted. On the Home Swinger the same color system occurs.

Moodswinger overtone diagram

The sound of a 3rd-bridged string is a combination of 3 tones. A soft-sounding attack tone of the string part hit at the body side, the corresponding overtone of both sides and a resonating low fundamental tone of the counterpart of the string at the head side. The diagram below shows the tone combinations of the overtone (above) and the low tone of the counterpart (below). The attack tone is in most positions exact the same note as the overtone. Exceptions are 3/4, 3/5, 3/7 and 5/7. In the 3/... positions the overtone is a

perfect fifth In music theory, a perfect fifth is the Interval (music), musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitch (music), pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so. In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is the interval f ...

of the attack tone, in the 5/7 positions the overtone is a

major third In music theory, a third is a Interval (music), musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval (music)#Number, Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four Semitone, half steps or two ...

of the attack tone.

References

External links