Hammertine 4

This is one of several instruments involving large tines which hammer on a hard surface in front of the bridge as they oscillate after plucking. You can see other examples here and here. In this one the tines are designed for very long hammering sustain times. There are three magnetic pickups, and they’re not fixed to the body of the instrument but free to be moved. The player may hold one of them by hand over one or more of the tines and move it backward or forward, highlighting different modes as the pickup hovers over different parts of the tines. Alternatively, the player can simply rest the pickups on the shelf below the tines, freeing up both hands for plucking. A key element in this instrument, as you can hear in the audio clip, is a little graphic equalizer which the player can manipulate as the tines sustain their long tones. In this way you can selectively highlight different modes among the many that are present in the tine tones, shifting them in real time for a peculiar sort of tonal exploration.