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Guitar maker Fred Carlson shares a shop in the Santa Cruz mountains with classical violin builder Suzy Norris, who developed a violin based on the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle. Called the Suzalyne, its unique feature is a set of sympathetic strings. The idea behind sympathetic strings involves tuning certain strings to notes that the player wishes to have "sing along" with the main strings. Any sympathetic string tuned to a particular note played on the instrument "feels" the vibratons of that frequency, and sings along in sympathy. They can also be set into motion by harmonic intervals such as octaves and fifths. Sympathetic strings have been used on instruments for hundreds of years, the most familiar of which is the East Indian sitar. Carlson was inspired by the Suzalyne , and thought he’d apply the same principle to the guitar. The result was the Sympitar. Says Carlson, I tried it, not thinking much about whether there was any historical or cultural precedence for it. Suzy discovered East Indian instruments, and found that many of them used sympathtic strings. They typically have a wide bridge that the sympathetic strings go over and buzz upon. I wanted to create something that could be played like a guitar and wouldn’t require the player to learn new techniques--the sympathetic sounds would just be there.
So they wouldn’t be in the way, Carlson ran the two courses of six sympathetic strings inside the guitar’s neck. The strings attach to tuners at the peghead, making the guitar’s headstock look like that of a 12-string, but with too many tuners. Each course of sympathetic strings goes over a small nut, and then disappears through holes in the peghead and through the neck. You see them again as they pass under the soundhole.
Their sound is transferred to the top via a small bridge located midway between the main bridge and the lower edge of the sound-hole, on the underside of the top. This bridge, like its counterpart on the sitar, has a flattish surface that the sympathetic strings buzz against, thus lending the distinctive, atmospheric flavor to the sound.
The shape of the bridge is very important. Says Carlson, There are people in India who spend a lifetime studying just the curve of that bridge. I guessed it, and it worked the first time. It was okay, but I’m not making sitars either. Governing the sound and quality of that buzz is a real science in India.
The sympathetic strings are individually tunable. In a guitar tuning like D A D G A D, for example you would tune a lot of the sympathetic strings to D and A for maximum effect. When you want to quiet the sympathetic strings, an internal damping mechanism, perated via a lever located on the upper left side of the soundhole, disables them.
Alex de Grassi used the Sympitar extensively in his release, The World’s Getting Loud (refer to Fingerstyle Guitar, Vol. 1). In addition to de Grassi’s recordings, guitarist Todd Green has used the instrument to wonderful effect on his recently released CD Awakening.
Green, who initially came to know Carlson through the Sympitar, commisioned him to build yet another custom instrument: a double-neck classical, also heard on Awakening. Says Green, "We originally discussed doing a combination classical guitar Sympitar and a six-string bass neck. We ruled that out, though, because with 24 tuners, it would have been very head-heavy. We settled on a straight classical guitar neck and a bass neck tuned an octave lower than the standard guitar. Fred sent me a plywood cutout of it so I could get a feel for the spacing of the necks, and we negotiated the design from there. Finding the appropriate bass stings, though, turned out to be a real headache. We ultimately had to have them custom made."
Green’s performance style involves a variety of techniques, including tapping on both necks, arpeggiating on one neck and tapping on the other, and alternating similar passages between the two registers. He also makes use of a Lexicon JamMan, overlaying rhythmic grooves and bass lines, and even adding percussion and flute on top of that.
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