Sitar-like effect, by accident

[Stew Benedict <benedict@netcom.com>]

Hey all you string-instrument players/loopists.  I don't know if anyone
else is a CAD-jockey, but I stumbled on an interesting effect last night
by accident while setting up a digitizing tablet and trying to get in
some Stick practice.  The "puck" on a digitizer has wire windings around
the bullseye, which connect back to the circuitry to locate the puck on
the tablet.  Anyway, by accident I lifted the puck from the tablet and
it got close to my pickups/strings and generated some very interesting
sounds, sort of a sitar/spring reverb kind of thing, amplitude varied
by proximity to strings and pickup.  I would guess this is similar to
the concept the ebow uses?  I didn't have time to explore it fully,
but if any of you have a digitizer laying around, check it out, it's
sort of neat!

Stew Benedict
Teak Chapman Stick #926