Gravikord
The Gravikord is an electrical bridge harp. It was invented in 1986 by Robert Grawi and is derived from the West African kora. Since there is a stronger electromagnetic harp, which is one of the Gravikord Chordophonen and electro -speakers.
Construction
Although the Gravikord derived from the kora, there are major design differences. There is a lack of strung with animal skin corpus, as the sound signals are picked up by an electromagnetic pickup. This is located on the web of the Gravikords. It has usually about 24 strings, all of which are tuned individually. The Strings run down V shape together. Besides wooden vocal block, pass all parts of the Gravikords of metal or synthetic materials. It is 1.37 meters long and weighs about 2.3 kilograms.
Playing style & mood
Similar to the harp the Gravikord is played with the thumb and forefinger. In the middle of the instrument there are two handles, where you can hold the instrument while playing. The strings are divided into two groups, each with twelve strings, each group is played by one hand. This has to do with the mood of the two groups. This is based, as in many African instruments at intervals and not on tone scales. Nevertheless, one could say that the gamut of G-Dur/e-Moll is covered. With the exception of a bass string, the strings are in a group the distance of alternating major third and minor third. Right and left side are a second ( tone spacing ) apart:
Thus, the Gravikord has a range of about 3 1/ 2 octaves. Because the notes are tuned symmetrically to each other, often resulting consonant runs.
Although in theory gives only a diatonic scale from the intervals, you can practically consider nevertheless accidentals. By depressing a string behind the bridge, the sound can be increased. This is done either with a free finger or with an extra effect pedal, which lifts all the strings at the same time in their pitch.
Effects
The Gravikord is as well, for example, the electric guitar electrically amplified. Between Gravikord amplifier and a wide variety of effects devices can be connected. The most commonly used are: vibrato, delay, distortion, reverb, wah -wah and the " pitch shifter " that allow for chromatic playing.