I never handled one of those .... interesting looking though .... even though it 'appears' to be awkward to have to reach across 5 strings to get to the 5 that hand is supposed to play.
Then I saw this ... interesting how he briefly changes .....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYKB6Lag-wg
Yep, first this guy (Bob Culbertson) is great player, he does covers of some Classic modern hits.
1.)
He's sitting down. 
2.) He has used a
piece of wood that sits on his thighs, for support. Hadn't noticed that before.
3.) The very simple construction, basically a "Stick", lends to imaginative developments of how it was originally intended to be held, and played.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapman_stickA Stick looks like a wide version of the fretboard of an electric guitar, but with 8, 10 or 12 strings. It is, however, considerably longer and wider than a guitar fretboard. Unlike the electric guitar, it is usually played by tapping or fretting the strings, rather than plucking them. Instead of one hand fretting and the other hand plucking, both hands sound notes by striking the strings against the fingerboard just behind the appropriate frets for the desired notes.For this reason, it can sound many more notes at once than some other stringed instruments, making it more comparable to a keyboard instrument than to other stringed instruments. This arrangement lends itself to playing multiple lines at once and many Stick players have mastered performing bass, chords and melody lines simultaneously.In 1969, jazz guitarist Emmett Chapman developed the "Free Hands" tapping method (in which both hands play parallel to the frets) and applied it to his playing. At the time, Chapman was playing a 9-string long-scale guitar, but decided to design and develop a brand new instrument for use with Free Hands in order to use the method's full potential.
The first production model of the Stick was shipped in 1974.TuningElectronics Has been fairly restrictive, as the Electronics are complex, along with playing Technique.I've seen a guy give up after two hours 'setting up' at a Demonstration of Classic, and radical new Guitars. So many leads...(you need a Tech.)
Customized Roland GK-3 pickups are available for the treble or bass side of the instrument, allowing the instrument to drive one or two guitar synthesizers such as the Roland GR-20 or Axon AX-100, and also to drive other MIDI instruments or sequencers chained to the guitar synthesizer.Intersting to see an Acoustic version here... Bob Culbertson, guy Just17 linked to, below.
