Jan Van Kelst: The Kelstone Interview

By: Dr. Matt Warnock

Photo(s): Courtesy of JVK

There are many artists and guitar makers who have revolutionized the instrument over the years. Building on the past and adding new innovations to push the instrument into the future, often with striking and long-lasting results.

While there are many people who have altered and evolved the guitar over the years, there are very few who can say that they looked at the guitar and it inspired them to create and entirely new instrument, one that takes the concept of the guitar and adds unique twists and designs to birth a new species of stringed instrument.

Jan Van Kelst is just such an inventor, and his invention, the Kelstone, is an intriguing looking and sounding instrument that brings together elements of the guitar, the piano, the Chapman Stick, pedal steel and lap-steel guitars.

Though it may look intimidating at first, well so does a normal guitar to most people, the Kelstone is relatively easy to start making music on, and its unique design and tuning is opening up new harmonic possibilities for composers and performers across the globe.

Guitar International recently spoke with Jan Van Kelst about the Kelstone, its origins and where he sees the instrument going from here.

******

Matt Warnock: What was the original inspiration behind building the Kelstone?

Jan Van Kelst: The idea came to me, in a split second as a matter of speaking, when I laid, by accident, my guitar in front of me and hammered on a string. In a flash I felt that this was perfect position for my hands.

It also gave perfect visibility of the fingers, the notes, the audience and the other members of the band. As well as having very good ergonomics and an optimal area for the fingers around the notes. The energy that one puts into the strings is in harmony with gravity, and they don’t have to come out of the wrist.

Matt: It looks and sounds a bit like a Chapman Stick, did any of the designers play the Stick and what similarities and differences do you see between the Stick and the Kelstone?

Jan: The essence of the Kelstone is that the hands lie on top of the strings. This is more important than the use of the tapping technique that is optimalized on the Kelstone. I did play the Chapman Stick for several years and felt a lot of limitations, restrictions.

It’s only after making some prototypes that I realized that the Kelstone was more than a tapping instrument, or another type of guitar. The fact that the hands lie on top of strings changes everything compared to any other stringed instrument, be it guitar, violin, Chapman Stick, bass guitar and so on.

Matt: Since the Kelstone is played flat on the player’s lap, did you picture this instrument appealing to pianists as well as guitar players?

Jan: Absolutely. The Kelstone has both guitar elements and piano elements. When piano players come in contact with the Kelstone, they appreciate the physical aspect of coming in contact with real strings. Because they don’t know strings, they touch the strings very softly and have a good clean sound. Guitar players tend to be rougher since they’re used to it.

Guitar elements are direct contact of the fingers with the strings. This is very expressive because the hands can do extreme and subtle sliding and bending. There are also two dimensions of the guitar, so one hand can overlap 4 octaves, this is quite unique in the music world and will help create a new harmonic language in the future.

The Piano elements are the large range, 5 octave and three whole notes, and the possibility of using both hands independently.

Matt: Can you give our readers a brief tutorial on how the instrument is played?

Jan: The Kelstone is tuned all the way up in fourths. We have a zero fret. If you count from this fret, the string closest to the player starts with a B, second one is an E, the same as on a normal bass guitar, an A then a D and so on.

Because there’s no interval of a third between the strings, like on a guitar, one can transpose a chord alongside the neck, but also transversal on the neck. It’s the same for scales. If you know one octave of a scale, this fingering is the same in any tonality, regardless of the place on the neck you start with.

As for the techniques, one can use any guitar technique like strumming, sliding, bending, fingerpicking and use also the hammer technique, where both hands tap directly between the frets on the notes.

The most innovative about the Kelstone is that you can use both hands on the same strings, mixing both guitar and piano techniques and getting the best of all the harmonics, expression and harmony.

Another very essential element of the Kelstone is the dynamic muter. One can mute the strings near the bridge creating a very unique sound.

Matt: What styles and genres of music do you envision the Kelstone being used in?

Jan: Basically the Kelstone is a stringed instrument, 9 strings and 26 frets, so any style is possible, from reggae, pop, rock to jazz and heavy metal. In time, there will be an acoustic version, making it a lot easier for one player to play the four voices of Bach, for instance, on a stringed instrument.

Matt: Can the Kelstone be used in an ensemble setting, like with bass, drums and vocals, or is it designed to be played only solo?

Jan: On the Kelstone one can be the bassplayer in a band but you don’t have to. You can perfectly play alongside a bassplayer. I think in this setting the Kelstone will function the best.

If one decides to be the bassplayer I think that he will be more innovative when he does just that, plating very percussive and using a lot of slides and bends. Some people will use the Kelstone as a solo instrument, like I do, and it’s also a great composers tool, with a very wide range and very expressive.

Matt: What has been the reaction so far from guitarists and Chapman Stick players who have tried out the Kelstone?

Jan: At first most are scared because they see so many strings. But anyone who played it makes some kind of music within the first five minutes. It’s a very direct and intuitive instrument because it lies in front of you. When they realize that it’s easier because of the nine strings, keeping the same fingering for chords and scales everywhere plus a larger area around the notes, they all are very positive about it.

Matt: How much does a Kelstone cost, and how can our readers order-buy one if they are interested?

Jan: The Kelstone costs 915€ exclusive tax and transport. A simple email to info@kelstone.be will put them in contact with us and allow them to buy one. There are already some shops in Germany, the Netherlands, France and Belgium that sell the Kelstone.