In the world of modern violinists and experimental, adventurous musicians, Laurie Anderson sits at the head of the class. She worked with Ned Steinberger on the original design of the NS Violin and is now test-driving his latest invention: a counter-balanced shoulder rest that eliminates the need for a conventional chin rest. It's really wild, she says. It totally frees all of your singing parts, the throat, the jaw; everything that was glued to the instrument is now just swinging freely above it. Traditionally, violinists support their instruments using a shoulder rest in combination with downward pressure on a chin rest. The player's head needs to be in a fixed position, and considerable force is required, causing stress and fatigue. With the NS Balanced Shoulder Rest a counter-weight is cantilevered opposite to the violin, in effect balancing the whole system on the shoulder like two children of equal weight on a seesaw. The shoulder rest consists of a foam-covered structure that curves over the left shoulder and extends behind the right shoulder where the weight is attached. The violin requires no further support so the chin rest becomes optional, resulting in a new degree of comfort and freedom of expression.

The response is so much faster. It has to do with the way it integrates with your body, said Anderson. You're fingering in a different way, bowing in a different way, everything is different, but it really means that you can do wildly different things. I think that it's very, very cool. It's leading to new music.

Watch for Laurie on tour in January and February. She will be doing club dates with different people. Recently she used her NS Violin with the Balanced Shoulder Rest live and in the studio with a group of Mongolian throat singers who also played stringed instruments of their own invention. My violin, with its sharper Steinberger sound, sounded really amazing with their throaty, raspier sounding instruments, and with their all the harmonics in their throat singing, she said. With the violin balanced with the new shoulder rest, I could do really fast harmonics too, I could keep up with the Mongolians!

While it is still in the experimental phase, the counter-balanced shoulder rest for NS Violins and Violas should be available soon. Plans for a modified version for acoustic instruments are also in the works.

NS Violinist Edward Howe demonstrating the Balanced Shoulder Rest.

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Rob Wasserman is no stranger to NS Design and the NS bowed electric upright basses. In fact, Rob played an integral role in the design and creation of Ned's very first bowed electric upright bass. That first bass, Rob's signature model, features six round wound strings, laminate wood and graphite construction, and a concave neck design. It is still a mainstay in Rob's bass arsenal but it was a new instrument, the CRT Series Traditional Four-String Bass that took centre stage on Rob's recent tour with rock legend Lou Reed. Rob auditioned many basses while preparing for Reed's "2006 Olympic European Tour" but making the right choice wasn't as easy as one might think. Lou was actually performing with two bass players, Rob and Fernando Saunders, and both were playing at the same time, so it wasn't merely a matter of holding down the bottom end. Saunders main instrument was short scale upright bass guitar so the two set out to create a unified string section sound, with Rob primarily bowing. "I found that the NS 4 string bass sounded much more like an acoustic bass, which helped to differentiate our parts," says Rob. "I love my NS 6 string bass, but the 4 string model (out of the box with no modifications!!!!) fit better into the mix of our band." The CR 4T is made out of more traditional materials, ebony fingerboard, maple neck and uses Acoustic Helicore Hybrid™ strings by D'Addario, specially designed for NS basses. All of which lead a more acoustic sound, according to Rob. The CR 4T is set up with higher action that when combined with acoustic bass strings feels, sounds and plays very much like an acoustic upright bass. "I used my NS 6 string bass several times early on, but by the tour's end I was using the 4 string exclusively," Rob said.

The "Lou Reed 2006 Olympic European Tour" started out at the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy performing in front of 13,000 people on an outdoor stage. That's right, the middle of winter and outdoors! "They had heaters everywhere," says Rob. "But most were not working and I had to fight extremely cold fingers. The NS 4 string sounded terrific and somehow stayed in tune! What more can I say..."

Using two bass players wasn't easy but Reed was committed to creating a complete string sound live. "(It) was difficult but because the NS Design bass can go so low and in all ranges is unusually tight and coherent, it was possible at all times to hear this great bass sound and also use it for string and orchestral parts. Amazing," said Lou.

Rob's future plans with Lou Reed include a tour this June featuring an appearance at the famed "Isle of Wight Festival" in England opening for the band "Coldplay". Of course Rob with his CR 4T will play a vital role, this time though, hopefully played with much warmer fingers.

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