Okay, it’s true. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Tim Meeks, an acoustical engineer by day and keyboard musician nights and weekends, couldn’t get the sounds nor the control he wanted playing the piano. With apologies to Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits, Meeks did “want to make it cry or sing.” Not a guitar, a keyboard. Cry and sing…

Meeks sought out the Chapman Stick, a nine-string, electrified, bodiless guitar that uses the tapping method of play made possible by electronics. Although the Stick essentially eliminated the middleman between strings and player, Meeks, as a keyboardist, found the instrument counterintuitive.

After discussions with Stick creator Emmett Chapman, he discovered the Starrboard, a 1980s prototype instrument that combined elements of the guitar and keyboard, achieved without the benefits of computer-aided design. After an enthusiastic meeting with inventor Dr. John Starr, Meeks decided to make refinements to Starr’s now-dusty prototype. for which patents had expired.

“We changed the sound. We changed the feel. We changed the look of it. We changed the electronics. We have 35 claims in our patent application because there were so many improvements to the idea,” Meeks said.

The result? The harpejji, an electronic instrument with a keyboard-inspired interface that, in its original model, has 24 strings, 15 frets, five octaves of range and piezo pickup saddles. Harpejji producer Marcodi Musical Products, LLC, has applied for four patents.

“It’s the kind of thing where people don’t realize they need it until they play it,” Meeks said. “Nobody lies awake at night thinking ‘I need a harpejji.’ They see it and say it’s really cool and think of ways to use it in their music. It’s exciting watching the light bulb go off.”

Meeks, a 35-year-old father of five, grew up in Baltimore County, but settled in Havre de Grace, his wife Joy’s hometown. Marcodi Musical Products, LLC, is a play on the name of his grandfather, Anthony L. DiMarco, who passed away in 2007. Meeks is president, and has as partners Jason Melani, vice president of sales and marketing, and John Meyer, vice president of manufacturing.

While awaiting industry knowledge of the harpejji to grow, Meeks remains employed as purchasing director for Polk Audio, a Baltimore-based designer and manufacturer of high performance audio.
He might not be waiting too long. At the harpejji’s launch party in Baltimore May 29, Meeks announced that Grammy-nominated musician Ric Hordonski has endorsed the new, hybrid instrument. Hordonski will play the harpejji in videos, concerts and on his next album, set to record this summer. Dream Theater keyboardist John Rudess hasn’t taken the endorsement leap, but can be seen playing the harpeggi at the company’s Web site, www.marcodi.com.

Melani has the product positioned to build grassroots support, too. The harpeggi can be seen and heard on YouTube as well as at www.marcodi.com, where musicians can explore the harpeggi interface and new chord intervals now possible through its design.
“I never saw this as something I would do as a career until I reached a point in development when I realized it was a really cool idea,” Meeks said. “The moment I jumped in the pool was when I paid a lawyer to patent it. I was in the game. The product itself made me do it.”

Meeks has advice for would-be entrepreneurs. “Stick with something you’re good at. I’m good with acoustics and audio and mechanical design. That this fits in squarely with my skills and capabilities has been in my favor.”