Unlike other tapping instruments such as the Chapman Stick, harpejji and Warr Guitar, both Tapboards are one-off custom designs and have never been produced commercially.
While still a member of progressive pop band It Bites, guitarist Francis Dunnery developed a two-handed tapping technique while recording demos between 1988 and 1989.
He collaborated with Dave Farmiloe (chief repair technician at Arbiter Guitars—UK distributors for Fender Guitars at the time) to develop an instrument for the technique.
The Tapboard features two sets of pickups (one of which is apparently taken from a Hohner Clavinet previously owned by The Boomtown Rats) mounted in a substance similar to "Blackpool rock.
Both of these initially appeared to have been added as a joke and for decoration, reflecting the eccentric nature of the instrument and Dunnery's ambivalent relationship with the more ludicrous aspects of rock performance.
On record it was used on It Bites' Eat Me In St Louis album in 1989 (on the outro for "Leaving Without You" and the instrumental "Charlie"), and on two single B-sides during the same period ("Having A Good Day" and "Reprise").
Another Tapboard instrument is played by Hungarian progressive rock/jazz-fusion bassist Balazs Szendofi (Regina Rostás Quintet, Mindflowers, The Piccolo Inn, The Holdudvar, The Self-Searching System and others).