Homebrew Musical Instruments? 78
Josh Booth asks: "Has anyone ever built a musical instrument? I recently built two, a SSPACaRTD (Single String Plucked Air Compression and Rarifaction Tunable Device), and a full size string bass for the NJ State Science Olympiad. I played the bass and, since we did the required duet, my friend played an End Struck Plosive Aerophone, or a set rather, like what the Blue Man Group plays. We placed fifth out of 20+ schools. My bass is similar to those that Dennis Havlena made and used weedwhacker line for strings. I was wondering whether anyone else tried to build an instrument. How did you do it, what did it sound like, and how weird was it?"
Do programs count? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Do programs count? (Score:1)
Re:Do programs count? (Score:2)
bows (Score:4, Informative)
Re:bows (Score:2)
Re:bows (Score:2, Informative)
Re:bows (Score:1)
I am also VERY sure that a Violin bow made with fishing line would sound awful. Horse hair violin bows are made in such a way that the hair is about an inch wide and as you play you rotate the bow so more of the hair contacts the bow when your hand is furthest from the strings and less as you move towards the strings. Also horse hair is quite fine. Much fin
Re:bows (Score:3, Informative)
Re:bows (Score:2)
Unless, you're bowing a guitar specifically made to be played with a bow it will be little better instrumentally than an autoharp. Violins and the rest of the string section have curved fingerboards and deep notches at the waist so that individual strings can be isolated.
Re:bows (Score:2)
Guitar fingerboards are curved, although not to the extent of violins or cellos. Older Fenders had a 7" fingerboard radius, but most modern guitar have a radius somewhere around 12-14".
Re:bows (Score:1)
Piano.
S
Re:bows (Score:2, Informative)
What the heck is a guitar bow? I have never heard of such a thing!
Never heard of Led Zeppelin then?Re:bows (Score:1)
A fishing line bow would probably sound something between a normal bow and col legno. I can see it working, especially on a guitar.
I'm a musician, not a luthier... (Score:2)
I make instruments for a living. (Score:5, Informative)
In my book, an instrument is any object designed specifically and only for the purpose of making music. (This is why softsynths aren't "instruments" in my opinion; though they are 'virtualized software instruments' they're not quite complete
So, anyway, I make synthesizers and work for a fairly well-known synthesizer company [virus.info].
There are tons of DIY Synthesizer builders out there in 'net land, in fact its quite an active and avid community... synth construction is a very fun geek activity, and you'll be surprised by some of the amazing systems that have been built, quite openly, by instrument-making enthusiasts.
Check out synth.net [synth.net], of course
And if you want an example of the DIY/GNU spirit combined, you can't do much better than Gene Stopp's ASM1 Design (Open Modular Synthesizer Hardware Project) [swipnet.se]
Re:I make instruments for a living. (Score:1, Interesting)
There is a place where they keep track of these definition things. It's called the Oxford English Dictionary.
3. spec. A contrivance for producing musical sounds, by
Re:I make instruments for a living. (Score:1)
A device for playing or producing music.
I wasn't, actually, making up a definition that suited me. I was using the one someone else had made up for me, in a dictionary, which suited me
Communication is the Key, Sonology is the Way (Score:2)
What more can I say [sonology.net]...
Also made [calarts.edu] by one [calarts.edu] of our siblings [sonology.net], and particularly useful due to the fact that it plays itself [dialogues2004.com]...
Drummer Puddy (Score:3, Informative)
Space music (Score:3, Interesting)
The first year physics undergrads at my university have short projects in the summer term. One of the cooler ones I've seen was a kind of musical instument. It was an upward-looking proximity detector (IR, I think). It played a tone when it detected an object. It believed in eight different distances, and played a different tone for each.
I'm not very musical. The best I could do was get a scale out of it by putting my hand close to the sensor, and then lifting my hand. The guys who'd made it had obviously practicing, because they were waving their hands in the air over the thing, making it play tunes (limited to whole tones in one octave, but tunes nontheless). It made me think of Glen A. Larson science fiction series, for some reason...
I
Sounds like a basic theramin... (Score:3, Informative)
Made a lot of those spooky pitch bendy sci-fi sound effects used in a lot of 40's and 50's movies of that genre.
Large Hot Pipe Organ (Score:3, Interesting)
http://slashdot.org/articles/00/07/08/195236.shtml [slashdot.org]
Sargeant Trumpetus On Duty Sah! (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm a trumpeter, and you can make a basic brass instrument out of almost anything. All you need is a tube of some description with a bore somewhere between the diameter of your little finger and, say 3-4 inches. If you can seal the end with some form of bung so you can get an airtight seal for a mouthpiece, all the better. This way I've played kettles, teapots, chairs, relay batons, hoovers and hoses. I've seen a rifle played, open at the breach. Sound quality and range aren't normally great but hey, you're probably doing this for effect anyway so work out something you _can_ play on it and just do that.
Anyway, I was on the staff at a kid's summer holiday club and we had a Roman theme that year. I normally ran a silly games slot, and so this year I was being an incompetent dril sargeant setting all sorts of challenges. I had a colander for my helmet, a tray for a breastplate and a soup ladle tucked into my belt. Every day, to announce my presence, I'd whip out this huge home-made post horn and play the _worst_ fanfare you can imagine, and that would signal the start of proceedings.
It was a 2m long length of 15mm plastic pipe. I then made an expanded polystyrene bung at one end to seal a mouthpiece in place and jammed the largest kitchen funnel I could find into the other end - which, happily, fitted very neatly. Being plastic and having polystyrene for a critical interface this thing resonated absolutely horribly, had no useful tone and a really odd range. It wasn't rigid so flopped around all over the place and if I wasn't very careful when putting the mouthpiece in I knocked the bung out. You could get a really, really bad fanfare on it, though, which was most of the point of the exercise and it did get a laugh
I wouldn't recommend this particular construction for anyone after music not comedy but we did finish the week with a duet of the Prince of Denmark's March on a kettle and a teapot. You can actually get quite a good note out of them, and even use the lid to modulate volume! Tiring to play though.
Re:Sargeant Trumpetus On Duty Sah! (Score:2)
So we got some scrap plastic water pipe (the grey double-walled stuff) and blew into it, especially once we found that the bevelled stainless-steel inserts to reinfor
Not lately (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course, until very recently -- I'm guessing the last century or two -- many musical instruments were made by their users, or by persons -0 like furniture makers -- who made instruments as a side-line.
Exceptions of course would probably be very large instruments -- church organs, the larger pianos -- and instruments made by dedicated instruments makers first for court musicians and later for professional orchestras.
But outside of royal halls and opera houses relying on noble patronage, popular music was probably produced by musicians who had some hand in making their own instruments. Think of the violin-picker in Appalachia, or the rebec playing sailor drifting down the Volga or the Don* -- or the Mississippi. Consider the lonely Spanish shepherd playing a bladder pipe horn made from one of his former charges -- or an equally lonely Texas cowboy plucking a Jew's harp
* I'm thinking of the Russian Don, but it could as well be the river in England, the river in Scotland, or the river in Canada; the rebec was probably known in each place and was always an instrument of the lower classes. A guide to traditional instruments can be found here [k12.ia.us].
Given the amount of money spent on CDs -- and the amount of downloading --, it's not hard to see that music is central in some way to the human experience. We've all felt it the lump in the throat listening to a mournful folk song about a love irrevocably ended; we've all had to grin at the infectious sound of a waltz; had our blood rush faster to the beat of a military march (marches are Turkish in origin, and entered the West through Vienna, almost as the Turks themselves did in 1683); felt pride and pathos at the sound of our national anthem.
Tom Paine, in his argument for Deism, Age of Reason even opines that the men and women that the Bible calls prophets were in fact musicians, taking for his text 1 Samuel, chapter 10, verse 5: "...thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy...." Paine goes on to show this is not an isolated passage:
Now imagine a world without portable mp3 players -- I'm listing to music from the Stuart Age (1600s) on my handled right now --, without CD players, without even eight track tape players or phonographs. Imagine no TV or radio or Internet. Would you not still have the same desire to hear music and feel the emotions it calls up in you? How else to ensure the presence of music in your life but to learn to play an instrument yourself? And unless you were one of the small minority of the wealthy, how would you get a instrument? You'd purchase one cheaply from a more or less amateur instrument maker, or better, you'd make a simple instrument yourself.
It is one of the trade-offs of modernity, I suppose: I have at hand, on my computer, over 8000 mps -- from Bach to Bob Dylan -- more musical variety than all but the wealthiest of kings could ever have collected prior to the invention of the phonograph. I have a dozen operas, including two different productions of Wagner's four opera Ring Cycle. And my music is immediately accessible -- I don't even have to change a record or pen a CD case. I can even listen to it on my handled via WiFi, so as not to disturb the neighbors. With a credit card, or a KaZaa client, I can download nearly an
Well Boredom works for me. (Score:3, Interesting)
Some of my best sounding ones include.
A Coffee mug and some rubber bands. You take the rubber bands and put them around the coffee cup. and you change the tension of each band over the mouth of the cup. Then you pluck them and get a good sound.
Many bottles and some water (Glass sounds best but plastic works to). You fill the bottles with different amount of water and blow across them to achieve sound.
Raisin boxes of different sizes. Just open up one end and blow threw the other.
Scrap pipes and some string or wire. just put different sized pipes hanging on some wire and hit them with a stick.
A paper towel role. you put it in front on you mouth and vibrate your lips. Better results occur on longer tubes like vacuums cleaner extenders but that is not recommended until you clean them.
A Hair Comb and some of the plastic that is used to wrap individual slices of american cheese. Just put the plastic over then teeth of the comb and do a low hum.
Sound can occur anywhere you can get something to vibrate.
Re:Well Boredom works for me. (Score:2)
Yeah, I had a girlfriend like that. God she was noisy.
(But in all seriousness, good "crafty" examples in your post.)
Yeah (Score:2)
DIY Analog Synth (Score:1)
Harpsichord... (Score:4, Interesting)
I made several instruments when I was a kid (Score:2)
I also used a ruler as an instrument and was able to play actual tunes on it.
Bits of old drainpipe and vacuum cleaner tubes are alse great for a makeshift didgeridoo.
Then of course there is the old paper and comb kazoo!
PVC pipe didgeridoo (Score:2)
They work well, too (though the circular breathing takes practice, or course).
Re:PVC pipe didgeridoo (Score:2)
It only took me a couple of weeks with plenty of practice to learn to play. Once you've got the circular breathing though the fun starts; my fave is the bark!
nick
Drums and mallets (Score:2)
I also made some custom mallets for keyboard percussion use. I made some very nice bell (glockenspiel) mallets out of 1/2" brass, they gav
PVC Taiko (Score:1)
I myself (with mentoring from a local taiko maker) made a chu-daiko out of a wine barrel, as most american taiko drums are.
Anyone can make a great-sounding drum using large wooden salad bowls, rawhide heads and
check out guitarnuts.com (Score:2)
i haven't made mine myself but with infos from that page i customized my guitar.
I was the band geek on my sci oly team (Score:1)
trombone, bass, drums (Score:2, Interesting)
I also made the ubiquitous bass. Plywood body, 2x4 neck, weedwacker cord for 3 strings, but I had to use picture hanging
Re:trombone, bass, drums (Score:2)
digeridoos (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:digeridoos (Score:2)
You'll get better sound quality with a vacuum cleaner hose. :-)
Some people put a lot more work in to their homebrew instruments [wendycarlos.com].
...laura
hah, me too (an interesting story) (Score:3, Interesting)
- people with very very nicely built flutes and stringed instruments and such... these people knew precious little of the physics behind their instruments
- me and my friend, with some crappy pvc-pipe creations that were played like brass instruments... and we built them to be (close to) on pitch, because we knew the equations like the backs of our hands
Guess who scored well? =) It is science olympiad, after all...
Re:hah, me too (an interesting story) (Score:2)
A request (Score:1)
Seriously now, the funky hand positions that some instruments require can't be that good for the ol' carpel tunnels. I'm interested in seeing some ergonomically correct guitars, for example - though I can't really imagine what they'd look like. This kind of thing is perfect for the 'open source' music instrument hobby.
Re:A request (Score:2)
Experimental instrument & music venue in NYC (Score:2)
One night I saw a guy put a cello bow to a tiny wooden contraption with audio pickups attached. He proceeded to produce some eerie and beautiful music. Others followed with homebrew synt
Cigarbox Guitar (Score:1)
Checkout Shane Speal's CigarBox Guitar Group [yahoo.com]
CigarBox Guitar Site [geocities.com]
Ask the guys... (Score:2)
They create many of their own instruments out of random detritus.
Also, gotta give a shout out to my former compatriot and his band Ballyrag [ballyrag.com]. Check out pictures of The Thing (a unique bass / keyboard combo that Dan built).
And hey, while I type this, I've been tapping a foot against my Tower PC, thumping it into the wall, which makes for a good bass line rhythm. Careful, or I'll start singing...
Electronic flute (Score:2)
I'm a musician; most of the gear I play I built (Score:1)
Most of the gear I use I built myself (instruments, speaker cabinets, effects/pre-amp), not because I thought I could do it cheaper or I couldn't afford what I needed (though if you know what you are doing and you put no $value$ on your time
big ceramic pots (Score:1)
I love to go into Hobby Lobby or Garden Ridge Pottery (think: arts and crafts outlet) and play those big glazed ceramic pots. Because they are so inconsistent in quality and size, most of them are a different note and of differing tonal qualities.
If they have a large enough selection you can put together a pretty good range. I generally rearrange them so that I can reach at least an octave without moving too much. I get funny looks but the sounds are amazing. Try it some time!
like this guy? (Score:2)
The bass player for Splitlip Rayfield [splitliprayfield.com] made his own instrument out of a gas tank, some strings, and a piece of wood.
cuica (Score:1)
Great Topic! (Score:2)
My favorite upright bass [sirenmusiccompany.com]
4 String Upright Washtub Bass [cmich.edu]
Great for roots and rockabilly.
DIY theramin (Score:2)
theramin kit [moogmusic.com] (there's got to be cheaper ones out there or plans to build them... *Shrug*
e.
When I was a kid... (Score:2)
Anyhow, my friend and I did all sorts of weird stuff audio-wise - add outputs to things that didn't have them (hooked his TV speaker up to his stereo for pumpin' bass from the Sega Genesis!), built crazy inputs to stereos by gutting cassettes and using playback heads as inputs (basically rolling our own cassette input interfaces), etc.
One day, I got the idea that I wanted an amplified rubber band (!!!). I liked the sound
Some electronic instruments, a long time ago... (Score:2)
1979: a 4 channel drum machine with 16 preprogrammed rhythms in a 256x4 PROM.
1980: a synthetic drum (pad activated)
After that it became cheaper to buy the finished stuff instead of the components. And nowadays FruityLoops and Cubase rule my studio, together with a disklavier grand for t
long live the air guitar!!! (Score:2)
Something I've been thinking about: Wacom tablet (Score:1)
WINDS (Score:1)
I did alternatively intonated woodwind instruments using a Java applet I wrote called WINDS (Woodwind Instrument Notes Designer System).
A great resource for those who are interested in inventing or creating experimental musical instruments is Experimental Musical Instruments [windworld.com].
Harry Partch (Score:2)
Making instruments. (Score:2)
Several (Score:2)
As a kid, I built a few original instruments including my favorite, the "squeakaphone", which was a continuous-pitch, double-reed wind instrument. Based around the same concept as making a balloon squeak while lettin
Explosive Homebrew (Score:1)
calculaters as instruments (Score:1)