Making Instruments

[xmaggotx]

just finished a cigar box guitar. will post pics soon. i stained the neck "cherry red" (its hardwood so it has limited absorbtion), cut some fancy sound hole in it...gonna rig it with a cheap piezo pickup. it looks all snazzy. also a while back i made a gut bucket out of a feed bucket we had laying around that the cattle werent using. got an old piece of wood from flooring (better than a broomstick because i can fret it somewhat) put a bracket on top of the bucket, and cut a notch in the wood. strung the fucker up with some weedwhacker line, and it works great. used it in my band until we recently fell off...so yeah it worked live, and a mic picked it up well

 

[tallhorseman]

I've tried to make bamboo flutes on several occasions, but I just can't make them work. I found a bamboo patch that has sticks up to three inches thick. Of course, the bamboo I was trying to make the flute with wasn't that big, it was only bout an inch thick. I'd love to hear from anyone who can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Meanwhile I'm using the big-ass bamboo to make deer fountains with.

 

[trotsky]

An old article about ham tin mandolins from some old 70s hippie magazine site .

 

[nez]

Home Made Banjo
Musical Instruments From Discarded Materials
ive been interested in making a banjo. im making a banjo now. ive cut the neck out. ive made a mock up for the pot. now i just need to scavenge more wood. i would really like to make an instrument out of a gourd. i think they look nice. hope the sites are helpful and inspiring.

 

[Harper Teh Bard]

When i was a wee boyo, i got one of those cardboard type boxes from an arts and crafts store, is not cardboard but like i dunno really, some kind of thin hard cardboard type stuff, for gift boxes kinda? only harder, anyhow, i used that shite for the body, piece of wood for the neck and hot glue to put it together, it was a piece of crap, hardly any noise, and a hassle to make
but it was something i suppose
i would suggest a solid/epoxy and whatever thin material, might even be able to find a smashed up guitar in a dumpster behind a pawn shop? Certain used guitar shops come by junk alot, they also have parts sometimes, gears, etc, oh and piezo pickup, d.i.y. pickup, i hear they work decent, never made one though, but they're really easy to make if you can find a phone or something like that?

 

[120 Proof Vomit]

Right now I'm working on a DIY as fuck cigar box guitar, only problem is that I intend on using an actual electric guitar neck, and I'm worried once I get it all strung and ready, the sucker is gonna snap in two from the massive amounts of tension on the the thing, I guess a slab of wood to bolt the neck to will help. I hope to go so far as adding a humbucker (scavenged from the same piece of shit guitar I got the neck from), and making my self a nice hollow body electric guitar out of a cigar box. I could stash all sorts of neat shit in the body... Fuck it's gonna be awesome! I'll post some pictures when and if I get it made. Other than that, I've never really made an instrument, but I have prepared plenty Instruments for unconventional playing... mostly cause I couldn't play them they way they were intended.

 

[Jankem]

Hey tallhorseman, I just made a flute out of bamboo and it turned out alright.
The biggest thing to keep in mind is the size of the holes and the position. Try making one with seven holes... an air hole and 6 finger holes. Make sure they are all in a perfectly straight line with eachother (has to be EXACTLY lined up), and dont make them too big proportionately. Try basing it off of the proportions of a fife. Similar to a flute but much more rudimentary. http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/treasures/treasimages/F/2img18.jpg heres a picture you can base off of.
Make the air hole pretty close to the end solid end of the bamboo. (less than an inch)
The finger placement is similar to a recorder on these.

Good luck!

 

[Billy Blankets]

Making Instruments (cookie tin banjo)

View attachment 9031 View attachment 9032 View attachment 9033
Me and gudj recently made a cookie tin banjo. Its pretty quiet, and dosen't stay in tune that well, but is hella light and sounds pretty good. ( you could also store stuff in it! ) Instead of making the neck myself, I called around to a few small local acoustic music repair shops and asked if anyone had any banjo necks that wouldn't be worth repairing to them. Turned on the charm and the first shop i called hooked me up with this free tenor neck. we got the ugly cookie tin from a thrift store and i wound up spending 12 dollars total on that, the strings, an assortment of screws and nails from a hardware store and the tuning pegs. We also used a dremmel kind of a lot to make cuts in the tin and "whittle" the arched support piece of wood that is in the tin (see 3rd picture) and to make the bridge (which was the hardest part). all that could be done with a boxcutter and a little more time though.
View attachment 9034
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Heres the finished product. I won't get to long winded but we got some pretty good, more detailed advice from a local instrument builder about bridge placement, repairning cracks in necks, and stopping rattely sounds in the finished banjos so if you have any of those issues hit up me or gudj.

I like that since i built it i could probably repair it, its cheap enough to not stress out about traveling with, and loud enough to be heard busking but not loud enough to be heard from across a train yard. a worthwhile build.
I'd love to see other peoples pictures if you got em.

 

[Gudj]

One thing that Billy Blankets forgot:
If you look at those pictures, you'll notice that the dishes are done. That's a super important preparation step, without it, your banjo won't come out right.

Do yr dishes first.

 

[Maxx]

i prefer acoustic but this thing has been interesting me recently

electric 2 string paddle bass:
2 String Paddle Bass

 

[Maxx]

i prefer acoustic but this thing has been interesting me recently

electric 2 string paddle bass:
2 String Paddle Bass

 

[Nexa]

Ive built a few homemade string instruments and most of them turned out quite well. Mint Tin Violin, CigBoxGit, upright (cello size) 3 string bass made from a 16"? tom from a drum kit, cookie tin banjo, Methyl Ethyl Ketone 2 string slide guitar (dumpstered) and a couple more i cant remember. im working on a cig box uke. Trash instruments never seem to be quite as loud as a marketed instrument but thats usually because the body (resonator) is usually smaller. and the ones ive made are fretless. they do tend to be light tho. ive had small attempts to no avail with flutes (tin/penny whistle) made from metal curtain rods. donno if someone posted this link already, but heres a VERY informative site>>> WEBPAGE of DENNIS HAVLENA - W8MI Mackinac Straits, MI hes got a bunch of utube vids too.

 

[bcob]

I made a one-string cello out of a drawer once. It was badass.

 

[brotherart]

you can make a jew harp out of a plastic phone or credit card, though they don't resonate and sustain as well as the traditional metal ones (look it up on youtube).

Also, shakers are an excellent instrument that can be made in all sorts of obvious ways.

 

[Linda/Ziggy]

Well I never made that but..............
I now am really making a 'something'!

I have a beautiful mother of pearl inlaid violin neck that I am re working,
this will go onto a hand carved wood bowl for the body.
I will probably keep it one string, as I can not play violin, fiddle , banjo or guitar!
It will be whatever it urns out to be.
Many African, chines instruments have only one string.

 

[Wild Ty Laserbeam]

This guy fucking roolz. WEBPAGE of DENNIS HAVLENA - W8MI Mackinac Straits, MI I used to be really into making my own instruments. My favorite was the tub bass, but those don't travel very well. I'm gonna try that slide didge thing.

 

[bryanpaul]

this looks pretty cool.... a hamdolin
www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/1985-01-01/Build-Your-Own-Hamdolin.aspx&h=1598c

 

[Redwood]

I just made a canjar. I made a cookie tin banjo with a neck from an broken miniature sitar. View attachment 21314 View attachment 21315 View attachment 21316 View attachment 21317

 

[dharma bum]

i've made drums and shakers out of different sized turtle shells before.
what i really want is a banjolele. everywhere i look, they're like $300.
anyone know a place to purchase a cheap one??? or is willing to trade/sell for one?

 

[BrainDeadUnit]

Step 1. Grab your empty 2 liter bottle.
Step 2. Remove cap.
Step 3. Place to lips, keeping ridge of opening level to the ground.
Step 4. Blow.

Optionally, have a friend repeat, but partly filled with fluid, or have one of your own.

You get better sound if you hold onto the hard plastic vs. the soft.

I have an idea for a little amplified electronic touch ribbon violin-type instrument that wouldn't be too hard to build if you have some soldering skills. Could run off of one or two 12v batteries.

I'll post details when I get around to building it, which I think this thread might've inspired me to finally do.