[{"content":"","date":"12 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/code/","section":"Code","summary":"","title":"Code","type":"code"},{"content":"","date":"12 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"12 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/tracker/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tracker","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"12 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/volleyball/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Volleyball","type":"tags"},{"content":" Player Name Team vs Opponent SET 1 Next Set (Clear Stats) Reset Set Full Reset Page ","date":"12 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/code/volleyballstatstracker/","section":"Code","summary":" Player Name Team vs Opponent SET 1 Next Set (Clear Stats) Reset Set Full Reset Page ","title":"Volleyball Stats Tracker","type":"code"},{"content":"","date":"27 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/hologram/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Hologram","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"27 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/weather/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Weather","type":"tags"},{"content":" --°C Inspiration and code from here. Pics of the project coming soon! ","date":"27 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/code/weatherhologram/","section":"Code","summary":" --°C Inspiration and code from here. Pics of the project coming soon! ","title":"Weather Hologram","type":"code"},{"content":"","date":"4 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/cornhole/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Cornhole","type":"tags"},{"content":" Team 1 +1 +3 Reset Round Current Round Overall Score End Round Team 2 +1 +3 Reset Round Current Round Overall Score Restart Game ","date":"4 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/code/cornhole/","section":"Code","summary":" Team 1 +1 +3 Reset Round Current Round Overall Score End Round Team 2 +1 +3 Reset Round Current Round Overall Score Restart Game ","title":"Cornhole Score Tracker","type":"code"},{"content":"","date":"2 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/apparel/","section":"Apparel","summary":"","title":"Apparel","type":"apparel"},{"content":"","date":"2 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/cricut/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Cricut","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"2 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/shirts/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Shirts","type":"tags"},{"content":"My wife got a Cricut to make various crafts. I discovered that you can buy vinyl sheets that adhere to fabric with heat\u0026hellip;basically an iron-on but a bit better quality. After getting the bug to make shirts I discovered sublimation printing, which lets you use a printer and special inks to make more intricate designs. Here are the shirts I have made.\nCricut Vynil # I could just buy a shirt with the name of my kids\u0026rsquo; school sports teams, or I could make my own mimicking the Thrasher magazine logo. You won\u0026rsquo;t be surprised to learn which option I went with. This one shows the spools of a cassette. Kids, ask your grandparents what a cassette is, or ask ChatGPT. As you may have been able to tell from this website, I have made a number of cigar box guitars. There used to be a club in New York City called CBGB that was instrumental in the development of Punk and New Wave music in the 70\u0026rsquo;s and 80\u0026rsquo;s. Their logo was an acronym for \u0026ldquo;Country, Bluegrass, Blues\u0026rdquo; and was all over the place. The original logo also had these additional letters under the CBGB banner that read OMFUG, which stood for \u0026ldquo;Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers.\u0026rdquo; It just so happens that the first three letters of the logo are CBG, so I had to make a shirt with the same iconic font. But what to replace the OMFUG with? I went with \u0026ldquo;OIMFJ\u0026rdquo;, which stands for \u0026ldquo;Other Instruments Made From Junk.\u0026rdquo; This one is for my computer nerd friends. Rochester, NY is known as the Flower City, but it is also known as the Flour City. There\u0026rsquo;s a history there, Google it. I wanted to make a shirt to reflect both names without being repetitive. The clear answer was to use a regular expression! This particular one returns true only for Flour or Flower. Then I added City plus Rochester\u0026rsquo;s logo. In hindsight, the \u0026lsquo;o\u0026rsquo; is redundant since it appears in both conditions. It should be \u0026lsquo;^Flo(u|we)r$\u0026rsquo;, but I\u0026rsquo;m not making another shirt. As an avid fan of Metallica since my early teens, and an enjoyer of math, this seemed like the perfect shirt to make. Note that I wrote it in Spanish so it would end in \u0026ldquo;ica\u0026rdquo; to better fit the logo. I always would wear a Misfits shirt for Halloween, but the one I used to own, um, shrunk in the dryer and doesn\u0026rsquo;t fit anymore. So I made this one, with the original Fiend Club design, which you don\u0026rsquo;t see very often these days. This is the first shirt I made. Sunn O))) is a band that plays ambient drone metal. It\u0026rsquo;s difficult to describe, just go listen to it if you want to be put in a trance by very loud distortied guitars with long, drawn out chords and no beats, played by a couple of guys wearing robes and hoods surrounded by smoke. This was the first time I tried making a shirt with two diffent colors. It took patience to get them lined up correctly. It is for my Alma Matter, the University of Central Florida. My first computer was a TRS-80 Color Computer from Radio Shack when I was 13 or so. I will never forget the sales pitch from the store clerk. He looked at my mom and I and presented two major features:\nif you drop this computer in a bathtub while plugged in, it will NOT electrocute you if you stand on this computer, it will not break As you can imagine, I was sold! Sleep is a Stoner Metal band that I came to learn about for their legendary song \u0026ldquo;Dopesmoker\u0026rdquo;, which is basically 60 minutes of the same riff repeated over and over with lyrics here and there. That might sound exhausting, but it\u0026rsquo;s actually trance-inducing. Given the inspiration for the band\u0026rsquo;s music, which I shouldn\u0026rsquo;t have to spell out given the song title and genre name, I have had a couple of interactions with people that just have to tell me \u0026ldquo;Duuude, I looooove that band\u0026rdquo;. Whenever I travel I wear this shirt to the airport, because we tend to take very early flights, and this shirt announces what I would rather be doing than sitting in an airport. The city of Rochester, New York has a good marketing team. The logo supposedly combines a lilac and a water wheel to represent two of Rochester\u0026rsquo;s nicknames: Flower City and Flour City (see above for another shirt inspired by this). I always thought the logo looked inspired by the Quicksilver logo, and that if you cut one of the sides you could make it look like a wave. This is where I got the idea for the Rochester Surf Co. I made the shirt as a joke, since there are zero waves on Lake Ontario. Most of the time it goes unnoticed, but a couple of people have stopped me and asked about the surf club. Play Music On The Porch Day is an event that takes place every year on the last Saturday in August. The website tracks people from all over the globe that participate, uploading pictures and videos of themselves playing music on this day. Loving the idea I made this shirt, which shows some of the types of instruments that I make: a dulcimer, a cigar box guitar, a kalimba, and a cassette player amplifier. I have attended every Maker Faire in Rochester since it started as a Mini Maker Faire in 2014. Their shirt selection has never been that great, so I made this one with the Make Magazine mascot. I enjoy the trippy, nostalgic electronic music from Boards of Canada. Not much more to say about this one\u0026hellip; Sublimation Printer # You will notice that the colors are not as bright on cotton shirts. This is something I discovered is a downside of sublimation printing, unless you print on 100% polyester shirts. They sell sprays you can use to pre-treat the shirt that supposedly helps with this, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t see much of a difference. Also they fade with time. So if your design is supposed to look vintage, then this approach could work.\nMy wife is a Miami Dolphins fan, and my son is a Buffalo Bills fan. I have no particular interest in Football, so I can\u0026rsquo;t show a preference during the days when the two rivals play each other twice a year. So I made this shirt to keep the peace at home. An activity I would do with the kids when they were little was to bring paper and crayons on trips and trace over manhole covers with cool designs. On a trip to Puerto Rico, we traced this particular one in Old San Juan. These are all over the place and are about 6 inches wide. This particular one was on a busy sidewalk, and I\u0026rsquo;m sure we annoyed a few people while we sat there and traced. But the memory was worth it. Vintage cameras are so much cooler looking than current versions, which all have a similar shape. This is a Rolleiflex Single Lens Reflex camera. Odd name for this camera style which actually has two lenses. One for the viewfinder, and one for actually taking the image. You actually hold it in front of your torso and look down into the viewfinder. I also made a sunprint with the same image used on this shirt. Given the large size of the Hispanic population in Miami, I\u0026rsquo;m surprised I have not seen shirts with the team name in Spanish. So I made one. ","date":"2 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/apparel/shirts/","section":"Apparel","summary":"My wife got a Cricut to make various crafts. I discovered that you can buy vinyl sheets that adhere to fabric with heat…basically an iron-on but a bit better quality. After getting the bug to make shirts I discovered sublimation printing, which lets you use a printer and special inks to make more intricate designs. Here are the shirts I have made.\nCricut Vynil # I could just buy a shirt with the name of my kids’ school sports teams, or I could make my own mimicking the Thrasher magazine logo. You won’t be surprised to learn which option I went with. ","title":"Shirts","type":"apparel"},{"content":"","date":"2 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/sublimation/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Sublimation","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"28 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/cigar-box-guitar/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Cigar Box Guitar","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"28 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/diy/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Diy","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"28 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/electronics/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Electronics","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"28 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/guitar/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Guitar","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"28 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/homemade-instrument/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Homemade Instrument","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"28 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/photography/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Photography","type":"tags"},{"content":" A collection of my instruments, musical creations, electronics tinkering and other projects. # ","date":"28 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/","section":"Strings and Tines","summary":"A collection of my instruments, musical creations, electronics tinkering and other projects. # ","title":"Strings and Tines","type":"page"},{"content":"","date":"1 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/camping-sign/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Camping Sign","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/dart-board/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Dart Board","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/fishing-rod-holder/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Fishing Rod Holder","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/skateboard/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Skateboard","type":"tags"},{"content":"Here are various wood projects I have made.\nI used a bunch of scrap wood to make this wall protector or our dartboard. Though I should have made it 10 feet on each side, because that\u0026rsquo;s how bad we are at darts. Wall protector for dart board. Added holes to store the darts\nA skateboard that was really popular in the 80\u0026rsquo;s was the Vision Psycho Stick. My daughter painted this with paint pens on a random skateboard. Psycho Stick skateboard\nMy wife is a Dolphins fan, and my son is a Bills fan. Things can get interesting when they play against each other. So I made this cornhole set to make them both happy. Miami Dolphins themed Cornhole\nBuffalo Bills themed Cornhole\nMy son likes to fish and has an ungodly amount of fishing rods. I made this rack to keep them organized. Fishing Rod holder\nMy son and I made this frame together when he colored this paper when he was little. The green hair is a nice touch. It still hangs in the garage. Picture frame\nThe handle on this cheap knife fell apart. I made a new handle for it from scrap pine I had laying around Knife handle\n","date":"1 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/woodworking/woodprojects/","section":"Woodworking","summary":"Here are various wood projects I have made.\nI used a bunch of scrap wood to make this wall protector or our dartboard. Though I should have made it 10 feet on each side, because that’s how bad we are at darts. Wall protector for dart board. Added holes to store the darts\nA skateboard that was really popular in the 80’s was the Vision Psycho Stick. My daughter painted this with paint pens on a random skateboard. Psycho Stick skateboard\n","title":"Wood Projects","type":"woodworking"},{"content":"Here are various woodburning projects.\nI made this sign from the seat of an old chair. It hangs at our site when we go camping Camping sign\nGrowing up in the 80\u0026rsquo;s I always wanted this Zorlac Metallica skateboard with art by Pushead. So I made my own! Metallica skateboard\nThis is my first attempt at woodburning. Already had the Strings and Tines branding thought out. Strings and Tines skateboard\nI made this sign for my wife, which now hangs in our camper. I made the frame too. This sign hangs in our camper\n","date":"1 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/woodworking/woodburning/","section":"Woodworking","summary":"Here are various woodburning projects.\nI made this sign from the seat of an old chair. It hangs at our site when we go camping Camping sign\nGrowing up in the 80’s I always wanted this Zorlac Metallica skateboard with art by Pushead. So I made my own! Metallica skateboard\nThis is my first attempt at woodburning. Already had the Strings and Tines branding thought out. Strings and Tines skateboard\n","title":"Woodburning","type":"woodworking"},{"content":"","date":"1 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/woodworking/","section":"Woodworking","summary":"","title":"Woodworking","type":"woodworking"},{"content":"","date":"31 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/electronics/","section":"Electronics","summary":"","title":"Electronics","type":"electronics"},{"content":"Macro Pads are great for running programs or performing other actions at the touch of a button. They sell some on Amazon, but from the reviews I didn\u0026rsquo;t get the impression that I could do a lot of customizing, particularly on Linux, which is where I wanted to use one. So I made one with a Teensy microcontroller, 6 buttons and a rotary encoder to control the volume. You can get a copy of the code in my GitHub repo.\nThe finished product\nThe buttons are laid out as follows: Button names:\nRE - Rotary Encoder (Volume) MT - Mute LD - Left Desktop RD - Right Desktop PP - Play/Pause PT - Previous Track NT - Next Track After adding all the buttons for controlling media, I had two buttons left over. I used those to toggle between virtual desktops.\nEasy access next to my laptop\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a video showing it at work ","date":"31 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/electronics/legomacropad/","section":"Electronics","summary":"Macro Pads are great for running programs or performing other actions at the touch of a button. They sell some on Amazon, but from the reviews I didn’t get the impression that I could do a lot of customizing, particularly on Linux, which is where I wanted to use one. So I made one with a Teensy microcontroller, 6 buttons and a rotary encoder to control the volume. You can get a copy of the code in my GitHub repo.\n","title":"LED Macro Pad","type":"electronics"},{"content":"","date":"31 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/lego/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Lego","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"31 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/macro-pad/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Macro Pad","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"31 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/teensy/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Teensy","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"11 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/ae1300/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Ae1300","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"11 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/casio/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Casio","type":"tags"},{"content":"I got this watch as a gift from my grandkids for Christmas 2024. The only mod I did was to erase all the lettering on the case and faceplate except for the word Casio, just like I did for my Casio Royale mod. Fun fact, the two watches have modules that are the same size and cases that are the same shape, so you can swap them around for an additional mod.\nThis is what the watch looks like out of the box And this is what it looks like after erasing most of the lettering. I much prefer the cleaner, less cluttered look. You might notice that the word ILLUMINATOR did not get entirely erased, but instead left a shadow of the lettering. It\u0026rsquo;s subtle, I think I like it like this. ","date":"11 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/apparel/watchmods/ae1300/","section":"Apparel","summary":"I got this watch as a gift from my grandkids for Christmas 2024. The only mod I did was to erase all the lettering on the case and faceplate except for the word Casio, just like I did for my Casio Royale mod. Fun fact, the two watches have modules that are the same size and cases that are the same shape, so you can swap them around for an additional mod.\n","title":"Casio AE-1300 mod","type":"apparel"},{"content":"","date":"11 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/ref-watch/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Ref Watch","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"11 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/apparel/watchmods/","section":"Apparel","summary":"","title":"Watch Mods","type":"apparel"},{"content":"","date":"6 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/3d-print/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"3d Print","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"6 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/printable-watch/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Printable Watch","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"6 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/quartz/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Quartz","type":"tags"},{"content":"I found this website The Printable Watch that offers files you can download and print your own watch case. I thought this was the coolest idea, and bought a whole kit.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t have a 3D printer, so I hired Connor The Maker to print it for me. I had met him at the Rochester Maker Faire, where he was displaying projects he had made. He was a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology and had started this 3D printing side business, so I was happy to help out a young engineering student.\nAssembling it was a bit of a pain. Working with such small watch hands is quite challenging, even when you have all the right tools, which thankfully came with the kit I ordered.\nI really like how it came out, all white with a black chapter ring. plus the fact that it is fully 3D printed adds to the cool factor!\nThe finished product\n","date":"6 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/apparel/watchmods/printablewatch/","section":"Apparel","summary":"I found this website The Printable Watch that offers files you can download and print your own watch case. I thought this was the coolest idea, and bought a whole kit.\nI don’t have a 3D printer, so I hired Connor The Maker to print it for me. I had met him at the Rochester Maker Faire, where he was displaying projects he had made. He was a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology and had started this 3D printing side business, so I was happy to help out a young engineering student.\n","title":"The Printable Watch","type":"apparel"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/calendar/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Calendar","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/command-center/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Command Center","type":"tags"},{"content":" Introduction # Being a parent of teenagers means there are a lot of activities to coordinate. I always wanted an interactive calendar to hang on the wall so my wife and I could have a real time view of what activities were happening on any particular day. I had looked online for pre-built options, but they were way too expensive. So I decided to make my own!\nMy requirements were simple\u0026hellip;it needed to show our Google calendar and have touch capabilities so we could make edits to the calendar without having to pull out a keyboard and mouse.\nHardware # First, here\u0026rsquo;s a breakdown of the hardware I used. I started by getting a 32\u0026quot; Onn brand Roku TV. Since I wanted it to be a touchscreen, I bought this IR Touch Frame on Amazon. It just sticks to the TV frame, and you can\u0026rsquo;t tell it\u0026rsquo;s a separate piece of hardware. I also got this Mini PC mounted to the wall behind the TV to run everything.\nPC tucked behind the TV. The IR frame is barely noticeable\nSoftware # Next, let\u0026rsquo;s talk about the software. Using a Windows PC brought a lot of flexibility that would not be available in a pre-built solution. First, I use Chrome to display the Google calendar in Month, Week, and Day views, each in its own tab. I also have a tab showing the weather forecast from Weawow.com. One additional tab shows the hourly rain forecast from Google. I discovered a cool Chrome extension called Macify that will show macOS\u0026rsquo;s gorgeous screensaver aerial videos on the \u0026ldquo;New Tab\u0026rdquo; page. I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to manually cycle through the tabs, so I added the TabCarousel extension, which cycles through all open tabs every 5 minutes. All the pages are bookmarked, so they all load when I open the browser on startup.\nCalendar in Month view\nCalendar in Week view\nCalendar in Day view\nWeawow forecast\nWeawow precipitation animation\nHourly rain forecast\nNew tab shows beautiful videos via Macify extension\nA brief tangent on Geochron clocks # I had at some point discovered Geochron clocks. I was fascinated by the display of the world map, showing which sections of the world were in daytime and nighttime, all done mechanically. These displays have been around since the 60\u0026rsquo;s and cost thousands of dollars. I really wanted one, but there was no way I was going to spend that kind of money. I figured someone must have made a digitial version. After some searching, I found Time Mapper UHD. It has quite a lot of capabilities, including showing real time positions for just about any satellite in space. All for a $25 lifetime license. I quickly installed it to show the world map full screen. Ok, end of tangent.\nTime Mapper UHD. It can display tons of info, though I keep it to a minimum.\nLinux apps? # As a Linux user, I had been playing around with various command line applications. Two apps that had caught my attention are asciiquarium and cbonsai. Asciiquarium is basically a fishtank, but everything is drawn in ASCII characters. Cbonsai \u0026ldquo;grows\u0026rdquo; a bonsai tree in a terminal window, also in ASCII. How cool would it be if I could display these in the Command Center! But how? Thanks for the power of the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), I now have an instance of Ubuntu Linux running to display two separate terminals with these two applications. This came with the added bonus of causing severe eye rolls from everyone in my family.\nAsciiquarium\nCbonsai\nCycling through all the apps # \u0026ldquo;But wait,\u0026rdquo; you might say. \u0026ldquo;How do you alternate between the Chrome browser and the various other applications?\u0026rdquo; Well, this is where AutoHotkey comes in. I wrote a simple script that will press \u0026ldquo;Alt+Esc\u0026rdquo; every 5 minutes. \u0026ldquo;Alt+Esc\u0026rdquo; is the same as \u0026ldquo;Alt+Tab\u0026rdquo; but doesn\u0026rsquo;t display window preview, so it looks nicer.\nSummary/Benefits # So in the end I put together a system that meets the initial requirements, is way cheaper than a pre-built solution, and because it\u0026rsquo;s a Windows PC, gives me tons of flexibility for what to display. Oh, and since it is a Roku TV, I can easily switch it to watch TV. If you like to tinker this is a great project.\n","date":"1 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/electronics/commandcenter/","section":"Electronics","summary":"Introduction # Being a parent of teenagers means there are a lot of activities to coordinate. I always wanted an interactive calendar to hang on the wall so my wife and I could have a real time view of what activities were happening on any particular day. I had looked online for pre-built options, but they were way too expensive. So I decided to make my own!\n","title":"Command Center","type":"electronics"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/linux/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Linux","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/touchscreen/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Touchscreen","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/windows/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Windows","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"20 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/brett.tech/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Brett.tech","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"20 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/esp32/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"ESP32","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"20 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/info-orbs/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Info Orbs","type":"tags"},{"content":"As soon as I saw this Info Orbs kit by Brett.tech, I wanted to get it. Not only does it look cool, but you get to put it together. Also, you can code just about anything you want to add to the display. Powered by a ESP32 microcontroller, it displays the weather, stock info, and a clock in a couple of styles. So far I have made a couple of custom clocks, but am looking forward to digging into the code to make other data displays.\nIt has a nice display to show the current weather and the forecast A binary clock with my logo. The time is 8:23. Look at my Binary Clock build for info on how to read one Another custom clock I designed. Each orb shows a guitar amp volume knob, with the line pointing at the digit it is displaying. The time is 9:40. It can display a regular digital clock with a couple different fonts. Here\u0026rsquo;s one of them Nixie tube clocks are awesome. They implemented one for this display You get to pick five stocks to display. I am bewildered by the price of bitcoin ","date":"20 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/electronics/infoorbs/","section":"Electronics","summary":"As soon as I saw this Info Orbs kit by Brett.tech, I wanted to get it. Not only does it look cool, but you get to put it together. Also, you can code just about anything you want to add to the display. Powered by a ESP32 microcontroller, it displays the weather, stock info, and a clock in a couple of styles. So far I have made a couple of custom clocks, but am looking forward to digging into the code to make other data displays.\n","title":"Info Orbs","type":"electronics"},{"content":"","date":"14 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/long-exposure/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Long Exposure","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"14 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/photography/","section":"Photography","summary":"","title":"Photography","type":"photography"},{"content":"","date":"14 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pinhole-photography/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Pinhole Photography","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"14 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/solarcan/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Solarcan","type":"tags"},{"content":"Technically I didn\u0026rsquo;t make this camera, but I like the process of taking the picture. The Solarcan is essentially a pinhole camera that you set up for a long period of time to capture the sun\u0026rsquo;s path across the sky each day. You basically mount it somewhere and remove the small piece of tape covering the pinhole. This starts the exposure. After the desired length of time, you cover the pinhole and take it down. Then you scan the paper since the exposure will continue to happen as long as light hits the paper. I did tweak the contrast a bit in GIMP to make the dark parts darker.\nI left this one up from June to December 2024 but didn\u0026rsquo;t tell anyone about it. I wanted to see how long it would be before someone noticed it. It was a couple of months before a delivery driver asked me why there was a beer can attached to the side of my house. I was in the front yard with my wife, who looked up and wasted no time in rolling her eyes!\nThis is the longest exposure picture I have ever taken\u0026hellip;6 months!\nThe Solarcan. The black oval shaped take covers the pinhole\nCan you see where it is?\n","date":"14 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/photography/solarcan/","section":"Photography","summary":"Technically I didn’t make this camera, but I like the process of taking the picture. The Solarcan is essentially a pinhole camera that you set up for a long period of time to capture the sun’s path across the sky each day. You basically mount it somewhere and remove the small piece of tape covering the pinhole. This starts the exposure. After the desired length of time, you cover the pinhole and take it down. Then you scan the paper since the exposure will continue to happen as long as light hits the paper. I did tweak the contrast a bit in GIMP to make the dark parts darker.\n","title":"Solarcan","type":"photography"},{"content":"","date":"10 November 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/alexa/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Alexa","type":"tags"},{"content":"I had this Alexa smart speaker (first gen I think) that would no longer work. I thought it would make a cool lamp, so I gutted it and added a LED lamp inside. I softened the light coming out a bit by adding some difusser I got from taking apart an old TV over the grid portion of the lamp. I also added rubber feet to keep it raised a bit, which casts a glow under the lamp. It\u0026rsquo;s not going to light up the whole room, but it acts as a nice accent piece.\nThe finished product\n","date":"10 November 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/electronics/alexalamp/","section":"Electronics","summary":"I had this Alexa smart speaker (first gen I think) that would no longer work. I thought it would make a cool lamp, so I gutted it and added a LED lamp inside. I softened the light coming out a bit by adding some difusser I got from taking apart an old TV over the grid portion of the lamp. I also added rubber feet to keep it raised a bit, which casts a glow under the lamp. It’s not going to light up the whole room, but it acts as a nice accent piece.\n","title":"Alexa Lamp","type":"electronics"},{"content":"","date":"10 November 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/lamp/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Lamp","type":"tags"},{"content":"Continuing with my obsession with modifying cheap Casio digital watches, I found this one at Walmart. What a steal!\nCasio loves printing words on their watches\nAfter getting it home I realized that most of the lettering on the case was embossed, so I would not be able to erase it with my trusty white eraser. I did get the words on the top and bottom to come off, but they left behind a shadow of the lettering. Slightly less words on the case\nWhen I opened it I realized the faceplate doesn\u0026rsquo;t come off like it does on the Casio Royale, so I was not going to be able to remove that lettering either\u0026hellip;dissapointing!\nIn the end I tried a couple of different colored gels, but none looked that great. Here are a couple of attempts The blue gel really cut down on the legibility\nI also tried orange and blue one over the moon. Neither really worked for me. This is the orange one\n","date":"28 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/apparel/watchmods/tidemoongraph/","section":"Apparel","summary":"Continuing with my obsession with modifying cheap Casio digital watches, I found this one at Walmart. What a steal!\nCasio loves printing words on their watches\nAfter getting it home I realized that most of the lettering on the case was embossed, so I would not be able to erase it with my trusty white eraser. I did get the words on the top and bottom to come off, but they left behind a shadow of the lettering. Slightly less words on the case\n","title":"Casio Tide Moon Graph gel mods","type":"apparel"},{"content":"","date":"28 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/gel/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Gel","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"28 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/mod/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Mod","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"28 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/tide-moon-graph/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tide Moon Graph","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/ae-1200/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Ae-1200","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/casio-royale/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Casio Royale","type":"tags"},{"content":"I got interested in the Casio digital watch modifying scene after seeing a YouTube video by Adam Savage where he showed one of these Casio Royale (model AE-1200) watches that was modded to have a NASA theme. I had not worn a watch in over a decade, but immediately became fascinated with this hobby. You mean I can open up this watch and change what it looks like? Sign me up! Here\u0026rsquo;s what the watch looks like out of the box: So much text!!!\nAfter surfracing from an hours-long YouTube rabbit hole, I started by using a white eraser to rub off all the wording from the case. I like Casios, but am not a big fan of how cluttered they make them with a ton of words. So off they came! Next, I opened the watch and removed the faceplate. Using Goo Gone, some QTips, and a ton of patience, I removed all words from the faceplate except the word Casio.\nTo get the llama logo over the analog clock display took a bit of effort. I went to Staples and printed a sheet with the logo printed white over black in a number of sizes, hoping that one of them would fit. Staples has laser printers, which make a much sharper image. I had tried my inkjet printer but everything came out fuzzy. Once I found the right size, I used double sided tape to secure the logo in place. Then I used a green gel from a photography flash bundle to make the whole display green. Here\u0026rsquo;s what it looked like with the gel and the blurry image from my inkjet printer: This looke fine, but I tired of the green after a few days. I liked the concept of the negative display mod, where you invert the display so everything that is black will be grey and vice versa. So I removed the green gel and set to work on doing a negative mod.\nFor this mod you have to remove the polarizing film that is glued to the LCD, and replace it with another one, but you rotate the film to change the appearance. Once the colors flip, you secure the film in place, put the whole thing back together, and you have a negative display mod. Easy! After making the change, I found that the look of the display was not very clear, so I decided to put it back to its original display. However, I discovered that if I used the original film that I had removed and flipped it over, it gave me the negative display I wanted, and it looked much clearer! I cut the film to leave the map display as positive, since if you make it negative the map disappears.\nThis is the LCD display mid-surgery. I didn\u0026rsquo;t bother with the analog clock since that was getting covered by the logo. Here is what it looked like after completing this mod. Note how much clearer the logo is when printed in a laser printer. And since this watch has an orange LED on each side, when you light it up in the dark it looks even better ","date":"13 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/apparel/watchmods/casioroyale/","section":"Apparel","summary":"I got interested in the Casio digital watch modifying scene after seeing a YouTube video by Adam Savage where he showed one of these Casio Royale (model AE-1200) watches that was modded to have a NASA theme. I had not worn a watch in over a decade, but immediately became fascinated with this hobby. You mean I can open up this watch and change what it looks like? Sign me up! Here’s what the watch looks like out of the box: So much text!!!\n","title":"Casio Royale Negative mod plus Logo","type":"apparel"},{"content":"","date":"13 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/llama-logo/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Llama Logo","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/negative-screen/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Negative Screen","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"22 September 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/box/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Box","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"22 September 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/camera/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Camera","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"22 September 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/kodak/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Kodak","type":"tags"},{"content":"An old Kodak Tourist camera served as the inspiration for this project, its design featuring a direct, unobstructed path from lens to film plane. This inherent characteristic sparked an idea: could it capture images much like a Cardboard Camera?\nInstead of crafting another cardboard box, I looked for another container. An old silverware box proved to be the perfect candidate. Its contents removed, I painted the interior black to optimize light conditions. A precisely cut hole allows the camera to peek out of the box maintaining light-tightness as much as possible.\nTo ensure the camera\u0026rsquo;s stability, I added several holders, including a hook to secure its back cover. A crucial aspect of this build was keeping the camera entirely intact, with no modifications whatsoever. Parchment paper, serving as the projection screen, is secured in place with painter\u0026rsquo;s tape.\nThe final touch involved adding a small, U-shaped wooden phone holder. It is velcroed to the side of the box, allowing for easy adjustment to achieve the ideal picture size.\nThe finished product\nTrying it out in my disorganized garage\nA house in my neighborhood\nThe dock in our pond\nCamera poking out of the box\nParchment paper to capture the image\nAnother view of the camera held in place\nTop view of the open box. Lots of wasted space behind the cellphone holder, but could use it to store other types of paper to use for different effects\n","date":"22 September 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/photography/kodaktouristboxcamera/","section":"Photography","summary":"An old Kodak Tourist camera served as the inspiration for this project, its design featuring a direct, unobstructed path from lens to film plane. This inherent characteristic sparked an idea: could it capture images much like a Cardboard Camera?\nInstead of crafting another cardboard box, I looked for another container. An old silverware box proved to be the perfect candidate. Its contents removed, I painted the interior black to optimize light conditions. A precisely cut hole allows the camera to peek out of the box maintaining light-tightness as much as possible.\n","title":"Kodak Tourist Box Camera","type":"photography"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/dark-arps/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Dark Arps","type":"tags"},{"content":"I have loved the sound of the Hang Drum for quite some time. Having no interest in paying thousands of dollars for one, I thought about making an electronic version of one. My first attempt at it was years ago with an Arduino, but I ran into problems getting all the buttons to work. So I tucked the idea in a far corner of my brain. Recently I learned of a board called a WAV Trigger, which essentially plays up to 16 sounds in WAV format, triggered by buttons. This was exactly what I needed! At that point my brain started thinking about how I could do it. We had this large bowl that my wife almost threw out. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be the perfect shape. I got some arcade buttons, a spare speaker from my collection of random speakers, a power supply harvested from an old sleep noise machine, and got to work on assembling it. To hold the lid with all the buttons in place I used two bourbon bottle stoppers and hair ties. I later added two additional stoppers (not pictured) since the top was moving around a lot. It was a bit more involved to get it done, but in the end I was very happy with the result. I got the Hang Drum samples from Dark Arps. There are 8 individual Hang Drum notes, plus a row of buttons at the bottom, which play background songs to play along with. On the top row there are Volume Up and Down buttons, and a red button which stops all the background tracks in case I want to pick a different one. And it has a headphone jack that shuts off the speaker when in use, in order not to annoy others around me.\nThe finished product\nTook quite a lot of soldering on this project. Quite a mess of cables!\n","date":"1 January 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/handpans/electronichangdrum/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I have loved the sound of the Hang Drum for quite some time. Having no interest in paying thousands of dollars for one, I thought about making an electronic version of one. My first attempt at it was years ago with an Arduino, but I ran into problems getting all the buttons to work. So I tucked the idea in a far corner of my brain. Recently I learned of a board called a WAV Trigger, which essentially plays up to 16 sounds in WAV format, triggered by buttons. This was exactly what I needed! At that point my brain started thinking about how I could do it. We had this large bowl that my wife almost threw out. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be the perfect shape. I got some arcade buttons, a spare speaker from my collection of random speakers, a power supply harvested from an old sleep noise machine, and got to work on assembling it. To hold the lid with all the buttons in place I used two bourbon bottle stoppers and hair ties. I later added two additional stoppers (not pictured) since the top was moving around a lot. It was a bit more involved to get it done, but in the end I was very happy with the result. I got the Hang Drum samples from Dark Arps. There are 8 individual Hang Drum notes, plus a row of buttons at the bottom, which play background songs to play along with. On the top row there are Volume Up and Down buttons, and a red button which stops all the background tracks in case I want to pick a different one. And it has a headphone jack that shuts off the speaker when in use, in order not to annoy others around me.\n","title":"Electronic Hang Drum","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/hand-pan/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Hand Pan","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/handpans/","section":"Instruments","summary":"","title":"Hand Pans","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/","section":"Instruments","summary":"","title":"Instruments","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/wav-trigger/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Wav Trigger","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"31 December 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/cardboard/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Cardboard","type":"tags"},{"content":"This is a modification I made to the Scanner Camera when the scanner and laptop I was using for it died. Not wanting to throw it away, I removed the scanner and added a third box. The side of the box attached to the camera would hold a piece of parchment paper to act as the \u0026ldquo;film.\u0026rdquo; Then I just take a picture of the image on the paper with my cellphone. While not pictured here, I also added a lid for the back with a cutout to hold the cellphone. That reduces the amount of ambient light that can get into the box, washing out the image.\nThe finished product\nTrying it out. the blanket is to keep light out\nMagnifying glass for a lens\nYou can kindof see an image on the parchment paper. The less light in the box the better the image will come out\nBourbon bottle\nThe dock in our pond\nA house in the neighborhood\nBoys at the dock\n","date":"31 December 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/photography/cardboardcamera/","section":"Photography","summary":"This is a modification I made to the Scanner Camera when the scanner and laptop I was using for it died. Not wanting to throw it away, I removed the scanner and added a third box. The side of the box attached to the camera would hold a piece of parchment paper to act as the “film.” Then I just take a picture of the image on the paper with my cellphone. While not pictured here, I also added a lid for the back with a cutout to hold the cellphone. That reduces the amount of ambient light that can get into the box, washing out the image.\n","title":"Cardboard Camera","type":"photography"},{"content":"","date":"31 December 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/magnifying-glass/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Magnifying Glass","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"15 November 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/hank-drum/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Hank Drum","type":"tags"},{"content":"One day as I was doing a trash run while camping, I spotted this metal tank next to the dumpster. As soon as I saw it I knew I could make it into a Hank Drum (Hang + Tank = Hank). Typically these are made from empty propane tanks, and this tank had similar proportions. Undeterred by my wife’s eye rolling, I brought it home and began to work. I used an angle grinder to cut the top and bottom pieces, which I eventually glued together with JB Weld. The water heater has a couple of tubes inside it, and after cutting these out it left a hole on the side of the finished drum, which you wouldn’t see in a propane tank drum. I found a template online for where the tongues should go, marked them, then used a jigsaw to cut them out. To tune this instrument you have to slowly cut to make the tongues longer, which will lower the pitch. It’s not perfectly tuned, but is close enough. I finished by spray painting it black and splattered some other colors, gave it a few coats of clear coat and called it a day. The sound is quite metallic, so I added a bunch of paper towels to the inside to help mellow it out a bit.\nThe finished product\nStuffed with paper towels to dull the metallic sound\nCutting the tongues lowers the pitch. Have to cut slowly while tuning\nWater heater\nLaying out the tongue templates\nAlmost done, ready for painting\nHammers from an old piano\n","date":"15 November 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/handpans/waterheaterhankdrum/","section":"Instruments","summary":"One day as I was doing a trash run while camping, I spotted this metal tank next to the dumpster. As soon as I saw it I knew I could make it into a Hank Drum (Hang + Tank = Hank). Typically these are made from empty propane tanks, and this tank had similar proportions. Undeterred by my wife’s eye rolling, I brought it home and began to work. I used an angle grinder to cut the top and bottom pieces, which I eventually glued together with JB Weld. The water heater has a couple of tubes inside it, and after cutting these out it left a hole on the side of the finished drum, which you wouldn’t see in a propane tank drum. I found a template online for where the tongues should go, marked them, then used a jigsaw to cut them out. To tune this instrument you have to slowly cut to make the tongues longer, which will lower the pitch. It’s not perfectly tuned, but is close enough. I finished by spray painting it black and splattered some other colors, gave it a few coats of clear coat and called it a day. The sound is quite metallic, so I added a bunch of paper towels to the inside to help mellow it out a bit.\n","title":"Water Heater Hank Drum","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"29 October 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/","section":"Instruments","summary":"","title":"Guitars","type":"instruments"},{"content":"I bought this guitar when the kids were little, and it had been sitting around for years in a corner somewhere. My daughter and I had sanded it down and taped off the fretboard and pick guard with the idea of painting it, but we never got around to it. I decided to take on the job myself by reproducing Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” on it. Surely you have seen this painting…it’s the one of that huge wave and a couple of boats, with Mount Fuji in the background. I started by woodburning the outline for the whole thing. I determined that even though I had sanded it, I hadn’t done so enough to completely remove the clear coat, which made the woodburning difficult and uneven. I then got a stain pen and started coloring in the black parts of the image, but was also not thrilled with the results. So to finish it off I got a Sharpie and got to work. Once finished I gave it a few coats of Polyurethane, put everything back together and that was that.\nExcept that I don’t know how to play a regular six string guitar, but can fake my way around a 3 string. So I decided to make it a 3 string, but use 2 strings of the same note, so GGDDGG. I had to do some crude hacks to the bridge to keep the strings together, but this was a throwaway guitar anyway, so I didn’t feel too bad making the modifications. I enjoyed putting this one together!\nThe finished product\nThe various methods for coloring the image are evident here, gives it some variety I think\n","date":"29 October 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/woodburningstainsharpie/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I bought this guitar when the kids were little, and it had been sitting around for years in a corner somewhere. My daughter and I had sanded it down and taped off the fretboard and pick guard with the idea of painting it, but we never got around to it. I decided to take on the job myself by reproducing Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” on it. Surely you have seen this painting…it’s the one of that huge wave and a couple of boats, with Mount Fuji in the background. I started by woodburning the outline for the whole thing. I determined that even though I had sanded it, I hadn’t done so enough to completely remove the clear coat, which made the woodburning difficult and uneven. I then got a stain pen and started coloring in the black parts of the image, but was also not thrilled with the results. So to finish it off I got a Sharpie and got to work. Once finished I gave it a few coats of Polyurethane, put everything back together and that was that.\n","title":"Woodburning, Stain and Sharpie","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"23 September 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/diddley-bow/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Diddley Bow","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"23 September 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/","section":"Instruments","summary":"","title":"Diddley Bows","type":"instruments"},{"content":"A friend of mine invited us to spend a long weekend at their lake house. While there I noticed that there was a lot of debris that would wash up on the shore. He knows I like to make instruments from reclaimed materials, so we went hunting for junk to make something out of. I saw this old rusty oil can, and the idea for this instrument was born. Everything I used for this diddley bow came from the lake, except for the string and the tuner. I wanted to add a piezo to it but didn’t want to cut into it, so I took a mint tin, added a piezo and jack to it, then attached it to the bottom of the oil can with a magnet. It picks up the sound ok, but this is really more of a wall piece and not so much for playing.\nThe finished product\nThis rusted out door hings made the perfect bridge\nThis sign must have come from a sunken boat\nI don’t know what this metal piece is, but I thought it would look cool as the headstock\nWood burned the fret markers\nHappy little piezo\nHard drive magnet really holds the tin in place.\n","date":"23 September 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/lakescraps/","section":"Instruments","summary":"A friend of mine invited us to spend a long weekend at their lake house. While there I noticed that there was a lot of debris that would wash up on the shore. He knows I like to make instruments from reclaimed materials, so we went hunting for junk to make something out of. I saw this old rusty oil can, and the idea for this instrument was born. Everything I used for this diddley bow came from the lake, except for the string and the tuner. I wanted to add a piezo to it but didn’t want to cut into it, so I took a mint tin, added a piezo and jack to it, then attached it to the bottom of the oil can with a magnet. It picks up the sound ok, but this is really more of a wall piece and not so much for playing.\n","title":"Lake Scraps Diddley Bow","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"27 August 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/driftwood/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Driftwood","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"27 August 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/kalimba/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Kalimba","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"27 August 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/","section":"Instruments","summary":"","title":"Kalimbas","type":"instruments"},{"content":"In the Diddle Bows section of this site you’ll find a diddley bow I made from scraps I found on the shore while visiting a friend’s lakehouse. I also picked up enough materials to make a kalimba. Only the screws and tines did not come from the lake. In fact the tines are made from the metal bars that make the notes on a toy piano.\nThe finished product\nI put the pointy end away from the player to avoid injuries!\nEmbrace the rust\n","date":"27 August 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/lakescraps/","section":"Instruments","summary":"In the Diddle Bows section of this site you’ll find a diddley bow I made from scraps I found on the shore while visiting a friend’s lakehouse. I also picked up enough materials to make a kalimba. Only the screws and tines did not come from the lake. In fact the tines are made from the metal bars that make the notes on a toy piano.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Lake scraps","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"20 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/harps/","section":"Instruments","summary":"","title":"Harps","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"20 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/lyre/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Lyre","type":"tags"},{"content":"I got this idea from YouTube after being mesmerized by Tobias Kaye’s Sounding Bowl videos on YouTube. I just had to make one. It’s a simple project, just needed to find the right bowl. This particular bowl comes from Granville VT via my local Goodwill. I bought a set of 16 Lyre strings from Amazon but only used 12 of them, tuned as follows: E5 D5 C5 B4 A4 G4 F4 E4 D4 C4 B3 A3. The final product sounds fine but a bit thin in my opinion, but you tell me…\nThe finished product\nString trees and tuners\n","date":"20 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/harps/saladbowllyre/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I got this idea from YouTube after being mesmerized by Tobias Kaye’s Sounding Bowl videos on YouTube. I just had to make one. It’s a simple project, just needed to find the right bowl. This particular bowl comes from Granville VT via my local Goodwill. I bought a set of 16 Lyre strings from Amazon but only used 12 of them, tuned as follows: E5 D5 C5 B4 A4 G4 F4 E4 D4 C4 B3 A3. The final product sounds fine but a bit thin in my opinion, but you tell me…\n","title":"Salad Bowl Lyre","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"6 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/flute/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Flute","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"6 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/","section":"Instruments","summary":"","title":"Misc Instruments","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"6 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/native-american/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Native American","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"6 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pvc/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"PVC","type":"tags"},{"content":"There\u0026rsquo;s plenty of people making these on the internet, and I finally got around to making one. Using a piece of 3/4\u0026quot; Schedule 40 PVC pipe that I had in my garage, I made this Native American style flute. It is tuned as follows: G4 A#4 C5 D5 D#5 F5 G5. I haven\u0026rsquo;t decided if I\u0026rsquo;m going to paint and decorate it, or leave it as is so you can tell it\u0026rsquo;s a piece of PVC. My laziness and interest in moving on to the next project tells me to leave it as is\u0026hellip;\nThe finished product\nThis piece is called a Bird, and it\u0026rsquo;s made from an old picture frame\n","date":"6 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/pvcnativeamericanflute/","section":"Instruments","summary":"There’s plenty of people making these on the internet, and I finally got around to making one. Using a piece of 3/4\" Schedule 40 PVC pipe that I had in my garage, I made this Native American style flute. It is tuned as follows: G4 A#4 C5 D5 D#5 F5 G5. I haven’t decided if I’m going to paint and decorate it, or leave it as is so you can tell it’s a piece of PVC. My laziness and interest in moving on to the next project tells me to leave it as is…\n","title":"PVC Native American Flute","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"2 January 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/arduino/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Arduino","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"2 January 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/binary-clock/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Binary Clock","type":"tags"},{"content":"Binary clocks have always been fascinating to me. They display the time accurately, but you have to do a bit of mental math to determine the time. I had an Arduino and some LEDs laying around, as well as this box with a cute cat on the lid that I got at a thrift shop. So I rolled up my sleeves and got to work!\nThe finished product, showing 9:17 as the time\nI\u0026rsquo;m guessing you want to know how to read the time on this clock. Here\u0026rsquo;s a brief overview:\nA binary clock with four columns displays the time by representing each digit of the hour and minute in binary format. The two leftmost columns represent the hours, and the two rightmost columns represent the minutes. Each column typically has a series of lights, with each light corresponding to a specific power of two (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, from bottom to top). To read the clock you add the values of the lit lights in each column. You then combine these decoded digits to read the full time, just as you would with a standard digital clock.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s an image that shows the values for each light:\nLEDs and the power of two they represent\nSo if you look at the values of the columns from left to right you get these values:\nCol. 1: no lights are lit, so the value is 0. Col. 2: the lights representing 1 and 8 are lit, so 1+8=9. Col. 3: only the light representing 1 is lit. Col. 4: the lights representing 1, 2 and 4 are lit, so 1+2+4=7 Therefore, the time is 9:17. Easy!\nOk, here are a few more pictures of the build Prototyping the wiring\nAll done with the wiring. I used copper tape to keep the number of wires to a minimum\nButtons for adjusting the hours and minutes. The last button turns the LEDs on or off\nThe simplest of latches\u0026hellip;a piece of wire wrapped around two screws\nIf you have worked with Arduinos before, you are probably thinking that this clock is not very accurate. And you would be right. I did not add a Real Time Clock because I didn\u0026rsquo;t have one and didn\u0026rsquo;t want to wait to get one shipped. I will probably add one at some point.\n","date":"2 January 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/electronics/binaryclock/","section":"Electronics","summary":"Binary clocks have always been fascinating to me. They display the time accurately, but you have to do a bit of mental math to determine the time. I had an Arduino and some LEDs laying around, as well as this box with a cute cat on the lid that I got at a thrift shop. So I rolled up my sleeves and got to work!\nThe finished product, showing 9:17 as the time\n","title":"Binary Clock","type":"electronics"},{"content":"","date":"2 January 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/circuit/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Circuit","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"21 July 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/cigar-box/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Cigar Box","type":"tags"},{"content":"Ok this is a quick one. I took a a cigar box and added a clock mechanism. That\u0026rsquo;s it. The finished product\nAnother angle\n","date":"21 July 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/electronics/cigarboxclock/","section":"Electronics","summary":"Ok this is a quick one. I took a a cigar box and added a clock mechanism. That’s it. The finished product\nAnother angle\n","title":"Cigar Box Clock","type":"electronics"},{"content":"","date":"21 July 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/clock/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Clock","type":"tags"},{"content":"My son and I were walking around an antique store when we ran into this bed warmer hanging on the wall. I had no idea what it was at the time, but my son encouraged me to get it and make a guitar out of it. The round hollow body was just wide enough to fit a guitar neck, and I figured the brass body would resonate quite nicely. I was right! I decided to make a dulcimer out of it instead of a regular 3 string guitar, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I added a flat humbucker pickup on the inside, so it can be played through an amplifier.\nThe artwork on the face is raised, so it was difficult to place the bridge. In fact, if you look closely you’ll see that the side with the high D strings has a shorter action than the low D string. This is just as well, since I intend to play it by only fretting the high D strings and using the D and A strings as sympathetic strings. The bridge itself is made from the rod of a telescoping back scratcher, resting on top of two nuts. I used eye hooks to position the strings in the right spot, matching the grooves on the hand carved bone nut. I made the neck entirely from scrap wood, using pine and another hardwood that used to be part of some furniture. I stained it and sanded it a bit instead of using fret markers.\nI took it on a camping trip the day after it was done, and had a blast strumming along by the campfire. It is now my go-to instrument for camping.\nThe finished product\nThe grandkids giving it a test run\nPay no attention to the sloppy placement of the eye hooks\u0026hellip;whatever works!\nBone nut carved from a dog chewing bone\nThe raised art made bridge placement difficult\nGhosted flat humbucker. Small but sounds great!\nHere\u0026rsquo;s what I started with. This bed warmer was hanging on the wall of an antique store\n","date":"15 July 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/dulcimers/bedwarmer/","section":"Instruments","summary":"My son and I were walking around an antique store when we ran into this bed warmer hanging on the wall. I had no idea what it was at the time, but my son encouraged me to get it and make a guitar out of it. The round hollow body was just wide enough to fit a guitar neck, and I figured the brass body would resonate quite nicely. I was right! I decided to make a dulcimer out of it instead of a regular 3 string guitar, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I added a flat humbucker pickup on the inside, so it can be played through an amplifier.\n","title":"Bed Warmer Dulcimer","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"15 July 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/dulcimer/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Dulcimer","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"15 July 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/dulcimers/","section":"Instruments","summary":"","title":"Dulcimers","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"22 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bluetooth/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bluetooth","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"22 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/","section":"Gear","summary":"","title":"Gear","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"22 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/led/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"LED","type":"tags"},{"content":"I had this old Cambridge Sound Works surround sound PC speaker system sitting in my closet for about 25 years, untouched. It includes four speakers, a subwoofer and a volume knob that all plug into an amplifier. It always sounded really well, but I had no use for it, and just hated to throw it out. Instead of tossing it into the landfill, I made a Bluetooth speaker that I now take with us when we go camping. The box is made from spare MDF I had lying around. I bought a Bluetooth transmitter/receiver that you would use in your car with an aux cable, and wired the output of that into the speakers. I always liked sound reactive LEDs, so I added an LED soundbar. And since I planned to use this outside for long periods of time, I added a wireless charger on top to me able to charge my phone while listening to music all day long. The best part is that everything is using off the shelf components connected into a power strip in the box. No soldering at all was required.\nThe finished product\nAdded a sound hole on the side and handles for carrying it around\nWireless phone charger recessed into the lid\nThe components for the build\nThe speakers came with their own amp to drive everything\n","date":"22 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/speakers/pcspeakersledcharger/","section":"Gear","summary":"I had this old Cambridge Sound Works surround sound PC speaker system sitting in my closet for about 25 years, untouched. It includes four speakers, a subwoofer and a volume knob that all plug into an amplifier. It always sounded really well, but I had no use for it, and just hated to throw it out. Instead of tossing it into the landfill, I made a Bluetooth speaker that I now take with us when we go camping. The box is made from spare MDF I had lying around. I bought a Bluetooth transmitter/receiver that you would use in your car with an aux cable, and wired the output of that into the speakers. I always liked sound reactive LEDs, so I added an LED soundbar. And since I planned to use this outside for long periods of time, I added a wireless charger on top to me able to charge my phone while listening to music all day long. The best part is that everything is using off the shelf components connected into a power strip in the box. No soldering at all was required.\n","title":"PC Speaker System with LED Soundbar and Phone Charger","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"22 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/phone-charger/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Phone Charger","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"22 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/speakers/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Speakers","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"22 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/speakers/","section":"Gear","summary":"","title":"Speakers","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"1 February 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/trampoline/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Trampoline","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 February 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/windchime/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Windchime","type":"tags"},{"content":"At the beginning of 2022 our trampoline was thrown into our pond by a windstorm. It got bent to the point of being unusable, so I went ahead and made a windchime to hang in our backyard. 100% made from recycled components.\nThe finished product\nRaw materials\n","date":"1 February 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/windchimefromjunkedtrampoline/","section":"Instruments","summary":"At the beginning of 2022 our trampoline was thrown into our pond by a windstorm. It got bent to the point of being unusable, so I went ahead and made a windchime to hang in our backyard. 100% made from recycled components.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Windchime from Junked Trampoline","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"23 January 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/amp/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Amp","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"23 January 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/amplifier/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Amplifier","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"23 January 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/amps/","section":"Gear","summary":"","title":"Amps","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"23 January 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/cassette-player/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Cassette Player","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"23 January 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/sears/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Sears","type":"tags"},{"content":"Remember when Sears made cassette players? No? Well it turns out they did. And unbeknownst to them, they make great amps. These units have tone and volume control, and also a jack to plug them to an external speaker.\nThe finished product\nYeah, Sears made cassette players\n","date":"23 January 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/amps/searscassetteplayeramp/","section":"Gear","summary":"Remember when Sears made cassette players? No? Well it turns out they did. And unbeknownst to them, they make great amps. These units have tone and volume control, and also a jack to plug them to an external speaker.\nThe finished product\nYeah, Sears made cassette players\n","title":"Sears Cassette Player Amp","type":"gear"},{"content":"People will throw out all kinds of things because they don’t work anymore. For example, someone threw out a 10″ subwoofer, even though the speaker itself was intact. I had a pair of bookshelf speakers that were languishing in the basement, so I liberated them out of their enclosures, and built this box to hold them all. The box is mostly MDF, and the sides are plywood, because I ran out of MDF…all scraps from other projects. I got a bluetooth amp from Amazon which pumps out 50W per channel, plus 50W for the subwoofer. You can even tune the subwoofer frequency to reduce vibrations. I really like how this one came out and use it daily in my home office. I don’t think I have raised the volume more than 1/4 of the way given how loud it can get.\nThe finished product\nI reused the port from the subwoofer, which had been discarded\nThe plate is made from an old record. I find vinyl to be a very versatile material, plus it gives it a retro vibe.\nThis thing can really pump out some sound!\nFinal assembly\nRemoving the speakers from their enclosures\nI made a small shelf for the amp to sit in. Once the lid is in screwed on, it holds the amp in place.\n","date":"7 December 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/speakers/bookshelfspeakersandsubwoofer/","section":"Gear","summary":"People will throw out all kinds of things because they don’t work anymore. For example, someone threw out a 10″ subwoofer, even though the speaker itself was intact. I had a pair of bookshelf speakers that were languishing in the basement, so I liberated them out of their enclosures, and built this box to hold them all. The box is mostly MDF, and the sides are plywood, because I ran out of MDF…all scraps from other projects. I got a bluetooth amp from Amazon which pumps out 50W per channel, plus 50W for the subwoofer. You can even tune the subwoofer frequency to reduce vibrations. I really like how this one came out and use it daily in my home office. I don’t think I have raised the volume more than 1/4 of the way given how loud it can get.\n","title":"Bookshelf Speakers and Subwoofer","type":"gear"},{"content":"I made this Uke as a gift for a good friend of ours. Her husband had given me a bunch of cigar boxes when he learned I liked to make instruments. As a thank you, I made them this Ukulele. She actually knows how to play the Ukulele so I was happy to make this one to add to her collection. The neck is made from a water ski that somebody threw away. I used a door strike plate to hold the strings, and the emergency key that comes with door knobs as the bridge. Scroll down for a few pictures from the build!\nThe finished product\nEmergency key bridge\nDoor strike plate\nGreat distressed look\nSlightly disappointed that these are from New York City\nSound hole on the side to leave the lid intact\nBone nut\nTuners\nMaking the neck\nMaking the neck\nScarf joint\nCutting the frets slots\nAdded corner braces to the box since it was made from somewhat flimsy cardboard\n","date":"19 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/ukuleles/lapalinacigarbox/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I made this Uke as a gift for a good friend of ours. Her husband had given me a bunch of cigar boxes when he learned I liked to make instruments. As a thank you, I made them this Ukulele. She actually knows how to play the Ukulele so I was happy to make this one to add to her collection. The neck is made from a water ski that somebody threw away. I used a door strike plate to hold the strings, and the emergency key that comes with door knobs as the bridge. Scroll down for a few pictures from the build!\n","title":"La Palina Cigar Box","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"19 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/ukulele/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Ukulele","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"19 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/ukuleles/","section":"Instruments","summary":"","title":"Ukuleles","type":"instruments"},{"content":"It’s amazing how small some of these bluetooth amps are that you can get online. Cheap too. I got this one for $15 and it is smaller than the remote that comes with it. I had an old flat screen TV that finally bit the dust, so I harvested the speakers to make this beauty. Truth be told it is not the best sounding sound system, but what do you want for $15…\nThe finished product\nThese old TV speakers fit well right next to the amp itself\nI added this old drawer pull, plus hinges to keep the lid in place. I flipped the lid so you could see the inside lid, which is better looking than the outside\nApparently this cigar maker was an NRA member\nThat’s the entire amp. Look at how small it is! Even came with a remote\n","date":"10 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/speakers/rgduncigarbox/","section":"Gear","summary":"It’s amazing how small some of these bluetooth amps are that you can get online. Cheap too. I got this one for $15 and it is smaller than the remote that comes with it. I had an old flat screen TV that finally bit the dust, so I harvested the speakers to make this beauty. Truth be told it is not the best sounding sound system, but what do you want for $15…\n","title":"R.G. Dun Cigar Box Bluetooth Speaker","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"10 October 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/kora/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Kora","type":"tags"},{"content":"The Kora is a beautiful sounding instrument from West Africa. Traditionally it is made from a large gourd and has 21 strings made from fishing line. I was introduced to this instrument in the late 90’s when I first heard Toumani Diabaté, and never forgot his amazing playing style. I didn’t have access to a large guord, but I do have access to a Goodwill, and they had this wooden salad bowl that I thought would make a good body. The neck came from scrap wood that used to be a picture frame, and the bridge was made from scrap wood. I ended up using 12 strings instead of 21.\nTypically the sounding board is made from some kind of animal skin, but again, lacking access to this material, I just used thin plywood. The kora also features two sticks that run parallel to the sounding board, where the player holds the instrument with two fingers, playing the strings with the other three fingers of each hand. I couldn’t figure out a way to install the sticks, and decided to just leave the holes and stick my pinky fingers in them to hold the Kora up. Not the most comfortable for long term playing, but it does the job.\nOnce I finished it, I noticed that the holes on the sounding board and the bridge make it look like a walrus.\nThe finished product\nIt’s a walrus!\nJust a regular salad bowl\nEye hooks were salvaged from a 1890’s piano. The extra holes on the neck are there 100% for decoration and not at all because I drilled all the holes, then decided I needed the zither pins arranged differently\nLooking closer at this pic, I am regretting not adding ferrules to the holes for a bit of a cleaner look\n","date":"10 October 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/world/saladbowlkora/","section":"Instruments","summary":"The Kora is a beautiful sounding instrument from West Africa. Traditionally it is made from a large gourd and has 21 strings made from fishing line. I was introduced to this instrument in the late 90’s when I first heard Toumani Diabaté, and never forgot his amazing playing style. I didn’t have access to a large guord, but I do have access to a Goodwill, and they had this wooden salad bowl that I thought would make a good body. The neck came from scrap wood that used to be a picture frame, and the bridge was made from scrap wood. I ended up using 12 strings instead of 21.\n","title":"Salad Bowl Kora","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"10 October 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/world/","section":"Instruments","summary":"","title":"World","type":"instruments"},{"content":"I have wanted a Hang drum for a long time. However, they are quite expensive, so I keep looking for ways to make my own. I found a variation of this hand pan that uses tongues instead of the divots in the Hang drum, where people make them out of propane tanks. Not having a propane tank, nor the skills to cut and weld one of these tank drums, I instead opted to use an old steel wok. First I had to sand away the old faded paint, rust, and food particles accumulated over years of abuse. Then I cut the tongues with a jigsaw, not particularly tuning them to a specific scale. However, I like how it came out. You can play it with just your hands, or with rubber mallets. I made a couple by adding rubber bouncy balls to screwdrivers.\nThe finished product\nMallets from screwdrivers with bouncy balls\n","date":"22 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/handpans/wok/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I have wanted a Hang drum for a long time. However, they are quite expensive, so I keep looking for ways to make my own. I found a variation of this hand pan that uses tongues instead of the divots in the Hang drum, where people make them out of propane tanks. Not having a propane tank, nor the skills to cut and weld one of these tank drums, I instead opted to use an old steel wok. First I had to sand away the old faded paint, rust, and food particles accumulated over years of abuse. Then I cut the tongues with a jigsaw, not particularly tuning them to a specific scale. However, I like how it came out. You can play it with just your hands, or with rubber mallets. I made a couple by adding rubber bouncy balls to screwdrivers.\n","title":"Wok Hand Pan","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"7 March 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/cassetone/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Cassetone","type":"tags"},{"content":"I saw Rich Bernett’s “The Sound of Machines” YouTube video where he came up with this thing called a Cassettone, I knew I had to make one. It is a variation on the Mellotron. Whereas the Mellotron has a separate piece of tape that plays a note for each key in the keyboard, this has one cassette player, and each key plays the tape at a different speed. The knobs are used to change the speed of the tape player. Then using a tape loop of a single knob, you can play different notes. I had a tape that was inside an old tape player I got at Goodwill at some point, so I used it for this experiment. I recorded a note from a keyboard for about a minute so I could play around with the notes. I didn’t have the patience to make a tape loop out of it. I added a jack so it could be played through an amp. It is supposed to disable the speaker when you plug in an audio cable. However, the jack was cheap garbage and once you plugged in a cable once, it never returned to the starting position, so I have an alligator clip holding it in place. I used an old record to make a plate for the knobs, and a jack plate for the 1/4″ jack.\nMaking this took a lot of time and effort, and in the end I was underwhelmed with the variation in sounds to be honest. It could be that I didn’t use the right note on the tape to begin with. However, I had a great time building it and visualizing where all the components would go.\nThe finished product\nI love these Camacho boxes\nThis took a lot of soldering\nVinyl record jack plate\nCassette player from Amazon\nExperimenting with the potentiometers to test the motor speed control\n","date":"7 March 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/cassetone/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I saw Rich Bernett’s “The Sound of Machines” YouTube video where he came up with this thing called a Cassettone, I knew I had to make one. It is a variation on the Mellotron. Whereas the Mellotron has a separate piece of tape that plays a note for each key in the keyboard, this has one cassette player, and each key plays the tape at a different speed. The knobs are used to change the speed of the tape player. Then using a tape loop of a single knob, you can play different notes. I had a tape that was inside an old tape player I got at Goodwill at some point, so I used it for this experiment. I recorded a note from a keyboard for about a minute so I could play around with the notes. I didn’t have the patience to make a tape loop out of it. I added a jack so it could be played through an amp. It is supposed to disable the speaker when you plug in an audio cable. However, the jack was cheap garbage and once you plugged in a cable once, it never returned to the starting position, so I have an alligator clip holding it in place. I used an old record to make a plate for the knobs, and a jack plate for the 1/4″ jack.\n","title":"Cassetone","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/cpap/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Cpap","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/melodica/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Melodica","type":"tags"},{"content":"My father had this pianica (you may know it as a melodica) that he would play for us when we were kids in the 1970’s. When he passed away in 2020 I inherited it, and it is a treasured keepsake. I wanted to be able to play it, and kept thinking of ways to blow air into it without having to do it myself. I use a CPAP machine, and had a spare one, so one day it hit me…this would be the perfect machine to blow air into it…you can regulate the amount of air that it blows, and is whisper-quiet. Initially I just had the CPAP sitting next to the pianica, but eventually I built a box in which to keep the CPAP.\n","date":"1 January 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/melodicawithcpapmachine/","section":"Instruments","summary":"My father had this pianica (you may know it as a melodica) that he would play for us when we were kids in the 1970’s. When he passed away in 2020 I inherited it, and it is a treasured keepsake. I wanted to be able to play it, and kept thinking of ways to blow air into it without having to do it myself. I use a CPAP machine, and had a spare one, so one day it hit me…this would be the perfect machine to blow air into it…you can regulate the amount of air that it blows, and is whisper-quiet. Initially I just had the CPAP sitting next to the pianica, but eventually I built a box in which to keep the CPAP.\n","title":"Melodica with CPAP Machine","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pianica/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Pianica","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"26 December 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/koto/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Koto","type":"tags"},{"content":"I found this skateboard that someone had thrown away. You could tell from the damage that it had not been moved in quite some time. Instead of letting it rot away, I took it home, cleaned it up a bit, and turned it into this Japanese Koto.\nKotos typically have 21 strings, but there’s not enough room for that many strings on a longboard, so I settled for the highest pitched 10. These 10 strings add so much tension that I had to find some heavy duty brackets to keep the bar holding them down straight. Each string has its own bone bridge that I hand-shaped out of dog chew bones, using a belt sander. The tuning is done via zither pins, and the eye loops directing the strings to the pins are from the 1890’s piano I salvaged (I use these eye loops in quite a few projects documented on this website).\nI really like how this one came out. It is very relaxing to play. Because of the tuning, you don’t have to have much music knowledge to be able to improvise a few songs.\nThe finished product\nHand shaped bridges\n","date":"26 December 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/world/longboardkoto/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I found this skateboard that someone had thrown away. You could tell from the damage that it had not been moved in quite some time. Instead of letting it rot away, I took it home, cleaned it up a bit, and turned it into this Japanese Koto.\nKotos typically have 21 strings, but there’s not enough room for that many strings on a longboard, so I settled for the highest pitched 10. These 10 strings add so much tension that I had to find some heavy duty brackets to keep the bar holding them down straight. Each string has its own bone bridge that I hand-shaped out of dog chew bones, using a belt sander. The tuning is done via zither pins, and the eye loops directing the strings to the pins are from the 1890’s piano I salvaged (I use these eye loops in quite a few projects documented on this website).\n","title":"Longboard Koto","type":"instruments"},{"content":"As I was throwing out the Christmas tree in 2020, I decided to keep a small piece of the tree and make a kalimba out of it.\nThe finished product\nDoes that look like a face to you?\n","date":"27 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/christmastree/","section":"Instruments","summary":"As I was throwing out the Christmas tree in 2020, I decided to keep a small piece of the tree and make a kalimba out of it.\nThe finished product\nDoes that look like a face to you?\n","title":"Christmas Tree","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"3 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bourbon/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bourbon","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"3 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/ham-bone/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Ham Bone","type":"tags"},{"content":"The first one of these I made used a photoresistor on the lid of the box, which was a bit clunky to use since it required a light source outside of the box to work. For version 2, I got myself a Digispark microcontroller and a knob to control an LED that would strobe in front of the photoresistor to pass the signal to the amp. I added a second LED to show the strobing speed to the user. This one is a bit easier to use\nThe finished product\nLED and photoresistor inside heat shrink, AKA vactrol\n","date":"3 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/pedals/opticaltremolopedalv2/","section":"Gear","summary":"The first one of these I made used a photoresistor on the lid of the box, which was a bit clunky to use since it required a light source outside of the box to work. For version 2, I got myself a Digispark microcontroller and a knob to control an LED that would strobe in front of the photoresistor to pass the signal to the amp. I added a second LED to show the strobing speed to the user. This one is a bit easier to use\n","title":"Optical Tremolo Pedal v.2","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"3 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pedal/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Pedal","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"3 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/pedals/","section":"Gear","summary":"","title":"Pedals","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"3 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/slides/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Slides","type":"tags"},{"content":"Here are pictures of various slides I have made throughout the years\nAnother Ham Bone - 3 November 2020\nNoble Oak Bourbon - 19 September 2020\nSouthern Tier Bourbon - 30 August 2020\nIron Smoke Bourbon - 16 February 2020\nSlide Display - 7 April 2018\nNo Clue What These Are - 22 November 2017\nHam Bone - 12 November 2017\n","date":"3 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/slides/","section":"Gear","summary":"Here are pictures of various slides I have made throughout the years\nAnother Ham Bone - 3 November 2020\nNoble Oak Bourbon - 19 September 2020\nSouthern Tier Bourbon - 30 August 2020\nIron Smoke Bourbon - 16 February 2020\nSlide Display - 7 April 2018\n","title":"Slides","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"3 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/tremolo/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tremolo","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"29 October 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/digispark/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Digispark","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"29 October 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/mute/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Mute","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"29 October 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/zoom/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Zoom","type":"tags"},{"content":"Zoom became the way to communicate with coworkers during the COVID pandemic in 2020. It quickly became apparent that there needed to be a way to mute yourself easily without having to navigate to the app and click the Mute button. Since this feature has a keyboard shortcut, it was easy to create a button to do this. I used a Digispark microcontroller. It\u0026rsquo;s very small and only a couple of bucks, so it was perfect for this. I added a red LED to indicate when Mute was enabled. As a bonus feature, holding the button down will drop from the meeting. You can see the code in my GitHub repo.\nThe finished product\n","date":"29 October 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/electronics/zoommutebutton/","section":"Electronics","summary":"Zoom became the way to communicate with coworkers during the COVID pandemic in 2020. It quickly became apparent that there needed to be a way to mute yourself easily without having to navigate to the app and click the Mute button. Since this feature has a keyboard shortcut, it was easy to create a button to do this. I used a Digispark microcontroller. It’s very small and only a couple of bucks, so it was perfect for this. I added a red LED to indicate when Mute was enabled. As a bonus feature, holding the button down will drop from the meeting. You can see the code in my GitHub repo.\n","title":"Zoom Mute Button","type":"electronics"},{"content":"We got these old shutters from a neighbor with the intention of using them for decoration. However, they sat in the garage for a couple of years before we decided that wasn’t going to happen. So I quickly took a couple to make this dulcimer. I had an old plastic toy guitar I picked up at a thrift store, and ended up adding the piezo and volume control to the dulcimer so you can play it through an amp. The volume knob is the cap from a whiskey bottle. I added springs on the inside for reverb. The shutters are still functional, although they don’t affect the sound as I had hoped.\nThe finished product\nThe shutters open and close\nThis was the first time I tried hollowing out the neck for a horizontal tuner installation style\nI used the old rusty hinges to hold the strings\nWhiskey bottle cap volume knob\nThe circuit from the toy guitar\nPiezo microphone\nThe installed circuitry\n","date":"4 October 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/dulcimers/oldwindowshutters/","section":"Instruments","summary":"We got these old shutters from a neighbor with the intention of using them for decoration. However, they sat in the garage for a couple of years before we decided that wasn’t going to happen. So I quickly took a couple to make this dulcimer. I had an old plastic toy guitar I picked up at a thrift store, and ended up adding the piezo and volume control to the dulcimer so you can play it through an amp. The volume knob is the cap from a whiskey bottle. I added springs on the inside for reverb. The shutters are still functional, although they don’t affect the sound as I had hoped.\n","title":"Old Window Shutters Dulcimer","type":"instruments"},{"content":"A friend gave me a bunch of long, slightly curved wood slats he was going to throw away. I made a gigantic kalimba with them and a piece of plywood. It is more for show, as the tuning was not particularly easy to do.\nTrying it out with some piano hammers\nThe finished product\n","date":"3 October 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/supersize/","section":"Instruments","summary":"A friend gave me a bunch of long, slightly curved wood slats he was going to throw away. I made a gigantic kalimba with them and a piece of plywood. It is more for show, as the tuning was not particularly easy to do.\nTrying it out with some piano hammers\n","title":"Super Sized Kalimba","type":"instruments"},{"content":"Got this beige touch tone phone to make a mic for a friend (hi Tim!). The kids had to put it through a thorough test cycle before we shipped it out.\nThe finished product\nTaking it for a test drive\n","date":"22 August 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/mics/anothertouchtonephone/","section":"Gear","summary":"Got this beige touch tone phone to make a mic for a friend (hi Tim!). The kids had to put it through a thorough test cycle before we shipped it out.\nThe finished product\nTaking it for a test drive\n","title":"Another Touch Tone Phone","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"22 August 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/microphone/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Microphone","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"22 August 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/mics/","section":"Gear","summary":"","title":"Mics","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"22 August 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/telephone/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Telephone","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"4 April 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/snap-circuits/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Snap Circuits","type":"tags"},{"content":"Ok, this is a bit of an experiment. I wanted to see if I could build an amp from parts from a Snap Circuits. Turns out you can, but don’t expect to shake the walls when you play it.\nA needlessly elaborate Rick Roll\nNever gonna give up making silly instruments and amps\n","date":"4 April 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/amps/snapcircuitsamp/","section":"Gear","summary":"Ok, this is a bit of an experiment. I wanted to see if I could build an amp from parts from a Snap Circuits. Turns out you can, but don’t expect to shake the walls when you play it.\nA needlessly elaborate Rick Roll\nNever gonna give up making silly instruments and amps\n","title":"Snap Circuits Amp","type":"gear"},{"content":"Found this gnarly chunk of wood at the beach while on vacation in Melbourne, FL and had to make a kalimba out of it…better than a postcard to remember the trip! In particular I liked the blue paint with the stripe down the front. I decided not to trim the tines to make it look a bit more messy.\nThe finished product\n","date":"14 March 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/melbournebeachdriftwood/","section":"Instruments","summary":"Found this gnarly chunk of wood at the beach while on vacation in Melbourne, FL and had to make a kalimba out of it…better than a postcard to remember the trip! In particular I liked the blue paint with the stripe down the front. I decided not to trim the tines to make it look a bit more messy.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Melbourne Beach Driftwood","type":"instruments"},{"content":"Lowes has these flooring samples that you can take with you to see how they might look in your house. Turns out you can also use them to make kalimbas. I cut this one into an octagon shape to make it look different. I used wiper blades for the tines and a piece of the tile to hold them in place.\nThe finished product\n","date":"14 March 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/octagonalfloorsample/","section":"Instruments","summary":"Lowes has these flooring samples that you can take with you to see how they might look in your house. Turns out you can also use them to make kalimbas. I cut this one into an octagon shape to make it look different. I used wiper blades for the tines and a piece of the tile to hold them in place.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Octagonal Floor Sample","type":"instruments"},{"content":"This box is a beauty. I saw it at a cigar store in Key West and immediately knew I would make an amp out of it. The amp itself is made from a toy guitar and amp combo. The guitar was pretty much garbage, but the amp was definitely worth salvaging. Even the volume knob was red, which matched perfectly with the box. I ended up adding a second speaker to give it a bit more oomph.\nThe finished product\nThis is the original housing for the amplifier. You can see I made the right choice in picking the red cigar box\nNot much to it…a small circuit board, a single speaker, and battery compartment…all were reused.\nThat’s all there is to it\nThis is a beautiful box for sure\nThe lights react to sound being played and flicker. The small input jack is for a microphone, which indeed works. I added a chain to keep the lid open so it wouldn’t flop down.\n","date":"8 March 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/amps/granhabanocigarboxamp/","section":"Gear","summary":"This box is a beauty. I saw it at a cigar store in Key West and immediately knew I would make an amp out of it. The amp itself is made from a toy guitar and amp combo. The guitar was pretty much garbage, but the amp was definitely worth salvaging. Even the volume knob was red, which matched perfectly with the box. I ended up adding a second speaker to give it a bit more oomph.\n","title":"Gran Habano Cigar Box Amp","type":"gear"},{"content":"This one is more of a shelf piece than an actual instrument to play. I got the coconut and wood scraps while walking on the beach in Melbourne, FL and packed them in my suitcase so I could make an instrument out of them. The coconut cracked as I was putting it together from the tension, so they have just enough tension to look good.\nThe finished product\nThe coconut doesn\u0026rsquo;t look very happy\nZither pins\n","date":"1 March 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/harps/coconutanddriftwoodharp/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This one is more of a shelf piece than an actual instrument to play. I got the coconut and wood scraps while walking on the beach in Melbourne, FL and packed them in my suitcase so I could make an instrument out of them. The coconut cracked as I was putting it together from the tension, so they have just enough tension to look good.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Coconut and Driftwood Harp","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"1 March 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/harp/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Harp","type":"tags"},{"content":"I like this radio because it had the ability to tune into TV channels. However, I much prefer making amps out of cassette players. So I combined both…I got the circuitry from a cassette player and stuffed it inside this radio’s case. I connected the tuning knob to the circuit to get some interesting glitched out effects. The resulting amp sounds great, and looks great too!\nThe finished product\nIt might not look it, but I know exactly what I am doing in this picture. On the top left is the cassette player that sacrificed itself so that this amp could live. Eagle eyed viewers will see on the bottom left the fume extractor fan I made from an Altoids tin and an old PC fan. On the right is the Popcorn tin chugger I made, featured elsewhere on this website.\n","date":"2 February 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/amps/windsorradiofrankenmp/","section":"Gear","summary":"I like this radio because it had the ability to tune into TV channels. However, I much prefer making amps out of cassette players. So I combined both…I got the circuitry from a cassette player and stuffed it inside this radio’s case. I connected the tuning knob to the circuit to get some interesting glitched out effects. The resulting amp sounds great, and looks great too!\nThe finished product\n","title":"Windsor Radio Frankenamp","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"18 January 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/toy/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Toy","type":"tags"},{"content":"This one is a bit of a joke. I found this toy guitar/amp combo at Goodwill and of course had to get it to use for various projects. The amp showed some potential as a pedal, so I quickly took it apart to see what I could do with it. It features a button that plays a crowd applauding and cheering, and a second button that boos. A third button cycles through a few different, yet very repetitive beats for you to play along. And it has two separate line in connectors for a microphone and MP3 or other music source. It even has a light that changes color continuously and is quite bright. This lets you recreate the full experience of being in concert right at home!\nIn order to make it stand out, I removed the innards out of the ugly plastic housing and jammed them into a one of a kind tequila box that my son and I hydro dipped using spray paint. To make it a proper pedal, I took out the speaker and replaced it with a 1/4″ jack. The buttons are just glued on the outside of the box, but I think that just gives it character. The power switch is one I had in my parts box, which makes a nice click sound when you turn it on and off.\nThe finished product\nA closer look at all the buttons. Such attention to detail!\nThe original amp. I think it looks better after I got through with it, don’t you?\n","date":"18 January 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/pedals/toyampwithbooandapplausebuttons/","section":"Gear","summary":"This one is a bit of a joke. I found this toy guitar/amp combo at Goodwill and of course had to get it to use for various projects. The amp showed some potential as a pedal, so I quickly took it apart to see what I could do with it. It features a button that plays a crowd applauding and cheering, and a second button that boos. A third button cycles through a few different, yet very repetitive beats for you to play along. And it has two separate line in connectors for a microphone and MP3 or other music source. It even has a light that changes color continuously and is quite bright. This lets you recreate the full experience of being in concert right at home!\n","title":"Toy Amp with Boo and Applause Buttons","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/kazoo/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Kazoo","type":"tags"},{"content":"The question is not “why make a kazoo?” It is “Why NOT make a kazoo?” I made this from a paint stirrer I got at Home Depot and wax paper. It’s three layers: a top, a bottom, and sides, so that it is hollow in the middle. I actually messed up and made the tapered part in the wrong end. Your mouth goes near the port with wax paper, not the other side. Oh well, it works as good as you could expect a kazoo to work. Fun fact, you don’t blow into a kazoo, you hum into it to make the sound.\nThe finished product\nJingles tried to play it but couldn’t quite get the hang of it\n","date":"1 January 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/kazoo/","section":"Instruments","summary":"The question is not “why make a kazoo?” It is “Why NOT make a kazoo?” I made this from a paint stirrer I got at Home Depot and wax paper. It’s three layers: a top, a bottom, and sides, so that it is hollow in the middle. I actually messed up and made the tapered part in the wrong end. Your mouth goes near the port with wax paper, not the other side. Oh well, it works as good as you could expect a kazoo to work. Fun fact, you don’t blow into a kazoo, you hum into it to make the sound.\n","title":"Kazoo","type":"instruments"},{"content":"I got this box in a small cigar shop in the Miami airport. It is made entirely of wood, and is pretty solid. The bridge is made from flooring, and is made from a very hard wood whose name I forget. I got some Lyre strings and zither pins to make this instrument. I added a piezo under the bridge, so you can play it through an amp. The inserts that came with the box were in the turquoise color, so I used it to make a jack plate.\nTrying it out\nThe finished product\n","date":"1 December 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/harps/hupmanncigarboxlyre/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I got this box in a small cigar shop in the Miami airport. It is made entirely of wood, and is pretty solid. The bridge is made from flooring, and is made from a very hard wood whose name I forget. I got some Lyre strings and zither pins to make this instrument. I added a piezo under the bridge, so you can play it through an amp. The inserts that came with the box were in the turquoise color, so I used it to make a jack plate.\n","title":"H. Upmann Cigar Box Lyre","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"9 November 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/flying-v/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Flying V","type":"tags"},{"content":"You might be driving down the road, see a pile of 2 by 4’s that someone put by the curb and think nothing of it. I think “I’ll make a Flying V guitar from those!” After removing all the nails and scraping away bits of insulation, I cut and glued these slats together into a rough Flying V shape. Since I don’t have a planer or a router, it is not super flat, and I smoothed out the edges with a belt sander. I had purchased a set with two humbuckers, tone and volume knobs and selector switch, ditched the pickguard that came with it and made one from 1/8″ plywood. The fret markers are just spray paint. I used the lower pitched strings from an Ernie Ball Mammoth Slinky pack to get a loooow sound. This is a guitar for playing Doom Metal exclusively.\nThe finished product\nRaw materials, plus the template I made\nRough shape. Everything was cut by hand\nThis is the kit I used, minus the pickguard\nPutting together the electronics\nLining the electronics cavities with copper tape to reduce hum. The tape was then grounded to the bridge.\nPickguard and electronics final assembly\nIn hindsight the string angle here is too steep. You can see the low string doesn’t want to bend that much\n","date":"9 November 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/flyingv/","section":"Instruments","summary":"You might be driving down the road, see a pile of 2 by 4’s that someone put by the curb and think nothing of it. I think “I’ll make a Flying V guitar from those!” After removing all the nails and scraping away bits of insulation, I cut and glued these slats together into a rough Flying V shape. Since I don’t have a planer or a router, it is not super flat, and I smoothed out the edges with a belt sander. I had purchased a set with two humbuckers, tone and volume knobs and selector switch, ditched the pickguard that came with it and made one from 1/8″ plywood. The fret markers are just spray paint. I used the lower pitched strings from an Ernie Ball Mammoth Slinky pack to get a loooow sound. This is a guitar for playing Doom Metal exclusively.\n","title":"Flying V Guitar Made from 2x4's","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"3 November 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/walkman/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Walkman","type":"tags"},{"content":"Since you can make small amps out of cassette players, and they tend to give you a bit of overdrive, I figured you could make a pedal out of a walkman. Turns out that was a good assumption. Wiring a 3/4″ jack to the cassette head is all it takes, then take the headphone out and connect that to an amp and you are done. In this case the volume knob controls how much distortion you get out of the “pedal.” It’s a bit clunky because you also have to mess around with the volume on the amp to get a good sound, but I like the effect that this walkman makes.\nThe finished product. No changes other than a 3/4″ input jack\nTesting it out\nVolume controls the distortion. Unfortunately this one does not go to 11\nGotta push play for it to work\n","date":"3 November 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/pedals/walkmandistortionpedal/","section":"Gear","summary":"Since you can make small amps out of cassette players, and they tend to give you a bit of overdrive, I figured you could make a pedal out of a walkman. Turns out that was a good assumption. Wiring a 3/4″ jack to the cassette head is all it takes, then take the headphone out and connect that to an amp and you are done. In this case the volume knob controls how much distortion you get out of the “pedal.” It’s a bit clunky because you also have to mess around with the volume on the amp to get a good sound, but I like the effect that this walkman makes.\n","title":"Walkman Distortion Pedal","type":"gear"},{"content":"I made this kalimba from a piece of wood my son pulled out of Seneca lake when we went on a Boy Scouts trip. I used wider than usual wiper blades for the tines, which gives it a deeper sound.\nThe finished product\n","date":"6 October 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/senecalakedriftwood/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I made this kalimba from a piece of wood my son pulled out of Seneca lake when we went on a Boy Scouts trip. I used wider than usual wiper blades for the tines, which gives it a deeper sound.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Seneca Lake Driftwood","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"4 July 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/fisher-price/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Fisher Price","type":"tags"},{"content":"This one is even goofier looking than the Fisher Price 826 Cassette Player Amp I made previously. The mic on this one works too, so you can sing along while you rock out!\nFisher Price makes the best amps\n","date":"4 July 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/amps/fisherpricecassetteplayeramp/","section":"Gear","summary":"This one is even goofier looking than the Fisher Price 826 Cassette Player Amp I made previously. The mic on this one works too, so you can sing along while you rock out!\n","title":"Fisher Price Cassette Player Amp","type":"gear"},{"content":"My son was in Boy Scouts for a couple of years, and we went to a weekend camping trip at their Babcock Hovey Scout Camp in September, 2018. On our way to dig for fossils by the lake, I saw this piece of driftwood that looked perfect for a diddley bow. We pulled it out of the water, and found two rocks that would work perfectly as the bridge and nut. I added a thin humbucker pickup so it can be played via an amp. To commemorate the experience, I woodburned the date of the camping trip. This made for a great souvenir!\nThe finished product\nFlat humbucker pickup. The bridge is a rock from the lake\nDate and location of our trip\nBetter view of the tuner installation\nWoodburned fret markers\nWoodburned my logo\nAdded supports so it can be played on a table\n","date":"29 June 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/driftwoodfrombabcockhovey/","section":"Instruments","summary":"My son was in Boy Scouts for a couple of years, and we went to a weekend camping trip at their Babcock Hovey Scout Camp in September, 2018. On our way to dig for fossils by the lake, I saw this piece of driftwood that looked perfect for a diddley bow. We pulled it out of the water, and found two rocks that would work perfectly as the bridge and nut. I added a thin humbucker pickup so it can be played via an amp. To commemorate the experience, I woodburned the date of the camping trip. This made for a great souvenir!\n","title":"Driftwood from Babcock Hovey","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"29 June 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/keytar/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Keytar","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"29 June 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/nes/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"NES","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"29 June 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/nintendo/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Nintendo","type":"tags"},{"content":"While browsing through Cigar Box Guitar groups on Facebook, I kept coming across this post about a NES that had been turned into a 6 string guitar. I thought it was the coolest idea, and decided I wanted to make one. But then I thought…this has already been done. What else can I do with it? I had also been thinking about making an instrument with an Arduino, and bam! an idea was born. What if I created an instrument that looked like a guitar, with the NES as the body, but made the sounds with an Arduino?\nFrom my dabbling with this microcontroller I knew that I could produce simple tones, which are the types of tones that the most primitive 8-bit arcade games from the 80’s sounded like. I also thought I could use a soft potentiometer along the neck of this instrument to represent the notes. But how would I strum the instrument? I chose to add an arcade button to toggle the sound on and off when pressed. While I was at it, I added two other buttons to raise and lower the octave. Finally I added one last button to alternate between fretted mode and slide mode. When in fretted mode, there are discreet parts of the neck that make certain notes, like a fretted guitar. If you run your finger up and down the neck in this mode you get only the notes on a typical guitar. Switching to slide mode changes it so that you get all the notes and everything in between, like if you were playing a guitar with a slide. I wired the Arduino to the NES power button so it can be turned on and off.\nThis was a fun build that was a bit of a departure for me. I got to flex my coding muscles a bit, which I hadn’t done in some time.\nThe finished product\nHeadstock made from the circuit board\nFret markers on the side of the neck\nLaying out the components\nSoldering the components\nTesting the soft potentiometer\n","date":"29 June 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/nintendokeytarwitharduino/","section":"Instruments","summary":"While browsing through Cigar Box Guitar groups on Facebook, I kept coming across this post about a NES that had been turned into a 6 string guitar. I thought it was the coolest idea, and decided I wanted to make one. But then I thought…this has already been done. What else can I do with it? I had also been thinking about making an instrument with an Arduino, and bam! an idea was born. What if I created an instrument that looked like a guitar, with the NES as the body, but made the sounds with an Arduino?\n","title":"Nintendo Arduino Keytar","type":"instruments"},{"content":"I made this Uke as a gift for my brother in law, who is a chef. I wanted to add a couple of kitchen touches, so the bridge is made from a spatula handle, the strings are held in place by a leaf from a vegetable steamer, and the sound hole has a cheese grater as its cover. The neck was made from butcher block scrap wood.\nThe finished product\nLeaf from a vegetable steamer\nSpatula handle\nCheese grater\nWoodburned my logo\nNeck made from butcher block scraps\nCover made from vinyl record\n","date":"16 June 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/ukuleles/dutchmasterscigarbox/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I made this Uke as a gift for my brother in law, who is a chef. I wanted to add a couple of kitchen touches, so the bridge is made from a spatula handle, the strings are held in place by a leaf from a vegetable steamer, and the sound hole has a cheese grater as its cover. The neck was made from butcher block scrap wood.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Dutch Masters Cigar Box Ukulele","type":"instruments"},{"content":"We bought our kids these woodworking kits…basically a wood box with a bunch of random cuts of wood so they can start building their woodworking skills. You can imagine what my first thought was when I saw the box :)\nThe finished product\nI used a bit of stain made with a steel wool dissolved in vinegar to give the box a roughed up look\nLook at this amazing craftmanship\nVolume and Tone knobs, plus a mic input!\nI guess I could have trimmed the cables a bit\nGot a bit of woodburning practice by drawing my logo\n","date":"4 June 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/amps/pcspeakersandwoodworkingkitboxamp/","section":"Gear","summary":"We bought our kids these woodworking kits…basically a wood box with a bunch of random cuts of wood so they can start building their woodworking skills. You can imagine what my first thought was when I saw the box :)\n","title":"PC Speakers and Woodworking Kit Box Amp","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"15 May 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/fan/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Fan","type":"tags"},{"content":"I’ve made a few microphones from landline phone speakers, but wanted to try something different. I had an old fan that didn’t work anymore, so I took it apart. The phone speaker fit perfectly, and now it has an old-timey microphone look.\nThe finished product\n","date":"15 May 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/mics/phonespeakerinfancase/","section":"Gear","summary":"I’ve made a few microphones from landline phone speakers, but wanted to try something different. I had an old fan that didn’t work anymore, so I took it apart. The phone speaker fit perfectly, and now it has an old-timey microphone look.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Phone Speaker in Fan Case","type":"gear"},{"content":"This is more of a test to see if I could make a guitar pickup. I took a motor out of a fan to make a microphone, and kept the coil. I then took a piece of copper wire and wrapped it around the coil, and added a couple of neodymium magnets. Then I hooked up a 1/4″ jack and tested it out. It worked! The sound was very low though, so not likely to use this in an instrument…but it worked!\nNot pretty, but it worked\nThe coil\n","date":"14 May 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/diyguitarpickup/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This is more of a test to see if I could make a guitar pickup. I took a motor out of a fan to make a microphone, and kept the coil. I then took a piece of copper wire and wrapped it around the coil, and added a couple of neodymium magnets. Then I hooked up a 1/4″ jack and tested it out. It worked! The sound was very low though, so not likely to use this in an instrument…but it worked!\n","title":"DIY Guitar Pickup","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"14 May 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pickup/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Pickup","type":"tags"},{"content":"This tremolo pedal relies on a photoresistor on the lid of the box to pass the signal to the amp. I used a strobing app on my phone flashing right on the photoresistor to control the tremolo effect. This was my first attempt at making one of these types of pedals. While cool, it’s not very convenient, since you have to have a light source to control the effect. It does, however, give you the ability to play around with the effect a bit more.\nTesting the concept with Snap Circuits\nThe finished product\n","date":"3 March 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/pedals/opticaltremolov1/","section":"Gear","summary":"This tremolo pedal relies on a photoresistor on the lid of the box to pass the signal to the amp. I used a strobing app on my phone flashing right on the photoresistor to control the tremolo effect. This was my first attempt at making one of these types of pedals. While cool, it’s not very convenient, since you have to have a light source to control the effect. It does, however, give you the ability to play around with the effect a bit more.\n","title":"Optical Tremolo Pedal v.1","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"2 March 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pc-speakers/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"PC Speakers","type":"tags"},{"content":" The finished product\nSomeone stored nuts in this cigar box at some point, evidently\nOld drawer pull\nNothing says quality like using rubber bands to keep the lid shut\nAdmire my finishing skills\nI couldn\u0026rsquo;t fit the circuitry inside the box so I attached it to the lid\nA closer look at the circuitry\nA whopping 5W of output power. Try not to wake the neighbors with this thing.\nYou can\u0026rsquo;t fake the distressed look like this\n","date":"2 March 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/amps/pcspeakerscigarboxamp/","section":"Gear","summary":" The finished product\nSomeone stored nuts in this cigar box at some point, evidently\nOld drawer pull\nNothing says quality like using rubber bands to keep the lid shut\n","title":"PC Speakers Cigar Box Amp","type":"gear"},{"content":"Here’s another one that I made from an old Soundesign radio. The 1/4″ jack is connected to the volume pot, so you can play along with the radio.\nThe finished product\n","date":"2 March 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/amps/soundesignradioamp/","section":"Gear","summary":"Here’s another one that I made from an old Soundesign radio. The 1/4″ jack is connected to the volume pot, so you can play along with the radio.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Soundesign Radio Amp","type":"gear"},{"content":"You know you are an 80’s kid if you had one of these transparent touch tone phones.\nMy son the crooner\nVery little sass on this one…\n","date":"16 February 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/mics/80stransparenttouchtonephone/","section":"Gear","summary":"You know you are an 80’s kid if you had one of these transparent touch tone phones.\nMy son the crooner\nVery little sass on this one…\n","title":"80’s Transparent Touch Tone Phone Microphone","type":"gear"},{"content":"This is the first mic I made from an old touch tone phone. You speak into the phone’s speaker, which works great as a mic, with a great lo-fi sound. I put the speaker in the mouthpiece so you can speak into it like a regular phone. Ever wonder what one looks like from the inside? Here you go!\nThe finished product\nHunting and pecking for the right wires to hook up a jack to.\n","date":"15 February 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/mics/touchtonephone/","section":"Gear","summary":"This is the first mic I made from an old touch tone phone. You speak into the phone’s speaker, which works great as a mic, with a great lo-fi sound. I put the speaker in the mouthpiece so you can speak into it like a regular phone. Ever wonder what one looks like from the inside? Here you go!\nThe finished product\n","title":"Touch Tone Phone","type":"gear"},{"content":"Just about everyone that makes amps uses an Acid cigar box at some point, and here’s my attempt at it. These boxes are pretty sturdy and roomy, so they are perfect for making an amp. The speaker and grill came from a big speaker I found on the side of the road…the kind that was about 3 feet tall and would be part of the furniture in people’s homes in the 80’s. This was the grill for the mid-range. I used an amp kit I bought online. It’s not very loud, but I got to solder, so it was fun to put together. Great starter project.\nThe finished product\nNice, sturdy wooden box\nSoldering the tiny amp\nTaking it for a test run\nPowered by a 9V battery\nPretty easy build overall\n1/4″ jack and volume pot\n","date":"10 February 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/amps/acidcigarboxamp/","section":"Gear","summary":"Just about everyone that makes amps uses an Acid cigar box at some point, and here’s my attempt at it. These boxes are pretty sturdy and roomy, so they are perfect for making an amp. The speaker and grill came from a big speaker I found on the side of the road…the kind that was about 3 feet tall and would be part of the furniture in people’s homes in the 80’s. This was the grill for the mid-range. I used an amp kit I bought online. It’s not very loud, but I got to solder, so it was fun to put together. Great starter project.\n","title":"Acid Cigar Box Amp","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"27 January 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/keyboard/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Keyboard","type":"tags"},{"content":"This one came from an idea my daughter had. I was building a noise box which has a hard drive platter attached to a springy door stop. She thought it would work well to use a hair beret to strike the platter. When we tried it, the sound was pretty good. After she came up with that idea, I thought about making an entire keyboard with hair berets, each of which would strike a pipe from a windchime.\nThe finished product\nHair berets\n","date":"27 January 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/windchimekeyboard/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This one came from an idea my daughter had. I was building a noise box which has a hard drive platter attached to a springy door stop. She thought it would work well to use a hair beret to strike the platter. When we tried it, the sound was pretty good. After she came up with that idea, I thought about making an entire keyboard with hair berets, each of which would strike a pipe from a windchime.\n","title":"Windchime Keyboard","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"20 January 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/noise-box/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Noise Box","type":"tags"},{"content":"I wanted to make a noise box for my kids to play with. This one has all kinds of junk on it, including a hard drive platter that I mounted on a springy doorstopper, which is hit when you flick a hair beret at it (my daughter’s idea). There’s also a comb, some rubber bands, a few springs and beer caps. To make the thing even more annoying, I added a piezo (contact mic) on the inside so that you can plug it into an amp and really annoy everyone around you!\nThe finished product\nThe green circle is a piezo I pulled out of a toy. This one is not plugged in, it just makes a crinkly sound when you hit it\n","date":"20 January 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/noisebox/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I wanted to make a noise box for my kids to play with. This one has all kinds of junk on it, including a hard drive platter that I mounted on a springy doorstopper, which is hit when you flick a hair beret at it (my daughter’s idea). There’s also a comb, some rubber bands, a few springs and beer caps. To make the thing even more annoying, I added a piezo (contact mic) on the inside so that you can plug it into an amp and really annoy everyone around you!\n","title":"Noise Box","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"19 January 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/boy-scouts/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Boy Scouts","type":"tags"},{"content":"My son was in Boy Scouts for a few years. As you probably know, Boy Scouts sell popcorn to raise funds for their troop. Ours was no exception, so every year we went to Walmart and stood outside their doors selling popcorn. One year I decided to make a chugger (2 string guitar) out of one of the popcorn tins we were selling, then bring it with us to play while we sold popcorn. To make it stand out a bit, I woodburned the word “POPCORN!” on the neck. None of us know how to play guitar, so I think we ended up mostly annoying people as they walked by, giving us puzzled looks.\nSell that popcorn!\nThe finished product\nI added this vegetable steamer leaf, not entirely sure why\nNot the most exciting tin…\nTuners\nWoodburned logo\nWoodburned Fret markers\nWoodburned the word POPCORN!\nHand carved bone nut, held down by string tension\n","date":"19 January 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/boyscoutspopcorntinchugger/","section":"Instruments","summary":"My son was in Boy Scouts for a few years. As you probably know, Boy Scouts sell popcorn to raise funds for their troop. Ours was no exception, so every year we went to Walmart and stood outside their doors selling popcorn. One year I decided to make a chugger (2 string guitar) out of one of the popcorn tins we were selling, then bring it with us to play while we sold popcorn. To make it stand out a bit, I woodburned the word “POPCORN!” on the neck. None of us know how to play guitar, so I think we ended up mostly annoying people as they walked by, giving us puzzled looks.\n","title":"Boy Scouts Popcorn Tin Chugger","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"19 January 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/chugger/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Chugger","type":"tags"},{"content":"This dulcimer was a present for my mother for Christmas 2018. She had found this great Romeo y Julieta wooden box and asked me to make a guitar out of it. The string holder is a leaf from a vegetable steamer, and the sound hole is a drain cover. I went with a full set of frets instead of the typical diatonic dulcimer frets, both for the look but also for the versatility of having all the frets in the chromatic scale.\nThe finished product\nThe bottom of the box\n","date":"16 December 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/dulcimers/romeoyjulietacigarbox/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This dulcimer was a present for my mother for Christmas 2018. She had found this great Romeo y Julieta wooden box and asked me to make a guitar out of it. The string holder is a leaf from a vegetable steamer, and the sound hole is a drain cover. I went with a full set of frets instead of the typical diatonic dulcimer frets, both for the look but also for the versatility of having all the frets in the chromatic scale.\n","title":"Romeo y Julieta Cigar Box Dulcimer","type":"instruments"},{"content":"It was so much fun to make this guitar. I love how the dog bowl gives the guitar a metallic tone, sounding a bit like a banjo. For the stain, I used a Japanese technique called Shou Sugi Ban, which involved charring the wood with fire (yes, fire!), then applying a thin coat of stain. The wood grain will burn at different rates and you end up with this great look. It worked better on the sides than the top and back, since those are plywood. For the neck, I made stain by putting steel wool in a jar with vinegar, then left it until it dissolved the steel wool. Different woods stain at different rates, which you can tell by looking at the neck where it meets the body.\nThis is the one that started this crazy hobby of mine. One day I spotted a Make Magazine article for making a cigar box guitar. I had never made anything in my life, and didn\u0026rsquo;t even own any tools. In fact, I bought my first set of power tools to make this guitar. I went to a cigar store and got this box, and for some reason had a scrap 1×2 that I used as the neck. It was simply gluing the stick to the box, the simplest way to make a guitar. The article calls for making your own tuners out of bolts, so I did that. It also has the strings made from twine, so I did that too. This wasn\u0026rsquo;t a guitar to be played, it was to be displayed. And so it stayed, for a number of years. Once I got really hooked on making instruments a few years later, I went back and added real tuners, real guitar strings and a piezo (contact mic). It is played with a slide since there are no frets on it.\nThe finished product\nI made the box and neck from scratch. No electric saw was used, just a hand saw\nTest fitting the dog bowl\nThe charring looks great with a thin coat of stain\nThese sound hole covers are some kind of duct grillwork that I got at a tool thrift shop. Added a humbucker to play through an amp\nUsed a leaf from a vegetable steamer for the string holder\nThe brige is made from a paint brush after cutting the handle and the part with the bristles\nThe string loops are from a piano from the 1890\u0026rsquo;s that was dumped on the side of the road. Notice how the stain colored the two different types of wood in the headstock differently\nSlightly heavier stain applied instead of fret markers\n","date":"12 December 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/dogbowlresonator/","section":"Instruments","summary":"It was so much fun to make this guitar. I love how the dog bowl gives the guitar a metallic tone, sounding a bit like a banjo. For the stain, I used a Japanese technique called Shou Sugi Ban, which involved charring the wood with fire (yes, fire!), then applying a thin coat of stain. The wood grain will burn at different rates and you end up with this great look. It worked better on the sides than the top and back, since those are plywood. For the neck, I made stain by putting steel wool in a jar with vinegar, then left it until it dissolved the steel wool. Different woods stain at different rates, which you can tell by looking at the neck where it meets the body.\n","title":"Dogbowl Resonator Guitar","type":"instruments"},{"content":"After making a handcranked Hurdy Gurdy Dulcimer mashup, and a Optimo Cigar Box Diddley Bow with Fishing Reel to do the strumming, I thought…”why am I doing the cranking myself? I should automate this.” So I made this thing. I used a Pilsner Urquell beer lunchbox and added a small motor from an old toy. I glued a couple of wires to it, just long enough to hit the single string. To keep the beer theme going I used a bottle opener as the tailpiece. It sounds pretty terrible to be honest, watch the video and judge for yourself.\nThe finished product\nBeer bottle opener tailpiece\nMotor with wires to strike the string\nBattery holder\nJack plate made from yard stick\nTesting it out\n","date":"14 October 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/motorizedpilsnerurquellbeertin/","section":"Instruments","summary":"After making a handcranked Hurdy Gurdy Dulcimer mashup, and a Optimo Cigar Box Diddley Bow with Fishing Reel to do the strumming, I thought…”why am I doing the cranking myself? I should automate this.” So I made this thing. I used a Pilsner Urquell beer lunchbox and added a small motor from an old toy. I glued a couple of wires to it, just long enough to hit the single string. To keep the beer theme going I used a bottle opener as the tailpiece. It sounds pretty terrible to be honest, watch the video and judge for yourself.\n","title":"Motorized Pilsner Urquell Beer Tin Diddley Bow","type":"instruments"},{"content":"A few guitar pics I have made\nBone pick\nCanadian coin\n","date":"12 October 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/guitarpicks/","section":"Instruments","summary":"A few guitar pics I have made\nBone pick\nCanadian coin\n","title":"Guitar Picks","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"12 October 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pick/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Pick","type":"tags"},{"content":"A friend of mine gave me this guitar, so I decided to experiment and make a resonator guitar with a couple of metal bowls, one inside the other. One of the tuners was broken, so this became a 5 string guitar. Just like Keith Richards plays! I had to add a bunch of reinforcements to the inside of the guitar so the pressure of the strings didn’t crush the bowl into the back of the guitar. For the bridge, I used the “puck” from a windchime. For the string holder, I used a drawer pull. When I was done I noticed the strings were not taut enough, so I added an aluminum bar to put more pressure on them. Doesn’t look great, but does the job.\nThe finished product\nHere’s what I started with\nThat’s a pretty pickguard\nHere’s a way to draw a circle without a compass…drive two screws or nails into a yard stick, then use one to scratch the circle you want.\nDidn\u0026rsquo;t have a jigsaw at the time, so I drilled a ton of holes with a drill, then used a Dremel to cut out the center piece\nTest fitting the bowls. The blue tape has a line that shows where the bridge goes to keep the same scale length\nHere’s the inside of the guitar\nAdded a bunch of dowels to reinforce the guitar body\nThis ugly metal bar is pushing down on the strings so they remain taut\nDrawer pull\n","date":"8 September 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/bowlsresonator/","section":"Instruments","summary":"A friend of mine gave me this guitar, so I decided to experiment and make a resonator guitar with a couple of metal bowls, one inside the other. One of the tuners was broken, so this became a 5 string guitar. Just like Keith Richards plays! I had to add a bunch of reinforcements to the inside of the guitar so the pressure of the strings didn’t crush the bowl into the back of the guitar. For the bridge, I used the “puck” from a windchime. For the string holder, I used a drawer pull. When I was done I noticed the strings were not taut enough, so I added an aluminum bar to put more pressure on them. Doesn’t look great, but does the job.\n","title":"Bowls Resonator Guitar","type":"instruments"},{"content":"When making an amp out of a radio that doesn’t have a cassette player, you have to solder the 1/4″ jack to the volume pot. You can play along with the radio, but if you want to play just the guitar you still hear the radio interference, so it doesn’t sound as good.\nThe finished product\nTrying it out with the Camacho gitty\nTesting it out\n","date":"26 August 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/amps/geradioamp/","section":"Gear","summary":"When making an amp out of a radio that doesn’t have a cassette player, you have to solder the 1/4″ jack to the volume pot. You can play along with the radio, but if you want to play just the guitar you still hear the radio interference, so it doesn’t sound as good.\n","title":"GE AM/FM Radio Amp","type":"gear"},{"content":"","date":"26 August 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/radio/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Radio","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"19 August 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/826/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"826","type":"tags"},{"content":"This is the one that started my obsession with making amps out of cassette players. It’s very easy to do. All you need is to wire up a 1/4″ jack to the positive end of the cassette head and to ground. That’s it! You can hunt around on the circuit board until you find the right point to solder, which is what I did here.\nPlus, they tend to overdrive, so the sound that comes out of it is distorted, great for playing blues or rock. You have to press Play for it to work, which gets a chuckle every time. I ended up selling this one, and have regretted it every since. Going to have to get another one.\nFender Squire for scale\nYou can’t tell from looking at the picture, but my son is trying to play the “Master of Puppets” riff here\nYou can\u0026rsquo;t tell it\u0026rsquo;s been modified\nFinding the right points to hook up the 1/4″ jack\nMy daughter helping with the build\nFound the right solder points!\n","date":"19 August 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/amps/fisherprice826cassetteplayeramp/","section":"Gear","summary":"This is the one that started my obsession with making amps out of cassette players. It’s very easy to do. All you need is to wire up a 1/4″ jack to the positive end of the cassette head and to ground. That’s it! You can hunt around on the circuit board until you find the right point to solder, which is what I did here.\nPlus, they tend to overdrive, so the sound that comes out of it is distorted, great for playing blues or rock. You have to press Play for it to work, which gets a chuckle every time. I ended up selling this one, and have regretted it every since. Going to have to get another one.\n","title":"Fisher Price 826 Cassette Player Amp","type":"gear"},{"content":"This is one of my favorites. It was my first attempt at making a guitar that looked “finished”, and is the first guitar I made with electric pickups. The box itself is beautiful. These Camacho boxes are popular for guitars because they have such a nice glossy finish. They are also very sturdy. I used a humbucker pickup, so the sound is clean. I added tone and volume pots, and matching silver hardware. This is one I go back to often when I want to noodle.\nTrying it out with a distortion pedal\nTesting it with a Kalimba I made that has a piezo (contact mic) in it\nThe “Master of Puppets” riff. Never had a lesson folks!\nTesting\u0026hellip;\nA little improv\nMe trying out some chords\nThe finished product\nMade this plate from an old record\nThe action is not too bad\nTone and volume pots\nBottom of the box\nUsed a scarf joint to angle the headstock\nLove the glossy finish\n","date":"4 August 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/camachocigarbox/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This is one of my favorites. It was my first attempt at making a guitar that looked “finished”, and is the first guitar I made with electric pickups. The box itself is beautiful. These Camacho boxes are popular for guitars because they have such a nice glossy finish. They are also very sturdy. I used a humbucker pickup, so the sound is clean. I added tone and volume pots, and matching silver hardware. This is one I go back to often when I want to noodle.\n","title":"Camacho Cigar Box","type":"instruments"},{"content":"I made this mic by sticking a piezo contact microphone inside a cookie tin, then added a 1/4″ jack. Doesn’t get any easier to build, and has a nice lo-fi sound. Since the piezo picks up vibrations, you have to get your mouth pretty close to the lid.\nThe finished product\nTesting it out\n","date":"2 August 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/gear/mics/cookietinwithpiezo/","section":"Gear","summary":"I made this mic by sticking a piezo contact microphone inside a cookie tin, then added a 1/4″ jack. Doesn’t get any easier to build, and has a nice lo-fi sound. Since the piezo picks up vibrations, you have to get your mouth pretty close to the lid.\nThe finished product\nTesting it out\n","title":"Cookie Tin with Piezo","type":"gear"},{"content":"This is the second diddley bow I make with this type of yard stick. See my King Edward diddley box elsewhere on this site for pictures of that one. The bridge is part of the locking mechanism from a door knob, and the sound hole cover is a drain cover.\nThe finished product\nNice colors on the lid\nProud dad\nBridge made from part of a door knob\nCut out a notch for the tuner\n","date":"20 June 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/claruscigarboxdiddleybow/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This is the second diddley bow I make with this type of yard stick. See my King Edward diddley box elsewhere on this site for pictures of that one. The bridge is part of the locking mechanism from a door knob, and the sound hole cover is a drain cover.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Clarus Cigar Box Diddley Bow","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"27 April 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/hurdy-gurdy/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Hurdy Gurdy","type":"tags"},{"content":"This one took some time to build. I originally wanted to build a version of a hurdy gurdy. A neighbor had his backyard umbrella destroyed by a windstorm, and I salvaged the crank, immediately coming up with the idea to make a hurdy gurdy. Now, hurdy gurdys are elaborate instruments, and I was not about to take on that complicated of a build. So I thought I would make a similar instrument, but with three strings. Basically a cigar box guitar but with a handle to turn a wheel that would vibrate the strings.\nMy sister in law had brought me this old crate she found, which was falling apart. It was perfect for this project. I added corner reinforcements to the box, and added a center column made from a fence post to hold the neck. I attached two springs inside the box to add reverb. I then added a neck, fretboard, etc. and completed the instrument. I got some rosin from a friend of mine, applied it to the wheel and gave it a turn. It sounded terrible! I couldn’t get this thing to make a decent sound. It was the most horrible rumble, which was very discouraging. So I put the instrument in a corner of the basement and forgot about it.\nThen one day about a year later I had a thought. What if I altered the wheel so that instead of rubbing the strings, it plucked them? I took out the wheel and cut it into a hexagon and nailed six guitar picks to it. I put it all back together, and changed the strings to four dulcimer strings. A quick turn of the handle produced a much better sound! It then occurred to me to take out three of the picks, so that when I turn the handle it strums in a pattern, which was more pleasing to hear.\nSome time after I posted pictured to Facebook I had a guy offer me money to buy it from me. This was the first time anyone had wanted to buy one of my instruments, so I sold it to him. I have regretted it ever since. This is one of the more unique instruments I have made, and wish I had kept it for myself. Oh well, live and learn I guess…\nBy the way I also made a Berimbau with one of the arms from the umbrella.\nThe finished product\nCorner reinforcements, springs, and the original wheel\nNailed the picks to the wheel\nLooks like a face\nI didn’t get the holes right on the first try. Measure once, cut twice I always say!\nThe two disks holding the bolt in place are Free Drink tickets that a buddy of mine who owns a restaurant gave me. Never did get those free drinks…\nSpring for reverb\nThe umbrella crank that was the inspiration for this project\nA three nail picture hanger to hold the strings\nI love how the edge of the box was crumbling away. Also the unintelligible writing\nI BARELY had enough room for the tuners\n","date":"27 April 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/dulcimers/hurdygurdydulcimermashup/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This one took some time to build. I originally wanted to build a version of a hurdy gurdy. A neighbor had his backyard umbrella destroyed by a windstorm, and I salvaged the crank, immediately coming up with the idea to make a hurdy gurdy. Now, hurdy gurdys are elaborate instruments, and I was not about to take on that complicated of a build. So I thought I would make a similar instrument, but with three strings. Basically a cigar box guitar but with a handle to turn a wheel that would vibrate the strings.\n","title":"Hurdy Gurdy Dulcimer Mashup","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"13 April 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pinewood-derby/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Pinewood Derby","type":"tags"},{"content":"When my son was in Scouts they had a couple of pinewood derby races. After we made the car, I couldn’t resist and turned one of the wood scraps into a kalimba. The paint job is inspired by the classic blue and white Shelby Cobra. Needless to say, it does not meet the strict rules for racing…and it was not particularly fast. But the wheels vibrate, much like they put beer bottle caps on real kalimbas to make them rattle.\nThe finished product\n","date":"13 April 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/pinewoodderbycar/","section":"Instruments","summary":"When my son was in Scouts they had a couple of pinewood derby races. After we made the car, I couldn’t resist and turned one of the wood scraps into a kalimba. The paint job is inspired by the classic blue and white Shelby Cobra. Needless to say, it does not meet the strict rules for racing…and it was not particularly fast. But the wheels vibrate, much like they put beer bottle caps on real kalimbas to make them rattle.\n","title":"Pinewood Derby Car","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"18 March 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/star-wars/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Star Wars","type":"tags"},{"content":"I had a great time making this Uke from a Star Wars lunchbox. I shaped the neck entirely by hand so it would taper at the headstock, and added a piezo so it can be played through an amplifier. It’s too bad my fingers are too big to play this comfortably, which is why I can’t play it very well. Actually, I don’t really know how to play Ukulele, so that may also have something to do with it.\nSome basic strumming…I don’t really know how to play\nThe finished product\n3/4″ jack for amplification\nMy kids happened to have an ink stamp for the Star Wars Resistance\nHeadstock shaped by hand\nLook at this amazing crafsmanship!\nSeamless scarf joint!\n","date":"18 March 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/ukuleles/starwarslunchbox/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I had a great time making this Uke from a Star Wars lunchbox. I shaped the neck entirely by hand so it would taper at the headstock, and added a piezo so it can be played through an amplifier. It’s too bad my fingers are too big to play this comfortably, which is why I can’t play it very well. Actually, I don’t really know how to play Ukulele, so that may also have something to do with it.\n","title":"Star Wars Lunchbox","type":"instruments"},{"content":"Ok this one is pretty much a joke. We spotted a toy guitar at the dollar store and thought it would be funny to turn it into a playable instrument. I added a real tuner to attempt to get a real note out of it. The tension was so strong that I had to add a wooden dowel to the inside of the guitar to keep it from bending. It was a fun little experiment for an afternoon.\nThe finished product\nIt sounds terrible!\n","date":"7 March 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/dollarstoretoyguitardiddleybow/","section":"Instruments","summary":"Ok this one is pretty much a joke. We spotted a toy guitar at the dollar store and thought it would be funny to turn it into a playable instrument. I added a real tuner to attempt to get a real note out of it. The tension was so strong that I had to add a wooden dowel to the inside of the guitar to keep it from bending. It was a fun little experiment for an afternoon.\n","title":"Dollar Store Toy Guitar Diddley Bow","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"7 March 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/toy-guitar/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Toy Guitar","type":"tags"},{"content":"My son tried his hand at making a chugger…basically a two string guitar. I helped him along, but he did most of the work himself. We added springs on the inside to add a bit of reverb. He was very excited with the results, and I was super proud!\nI highly recommend trying this project with your kids. It teaches them about handling tools, and the result is something they made and can be proud of. All you need is a box, a wooden dowel, and a couple of other random parts. A word of caution…this project takes more than a day to complete, so be prepared to encourage your child to complete it once they lose the initial interest.\nThe finished product with its proud creator\nPracticing making cuts on a wooden dowel\nNo turning back now!\nMaking room for the tuners\nSanding the headstock\nMore sanding the headstock\nFiling the underside of the headstock\nCleanup is very important\nMeasure twice, cut once!\nInstalling the eye hooks for the reverb springs\nGetting the springs ready\nDrilling the tuner holes\nInstalling the reverb springs\nInstalling the sound holes (AKA drain covers)\nLooks great!\nUsed a bolt for the bridge\nThe neck split as he drilled the tuner holes…electrical tape to the rescue!\nA quick performance with my daughter to test it out!\n","date":"25 February 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/philliesbluntchugger/","section":"Instruments","summary":"My son tried his hand at making a chugger…basically a two string guitar. I helped him along, but he did most of the work himself. We added springs on the inside to add a bit of reverb. He was very excited with the results, and I was super proud!\nI highly recommend trying this project with your kids. It teaches them about handling tools, and the result is something they made and can be proud of. All you need is a box, a wooden dowel, and a couple of other random parts. A word of caution…this project takes more than a day to complete, so be prepared to encourage your child to complete it once they lose the initial interest.\n","title":"Phillies Blunt Chugger","type":"instruments"},{"content":"My daughter wanted to try her hand at making a diddley bow…so that’s what we did. She did 90% of the work herself, with me guiding her and taking pictures. It was a bit difficult to keep an 8 year old focused enough to complete it, but in the end it came out great!\nThe finished product\nCutting the neck\nSanding the place for the tuner\nDrilling the hole to hold the string\nTest fitting the holes for the neck\nDrilling the sound holes\nAdding sound hole covers\nAdding spring for reverb\nReverb springs installed!\nInstalling the 1/4″ jack\nInstalling the eye hook to act as the nut\nHot gluing the piezo (contact mic) to the lid\nNailing the lid\nInstalling the tuner\nStringing it up\nLast minute decorating\nTesting it out\n","date":"10 February 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/diddleybowmadebymydaughter/","section":"Instruments","summary":"My daughter wanted to try her hand at making a diddley bow…so that’s what we did. She did 90% of the work herself, with me guiding her and taking pictures. It was a bit difficult to keep an 8 year old focused enough to complete it, but in the end it came out great!\nThe finished product\nCutting the neck\nSanding the place for the tuner\n","title":"Antonio Y Cleopatra Cigar Box Diddley Bow Made by my Daughter","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"6 February 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/cymbalum/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Cymbalum","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"6 February 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/tin-can/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tin Can","type":"tags"},{"content":"I watched a video by Musique De Nulle Part where he made one of these and just had to make my own. I had a scrap piece of wood that came from an old cabinet, sanded it down, and cut out notches for the tuners. I attached cans to the board with L brackets, strung it up with some old guitar strings, and that was it! I think different strings would have sounded better, but that’s all I had at the time.\nThe finished product\n","date":"6 February 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/tincancymbalum/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I watched a video by Musique De Nulle Part where he made one of these and just had to make my own. I had a scrap piece of wood that came from an old cabinet, sanded it down, and cut out notches for the tuners. I attached cans to the board with L brackets, strung it up with some old guitar strings, and that was it! I think different strings would have sounded better, but that’s all I had at the time.\n","title":"Tin Can Cymbalum","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"21 December 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bush-baked-beans/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bush Baked Beans","type":"tags"},{"content":"This canjo uses a large can of Bush baked beans as the resonator. I added a Home Depot yardstick to act as the fretboard, and welding rod for the frets. In hindsight, I should have cut a picking area by the can to make playing easier.\nThe finished product\nThreaded bolt for the nut. Welding rod for the frets\nSkull tuner\n","date":"21 December 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/canjos/bushsbakedbeanscanjo/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This canjo uses a large can of Bush baked beans as the resonator. I added a Home Depot yardstick to act as the fretboard, and welding rod for the frets. In hindsight, I should have cut a picking area by the can to make playing easier.\nThe finished product\nThreaded bolt for the nut. Welding rod for the frets\n","title":"Bush Baked Beans Canjo","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"21 December 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/canjo/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Canjo","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"21 December 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/canjos/","section":"Instruments","summary":"","title":"Canjos","type":"instruments"},{"content":"We had a tree fall in our backyard, so I took a chunk of it to make a kalimba.\nThe finished product\n","date":"17 December 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/treetrunk02/","section":"Instruments","summary":"We had a tree fall in our backyard, so I took a chunk of it to make a kalimba.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Tree Trunk 2","type":"instruments"},{"content":"My favorite skater growing up was Steve Caballero. His dragon skateboard stands out in my memory as my favorite. I had been toying with the idea of making a lapsteel out of a skateboard for some time, when I saw this Caballero model on Facebook marketplace for $20. When I went to pick it up I noticed it had a 6″ crack starting at the nose. “Perfect,” I thought, knowing that this skateboard was never to be ridden again. As I gave the guy the $20 I detected a sly smirk, like he thought he was tricking me out of my money. He had no idea what I was going to do with the skateboard…and I didn’t tell him.\nThis was my first time using an electric pickup and didn’t really know what I was doing. I embedded the pickup in the board, which resulted in it being too far away from the strings. I eventually removed the bolts to lower the action a bit.\nThe finished product\nI love all the scratches\nInverted jack plate\nFrets and fret markers are glued in place\nFlush mounted single coil pickup. Check out how the string tension is bending this bolt!\nThe strings I used\n","date":"2 December 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/caballeroskateboardlapsteel/","section":"Instruments","summary":"My favorite skater growing up was Steve Caballero. His dragon skateboard stands out in my memory as my favorite. I had been toying with the idea of making a lapsteel out of a skateboard for some time, when I saw this Caballero model on Facebook marketplace for $20. When I went to pick it up I noticed it had a 6″ crack starting at the nose. “Perfect,” I thought, knowing that this skateboard was never to be ridden again. As I gave the guy the $20 I detected a sly smirk, like he thought he was tricking me out of my money. He had no idea what I was going to do with the skateboard…and I didn’t tell him.\n","title":"Caballero Skateboard Lapsteel","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"2 December 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/lapsteel/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Lapsteel","type":"tags"},{"content":"This diddley bow has been through a couple of iterations. At first, it was a simple diddley bow I made in an afternoon. It featured a ukulele tuner, a piece of a door lock to hold the string, and a wooden plug for the bridge. I especially liked the writing on the box, which was apparently used to hold melon seeds. At some point I saw a video by the Blue Man Group where they had constructed an instrument that was played by rotating a wheel, which had plastic flaps all around its edge that would pluck the string, creating an endless strumming of the single string. I wanted to make this same sound, so I grabbed a fishing reel and attached a couple of zip ties to it. I also added some aluminum wire for frets. It is a bit clunky to play, but does the job.\nThe finished product\nNot the easiest to play\nThe first version\nSimple bridge\nI love boxes with character\nUkulele tuner\nNew York City???\n","date":"21 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/optimocigarboxwithfishingreel/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This diddley bow has been through a couple of iterations. At first, it was a simple diddley bow I made in an afternoon. It featured a ukulele tuner, a piece of a door lock to hold the string, and a wooden plug for the bridge. I especially liked the writing on the box, which was apparently used to hold melon seeds. At some point I saw a video by the Blue Man Group where they had constructed an instrument that was played by rotating a wheel, which had plastic flaps all around its edge that would pluck the string, creating an endless strumming of the single string. I wanted to make this same sound, so I grabbed a fishing reel and attached a couple of zip ties to it. I also added some aluminum wire for frets. It is a bit clunky to play, but does the job.\n","title":"Optimo Cigar Box Diddley Bow with Fishing Reel","type":"instruments"},{"content":"This build started with the unique yardstick I had. It was made from a square wooden dowel, with measurements on one edge and the name of the company on another edge. Given that it has some flex to it, I could only use it for a diddley bow, or risk it bending under string tension. The King Edward cigar box I used is a bit flimsy, so I reinforced it with wood. Looking back at these pictures I think I overdid it with the bracing, but you can never be too sure!\nAs is my preference, the hardware I used was mostly from items I had lying around. The nut is actually a eyehook that came from the 1890’s piano I found on the side of the road one day. As was the wood for the bridge. Adding a bit of fret wire completed the bridge. The string is held in place by a door lock, the kind you would use on a screen door to keep the wind from blowing it open. For the sound hole I used window screen mesh. Carving a notch in the neck allowed the Ukulele tuner to fit well.\nThe finished product\nUkulele tuner\nEyehook from 1890’s piano for the nut\nScrap wood and fret wire make the bridge\nDoor lock\nSometimes the inside of the lid looks better than the outside so I flip them\nSecuring the neck and adding bracing for the box\n","date":"19 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/kingedwardcigarboxdiddleybow/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This build started with the unique yardstick I had. It was made from a square wooden dowel, with measurements on one edge and the name of the company on another edge. Given that it has some flex to it, I could only use it for a diddley bow, or risk it bending under string tension. The King Edward cigar box I used is a bit flimsy, so I reinforced it with wood. Looking back at these pictures I think I overdid it with the bracing, but you can never be too sure!\n","title":"King Edward Cigar Box Diddley Bow","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"19 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/license-plate/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"License Plate","type":"tags"},{"content":"Got this license plate from Playero, a surf shop in Puerto Rico (¡wepa boricua!) and made this license plate guitar. To keep the Puerto Rican theme going, I used dominos for the bridge and nut. I made the box from scratch using wood that came from a couch that had been put to the curb. I added a spring in the inside, which adds a bit of reverb. There’s a piezo (contact mic) under the license plate, so it can be played through an amp.\nThe finished product\nI like how it turned out\nMaking the box from scratch\nSprings for reverb. I tried a couple sizes\nTest fitting the neck\nBack plate\nPower Ranger approved\nNut made from a domino\n","date":"19 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/licenseplateguitar/","section":"Instruments","summary":"Got this license plate from Playero, a surf shop in Puerto Rico (¡wepa boricua!) and made this license plate guitar. To keep the Puerto Rican theme going, I used dominos for the bridge and nut. I made the box from scratch using wood that came from a couch that had been put to the curb. I added a spring in the inside, which adds a bit of reverb. There’s a piezo (contact mic) under the license plate, so it can be played through an amp.\n","title":"License Plate Box Guitar","type":"instruments"},{"content":"Let’s face it, just about everything has been made out of Legos by now. I don’t think I have seen a kalimba though, until I made this one. I learned a hard lesson while making this one…it is a good idea to glue the pieces together as you build it. This is because the first time I made the box, while attempting to press a piece that was being particularly stubborn, the whole thing exploded and I had to start over!\nThe finished product\n","date":"5 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/lego/","section":"Instruments","summary":"Let’s face it, just about everything has been made out of Legos by now. I don’t think I have seen a kalimba though, until I made this one. I learned a hard lesson while making this one…it is a good idea to glue the pieces together as you build it. This is because the first time I made the box, while attempting to press a piece that was being particularly stubborn, the whole thing exploded and I had to start over!\n","title":"Lego Kalimba","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"5 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/legos/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Legos","type":"tags"},{"content":"We had a tree fall in our backyard, so I took a chunk of it to make a kalimba. I experimented with two different tine lengths to see how they would sound. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t very impressive.\nThe finished product\nTwo different tine lengths for different sounds\nI didn\u0026rsquo;t sand it too much since I liked how the cut marks give a nice texture\nGreat texture on the tree bark\n","date":"4 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/treetrunk01/","section":"Instruments","summary":"We had a tree fall in our backyard, so I took a chunk of it to make a kalimba. I experimented with two different tine lengths to see how they would sound. It wasn’t very impressive.\nThe finished product\nTwo different tine lengths for different sounds\nI didn’t sand it too much since I liked how the cut marks give a nice texture\n","title":"Tree Trunk 1","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"22 October 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/taino/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Taino","type":"tags"},{"content":"I made this kalimba as a gift for my sister. I took the wood from a tree that had fallen in our back yard. I carved the inside to make it hollow. The idea was to mimic a Sansula, which is a kalimba that is attached to a small drum to give it additional resonance. I drew the Taino symbol for the sun and added a coat of polyurethane to seal everything.\nThe finished product\nOne row of tines higher than the other\nHollowed out to get more resonance when placed on a flat surface\n","date":"22 October 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/treetrunkwithtainowoodburning/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I made this kalimba as a gift for my sister. I took the wood from a tree that had fallen in our back yard. I carved the inside to make it hollow. The idea was to mimic a Sansula, which is a kalimba that is attached to a small drum to give it additional resonance. I drew the Taino symbol for the sun and added a coat of polyurethane to seal everything.\n","title":"Tree Trunk with Taino Woodburning","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"22 October 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/woodburning/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Woodburning","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"8 October 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/piano/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Piano","type":"tags"},{"content":"Someone threw out a piano from the 1890’s, and I tried to salvage as much of it as I could. One of the pieces I was able to take was the fallboard. I made this kalimba out of it.\nThe finished product\nThe eye hooks also came from the piano\n","date":"8 October 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/pianofallboard/","section":"Instruments","summary":"Someone threw out a piano from the 1890’s, and I tried to salvage as much of it as I could. One of the pieces I was able to take was the fallboard. I made this kalimba out of it.\nThe finished product\nThe eye hooks also came from the piano\n","title":"Piano Fallboard","type":"instruments"},{"content":"This was one of my first kalimbas. I used a box from an old puzzle toy, added a lid, and spray painted it black. The tines are made from wiper blades. The tines are held in place by a grounding bar.\nThe finished product\nLeft the tines uneven for a less polished look\nMy grandson trying it out\n","date":"30 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/toybox/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This was one of my first kalimbas. I used a box from an old puzzle toy, added a lid, and spray painted it black. The tines are made from wiper blades. The tines are held in place by a grounding bar.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Toy Box","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/fake-book/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Fake Book","type":"tags"},{"content":"This one took part of an afternoon to complete. It was a simple build, just a box and a wooden dowel, a tuner and a bold for a bridge.\nAfter seeing this post about a one string instrument called a Marxolin, I added a hose splicer to this diddley bow to try it out.\nThe finished product\nFret lines are cut into the dowel\nA closer look at the box\nHose splicer to turn this diddley bow into a Marxolin\n","date":"13 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/olivertwistfakebookdiddleybow/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This one took part of an afternoon to complete. It was a simple build, just a box and a wooden dowel, a tuner and a bold for a bridge.\nAfter seeing this post about a one string instrument called a Marxolin, I added a hose splicer to this diddley bow to try it out.\nThe finished product\nFret lines are cut into the dowel\n","title":"Oliver Twist Fake Book Diddley Bow","type":"instruments"},{"content":"Lowes has these flooring samples that you can take with you to see how they might look in your house. Turns out you can also use them to make kalimbas. For this one I took two samples of engineered hardwood flooring and glued them back to back. I left the tongue and groove intact because I thought it looked interesting. I used wiper blades for the tines and a couple of grounding bars to hold them.\nThe finished product\nTongue and groove visible in the front\n","date":"25 June 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/engineeredhardwoodflooringsample/","section":"Instruments","summary":"Lowes has these flooring samples that you can take with you to see how they might look in your house. Turns out you can also use them to make kalimbas. For this one I took two samples of engineered hardwood flooring and glued them back to back. I left the tongue and groove intact because I thought it looked interesting. I used wiper blades for the tines and a couple of grounding bars to hold them.\n","title":"Engineered Hardwood Flooring Sample","type":"instruments"},{"content":"My son picked out this box at a thrift store and asked me to make a kalimba out of it. I made it, and added a piezo (contact mic) inside so that it can be played through an amp. The tines are made from wiper blades, and they are attached to the box by a grounding bar.\nThe finished product\nTrying it out\n","date":"16 June 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/boxwithpiezomic/","section":"Instruments","summary":"My son picked out this box at a thrift store and asked me to make a kalimba out of it. I made it, and added a piezo (contact mic) inside so that it can be played through an amp. The tines are made from wiper blades, and they are attached to the box by a grounding bar.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Box with Piezo Mic","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"16 June 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/piezo/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Piezo","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"19 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/didgeridoo/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Didgeridoo","type":"tags"},{"content":"This one is pretty basic. a long PVC tube with an endcap that has a smaller diameter. I never did get a good sound out of it, since playing the Didgeridoo is hard enough\nTesting it out\n","date":"19 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/world/pvcdidgeridoo/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This one is pretty basic. a long PVC tube with an endcap that has a smaller diameter. I never did get a good sound out of it, since playing the Didgeridoo is hard enough\nTesting it out\n","title":"PVC Didgeridoo","type":"instruments"},{"content":"A diddley bow is one of the simplest instruments you can make. All you need is a piece of wood, a string, two bridges to hold the string above the wood, and a tuner, if you want a specific note. This makes it a perfect project to make with your kids. And that’s exactly what we did here, when they were 5 and 7 years old. We used scrap wood for the body of the diddley bow. We got fancy and added an Altoids tin on one end with a piezo (contact mic) inside of it, so you can play it through an amplifier. I think the most fun part of the project was painting them. I let them pick the colors they wanted to use, and they did all the painting themselves. I purposely did not cover the sawhorses we used so they would get paint all over them, and to this day I remember this project whenever I look at them. To add a bit of a science lesson, we woodburned their names on the back using a magnifying glass (which came from my scanner camera – see elsewhere on this site for details on that one).\nThe finished products\nSpray painting\nAfter 75 coats of paint…\nAdding a hinge to hold the string\nDrilling a hole for the tuner\nTurning the eye bolt to act as string tree\nApplying clear coat\nThe most important step…applying stickers\nDrilling the hole for the tuner\nStringing it up\nUsing magnifying glass to burn her name on the back\nFinished Altoids tin with piezo and bolt for bridge\nStringing it up\nProud of his creation\nFinal tweaks\nTrying it out\n","date":"6 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/mykidsmadethesediddleybows/","section":"Instruments","summary":"A diddley bow is one of the simplest instruments you can make. All you need is a piece of wood, a string, two bridges to hold the string above the wood, and a tuner, if you want a specific note. This makes it a perfect project to make with your kids. And that’s exactly what we did here, when they were 5 and 7 years old. We used scrap wood for the body of the diddley bow. We got fancy and added an Altoids tin on one end with a piezo (contact mic) inside of it, so you can play it through an amplifier. I think the most fun part of the project was painting them. I let them pick the colors they wanted to use, and they did all the painting themselves. I purposely did not cover the sawhorses we used so they would get paint all over them, and to this day I remember this project whenever I look at them. To add a bit of a science lesson, we woodburned their names on the back using a magnifying glass (which came from my scanner camera – see elsewhere on this site for details on that one).\n","title":"My Kids Made These Diddley Bows","type":"instruments"},{"content":"I had a can of red wood stain, so I decided to make a diddley bow that looked like Eddie Van Halen’s classic Frankenstrat. The body is a scrap piece of wood that I had lying around. I got the paint job and black and red lines as close as I could to the original. I used a “Cap-O-Tone” from C.B. Gitty and an Altoids tin to add a piezo and volume knob so it can be played through an amp. The bridge is held to the frame by a cabinet hinge spray painted black. Later I added some frets from white wire hangers, and fret markers from thumbtacks\nThe finished product\nYou can see the fret wire and fret markers as my grandson plays it\nMy son giving it a try\nCabinet hinge\nReady to play\nAltoids tin and bold make the nut\nCap-O-Tone from C.B. Gitty\n","date":"22 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/eddievanhalentribute/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I had a can of red wood stain, so I decided to make a diddley bow that looked like Eddie Van Halen’s classic Frankenstrat. The body is a scrap piece of wood that I had lying around. I got the paint job and black and red lines as close as I could to the original. I used a “Cap-O-Tone” from C.B. Gitty and an Altoids tin to add a piezo and volume knob so it can be played through an amp. The bridge is held to the frame by a cabinet hinge spray painted black. Later I added some frets from white wire hangers, and fret markers from thumbtacks\n","title":"Eddie Van Halen Tribute","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"22 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/van-halen/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Van Halen","type":"tags"},{"content":"I got this box that looks like the book War and Peace and my first thought was to make a guitar out of it. At the time I was still pretty new to making instruments and you can tell, given how I made the neck. I thought I would try a different design for how to make the headstock. It was an interesting idea, but makes the neck so thick you can’t really play the first 2-3 frets. This is how we learn!\nI made the bridge from a scrap piece of wood, and gave it its shape by using woodboring spade drill bits. Behind the bridge I added a piece of leather so that the strings wouldn’t cut into the box. It came from the tag on a purse’s zipper if I remember right. The fret markers are screws that I spray painted black. The neck is made from wood too…I hadn’t experimented with bone yet. All in due time…\nTesting it out\nThe finished product\nAdding cuts for the neck, with reinforcements\nThe fretboard is a yardstick with all the numbers and markings sanded off. This took FOREEEEEEVER…\nPiezo (contact mic) inside a bootlecap, glued to the inside of the case so we can play this gitty through an amp\nLeather tag to prevent the strings from cutting into the box\nView from above\nSpray-painted screws for fret markers\nI mean, it seemed like a good idea at the time. It’s an unusual design, although not very user-friendly since it\u0026rsquo;s difficult to use the first couple of fret positions\nI used these strings from C.B. Gitty\n","date":"15 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/warandpeacefakebook/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I got this box that looks like the book War and Peace and my first thought was to make a guitar out of it. At the time I was still pretty new to making instruments and you can tell, given how I made the neck. I thought I would try a different design for how to make the headstock. It was an interesting idea, but makes the neck so thick you can’t really play the first 2-3 frets. This is how we learn!\n","title":"War and Peace Fake Book","type":"instruments"},{"content":"My wife had this Opus One crate that I always wanted to do something with. I thought of making a dulcimer, having never actually seen one in real life. I had a bunch of scrap wood ribs from a bed, so I used one for the neck. The dimensions are all off, since the neck is too wide compared to a regular dulcimer. But I think it turned out pretty good otherwise.\nTesting it out\nTesting it out\nThe finished product\n","date":"15 January 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/dulcimers/opusonewinecrate/","section":"Instruments","summary":"My wife had this Opus One crate that I always wanted to do something with. I thought of making a dulcimer, having never actually seen one in real life. I had a bunch of scrap wood ribs from a bed, so I used one for the neck. The dimensions are all off, since the neck is too wide compared to a regular dulcimer. But I think it turned out pretty good otherwise.\n","title":"Opus One Wine Crate Dulcimer","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"15 January 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/wine-crate/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Wine Crate","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"17 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/coca-cola/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Coca-Cola","type":"tags"},{"content":"I made this one as a joke. Took a random scrap of wood, and added one of this small cans of Coca Cola as the resonator. Added a Ukulele tuner and a handful of frets, positioned by ear. It doesn’t sound very good, and the frets don’t really follow a scale. Although I like how I installed the tuner, with the string going through the neck so the tuner could be installed with the knob on the top of the neck.\nThe finished product\nMy son doing his Buckethead impression\n","date":"17 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/canjos/minicocacolacanjo/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I made this one as a joke. Took a random scrap of wood, and added one of this small cans of Coca Cola as the resonator. Added a Ukulele tuner and a handful of frets, positioned by ear. It doesn’t sound very good, and the frets don’t really follow a scale. Although I like how I installed the tuner, with the string going through the neck so the tuner could be installed with the knob on the top of the neck.\n","title":"Mini Coca-Cola Canjo","type":"instruments"},{"content":"This instrument has gone through a few iterations. Initially I wanted to make a harp-like instrument with a bridge in the middle, so two people could play it at the same time, one on each end. The first version of this instrument ended up like that, but the sound wasn’t very good. This was because the strings were not long enough on either end to make a good sound. I ended up moving the bridge slightly towards one end and trying it that way. This made a better sound. I used Chinese guzheng strings on this first version, but it turned out they were not great quality and a few snapped.\nSome time later I decided to get rid of the middle bridge and just make it a regular harp. I bought a pack of 10 lyre strings and that’s what’s on there to this day. You can play it by plucking it with your fingers, using a guitar pick, or by striking the strings with some kind of stick. I ended up using stakes from a camping tent, which if you hold them loosely and let them bounce on the strings makes a nice repeated note, much like a Marxophone.\nOne final way to play it is to let the wind do it for you! If you hold the harp somewhere where high winds can pass through the strings, say in front of a window or door, the wind vibrates the strings, which creates an eerie atmospheric sound. These are called Aeolian harps, and you can mount them outside so they sing whenever there are high winds.\nThe finished product\nThe first iteration\nMoved the bridge over to one side to get a better sound\n","date":"15 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/harps/domaineduperecabochewinecrateharp/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This instrument has gone through a few iterations. Initially I wanted to make a harp-like instrument with a bridge in the middle, so two people could play it at the same time, one on each end. The first version of this instrument ended up like that, but the sound wasn’t very good. This was because the strings were not long enough on either end to make a good sound. I ended up moving the bridge slightly towards one end and trying it that way. This made a better sound. I used Chinese guzheng strings on this first version, but it turned out they were not great quality and a few snapped.\n","title":"Domaine du Père Caboche Wine Crate Harp","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"15 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/wine/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Wine","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/coffee/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Coffee","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/yaucono/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Yaucono","type":"tags"},{"content":"This one is as stripped down as they come. Diatonic fretting right on the neck, no fret board. I used a spare ukulele tuner and wire hanger for the frets. This was one of my first canjos.\nThe finished product\n","date":"1 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/canjos/yauconocoffeecanjo/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This one is as stripped down as they come. Diatonic fretting right on the neck, no fret board. I used a spare ukulele tuner and wire hanger for the frets. This was one of my first canjos.\nThe finished product\n","title":"Yaucono Coffee Canjo","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"12 November 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/babcock-hovey/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Babcock Hovey","type":"tags"},{"content":"My son was in Boy Scouts for a couple of years, and we went to a weekend camping trip at their Babcock Hovey Scout Camp. On our way to dig for fossils by the lake, I saw this piece of wood floating by the shore that had obviously been there for a while. There was faint blue paint, which had slowly eroded. I brought it back with us and made this guitar out of it. The top and back are made with this wood, and the sides are made from an old pallet that a neighbor had turned into a wine rack, but then discarded. I wanted the guitar to look old and worn out. The bridge is made from an old ruler, and a paintbrush without the handle or bristles\nThe finished product\nEverything about this guitar says “wear and tear”\nAn old ruler holds the bridge, which is a part of a paint brush\nI carved the nut from a dog bone\nInstead of fret markers, I sanded away some of the stain\nThe sound hole cover is a spatula\nOld cabinet hinge, gently sanded to make it look a bit more worn\nI love how the paint is chipping away\n","date":"12 November 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/driftwoodfrombabcockhovey/","section":"Instruments","summary":"My son was in Boy Scouts for a couple of years, and we went to a weekend camping trip at their Babcock Hovey Scout Camp. On our way to dig for fossils by the lake, I saw this piece of wood floating by the shore that had obviously been there for a while. There was faint blue paint, which had slowly eroded. I brought it back with us and made this guitar out of it. The top and back are made with this wood, and the sides are made from an old pallet that a neighbor had turned into a wine rack, but then discarded. I wanted the guitar to look old and worn out. The bridge is made from an old ruler, and a paintbrush without the handle or bristles\n","title":"Guitar Made from Driftwood from Babcock Hovey","type":"instruments"},{"content":"I went to Cuba in 2016 and brought back this cigar box with the intention of making a guitar out of it. This is the one that got me hooked on making instruments after making my first one in 2009. The neck came from a large picture frame that my neighbor was getting rid of. I made the fret board from a Home Depot yardstick, which took some time to sand away all the markings. The sound holes are drain covers, and the strings are attached to the box using a cabinet hinge.\nThe (mostly) final product…I added fret markers later by using some screws\nI love all the scribbles. The previous owner of this box was doing some math…\nBolt bridge, and cabinet hinge to hold the strings\nMaking space for the lid to close over the neck. You make a bunch of shallow cuts, then use a screwdriver to snap them off. Then sand down to smooth\nThis took forever!\nCarefully selecting the right place to make the neck\nAdding box corners because they make the gitty look fancy\nUsing a cabinet hinge as a string tree\nHaven’t memorized the fret numbers yet? Then use a sharpie and write them on the side of the neck!\nTesting it out\nMy beta tester\nI was very happy with how this one came out\n","date":"12 November 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/stluisrey/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I went to Cuba in 2016 and brought back this cigar box with the intention of making a guitar out of it. This is the one that got me hooked on making instruments after making my first one in 2009. The neck came from a large picture frame that my neighbor was getting rid of. I made the fret board from a Home Depot yardstick, which took some time to sand away all the markings. The sound holes are drain covers, and the strings are attached to the box using a cabinet hinge.\n","title":"Saint Luis Rey Cigar Box","type":"instruments"},{"content":"My son made this diddley bow out of scrap materials. It’s a simple project to make with kids to start teaching them about how stringed instruments work. All you need is a stick, a can and a string…that’s it!\nMy son with his creation\n","date":"7 September 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/myproudsonandhiscreation/","section":"Instruments","summary":"My son made this diddley bow out of scrap materials. It’s a simple project to make with kids to start teaching them about how stringed instruments work. All you need is a stick, a can and a string…that’s it!\nMy son with his creation\n","title":"My Proud Son and His Creation","type":"instruments"},{"content":"If you have ever seen the Blue Man Group you’ve seen them play this instrument, which consists of PVC tubes of different lengths, which they strike with flat rubber mallets. According to Wikipedia this instrument originates in Papua New Guinea and is called a Thongophone…you learn something new every day!\nI wanted the kids to be involved in making this instrument, so they helped as much as possible, mostly in the paint department. Being kids, they of course could not agree on a color, so we painted the frame half pink, and half blue. It was a lot of fun to make, and sounded ok when done. Using tubes of wider diameter would create a deeper and louder sound, which I’ll keep in mind if we ever make another one of these.\nThe finished product\nMaking the frame\n","date":"30 August 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/pvctubulum/","section":"Instruments","summary":"If you have ever seen the Blue Man Group you’ve seen them play this instrument, which consists of PVC tubes of different lengths, which they strike with flat rubber mallets. According to Wikipedia this instrument originates in Papua New Guinea and is called a Thongophone…you learn something new every day!\nI wanted the kids to be involved in making this instrument, so they helped as much as possible, mostly in the paint department. Being kids, they of course could not agree on a color, so we painted the frame half pink, and half blue. It was a lot of fun to make, and sounded ok when done. Using tubes of wider diameter would create a deeper and louder sound, which I’ll keep in mind if we ever make another one of these.\n","title":"PVC Tubulum","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"30 August 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/tubulum/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tubulum","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"9 July 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/coconut/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Coconut","type":"tags"},{"content":"During a trip to Costco I saw they sold these packs of ice cream, individually wrapped inside a half coconut. I immediately grabbed a pack with the full intention of making a kalimba out of the coconut. This was one of my first ones, experimenting with how to hold the tines down, using a piece of wood from a cutting board and a steel bracket with two screws.\nThe finished product. Looks a bit like a surprised Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle\nSide view\nRaw materials. The sound board came from a cutting board\nBoo!\n","date":"9 July 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/coconut/","section":"Instruments","summary":"During a trip to Costco I saw they sold these packs of ice cream, individually wrapped inside a half coconut. I immediately grabbed a pack with the full intention of making a kalimba out of the coconut. This was one of my first ones, experimenting with how to hold the tines down, using a piece of wood from a cutting board and a steel bracket with two screws.\n","title":"Coconut","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"1 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/1800s/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"1800's","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pianp/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Pianp","type":"tags"},{"content":"One day we went to visit my friend’s house, and a couple of houses down from his we spotted this piano that had been thrown out. It was in pieces, like it had been dropped from the sky. I asked my friend to come with me and we salvaged as much as we could, knowing that I would be using the parts for projects for some time. I made a piece of art from the keys, saved all the hammers, and all the eye hooks, which I have used as string trees and in my kalimbas for years. I finally ran out of them in 2022. I cut the fall board into a few pieces, made a kalimba our of one piece and hung the piece with the company logo as its own art piece. The coolest part is that while taking it apart, I saw pieces that were hand signed, and had dates in the late 1800’s.\nThe final product. I like how many of the keys are chipped\nSorting the keys\nTaking the hammers off\nWe took each piece apart…took quite a while\nSigned, I think, in September 1894 by \u0026lsquo;Mary\u0026rsquo;\nThis one looks like it says \u0026lsquo;Cornelius\u0026rsquo;\nPatent from 1878. I used every one of the 100+ eye hooks on other projects\nI cleaned each key by hand with water and vinegar\nMaking my wall display. I didn’t have clamps so I used rubber bands to glue together the pieces a few at a time, then weights to push together the larger pieces.\nI hung this part of the fallboard by itself\n","date":"1 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/recycled1800spiano/","section":"Instruments","summary":"One day we went to visit my friend’s house, and a couple of houses down from his we spotted this piano that had been thrown out. It was in pieces, like it had been dropped from the sky. I asked my friend to come with me and we salvaged as much as we could, knowing that I would be using the parts for projects for some time. I made a piece of art from the keys, saved all the hammers, and all the eye hooks, which I have used as string trees and in my kalimbas for years. I finally ran out of them in 2022. I cut the fall board into a few pieces, made a kalimba our of one piece and hung the piece with the company logo as its own art piece. The coolest part is that while taking it apart, I saw pieces that were hand signed, and had dates in the late 1800’s.\n","title":"Recycled 1800’s Piano","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"1 June 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/recycling/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Recycling","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"24 April 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/berimbau/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Berimbau","type":"tags"},{"content":"The berimbau is an instrument from Brazil. One day my neighbor had a backyard umbrella that broke in a windstorm, so I grabbed one of the arms to make this instrument. The traditional berimbau string is made with the wire from the inside of a car tire, which keeps the inside hole sturdy against the rim. So imagine my wife’s reaction when I walked in the house one day and said “Honey, let me explain why there’s an old tire in the garage.” After some digging I was able to get the wire out and put together this nice instrument. The resonator is typically a gourd of some kind, but not having access to one, and having a child that was still on formula, I used a formula container instead. Works like a charm. A stick and a rock is all you need once the instrument is put together. The rock is used to create a bridge to change the pitch of the tone, and the stick is used to strike the wire to make the sound.\nBy the way I also made a Hurdy Gurdy Dulcimer mashup with the handle of the umbrella.\nThe finished product\n","date":"24 April 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/world/berimbau/","section":"Instruments","summary":"The berimbau is an instrument from Brazil. One day my neighbor had a backyard umbrella that broke in a windstorm, so I grabbed one of the arms to make this instrument. The traditional berimbau string is made with the wire from the inside of a car tire, which keeps the inside hole sturdy against the rim. So imagine my wife’s reaction when I walked in the house one day and said “Honey, let me explain why there’s an old tire in the garage.” After some digging I was able to get the wire out and put together this nice instrument. The resonator is typically a gourd of some kind, but not having access to one, and having a child that was still on formula, I used a formula container instead. Works like a charm. A stick and a rock is all you need once the instrument is put together. The rock is used to create a bridge to change the pitch of the tone, and the stick is used to strike the wire to make the sound.\n","title":"Berimbau","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"20 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bass/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bass","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"20 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bucket/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bucket","type":"tags"},{"content":"I wanted to recreate the Trashcan Bass that my dad made and quickly threw this Home Depot bucket version. The sound was definitely more muted than the steel drum version\nNot quite as cool as my dad\u0026rsquo;s version\n","date":"20 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/bucketstandupbass/","section":"Instruments","summary":"I wanted to recreate the Trashcan Bass that my dad made and quickly threw this Home Depot bucket version. The sound was definitely more muted than the steel drum version\nNot quite as cool as my dad’s version\n","title":"Bucket Standup Bass","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"20 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/home-depot/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Home Depot","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"19 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/marimba/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Marimba","type":"tags"},{"content":"For this one I took a bunch of scrap wood and cut it into individual pieces, trimming them until they made the right onte. Just something I threw together, but my kids seemed to enjoy it for a while.\nThe kids trying it out\n","date":"19 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/marimba/","section":"Instruments","summary":"For this one I took a bunch of scrap wood and cut it into individual pieces, trimming them until they made the right onte. Just something I threw together, but my kids seemed to enjoy it for a while.\nThe kids trying it out\n","title":"Marimba","type":"instruments"},{"content":"Here are my first few attempts at a diddley bow. I changed it up a couple of times, but the concept stayed pretty consistent. I started with a scrap piece of wood that had been used as a property marker for snow plows to avoid tearing up my lawn (hence the blue paint on one end). I added a couple of screws to hold the string, and a couple of beer bottles to add tension. Since the wooden stake is so narrow, I had to add a separate board to keep it stable on a table.\nThe finished product\nAdded a cork for stability while playing on a table\nBeta testing\nA different version, this time with a tin can and a mint tin\nMy grandson giving it a try\n","date":"19 March 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/diddleybows/myfirstdiddleybow/","section":"Instruments","summary":"Here are my first few attempts at a diddley bow. I changed it up a couple of times, but the concept stayed pretty consistent. I started with a scrap piece of wood that had been used as a property marker for snow plows to avoid tearing up my lawn (hence the blue paint on one end). I added a couple of screws to hold the string, and a couple of beer bottles to add tension. Since the wooden stake is so narrow, I had to add a separate board to keep it stable on a table.\n","title":"My First Diddley Bow","type":"instruments"},{"content":"My wife was going to throw out this cutting board, so I immediately rescued it from the landfill and turned into a kalimba. I liked the small pyramids cut out on top. Almost like it challenges you to play it and not get hurt :)\nI used wiper blades for the tines, and a long grounding bar to hold them in place. I colored some of the tines with a marker to try to have some way to tell them apart, but it came off after a while.\nThe finished product. Try not to hurt your hands when playing it!\nLove that smile\nTrying it out\n","date":"10 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/kalimbas/cuttingboard/","section":"Instruments","summary":"My wife was going to throw out this cutting board, so I immediately rescued it from the landfill and turned into a kalimba. I liked the small pyramids cut out on top. Almost like it challenges you to play it and not get hurt :)\nI used wiper blades for the tines, and a long grounding bar to hold them in place. I colored some of the tines with a marker to try to have some way to tell them apart, but it came off after a while.\n","title":"Cutting Board","type":"instruments"},{"content":"A somewhat easy project to make with the kids. All you need is a PVC tube and a couple of endcaps to make the stick. Then you nail a bunch of nails in a spiral pattern, throw a cup or two of un-popped popcorn or beans, and you have yourself a rain stick. We decorated this one with black paint and colorful string wrapped around the nails.\nOne of my favorite pictures. Such sass!\nThe finished product\nColorful string to make it pop\nWe used quite a lot of nails\nAdding nails\nAdding nails\nAdding string\nAdding string\n","date":"1 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/pvcrainstick/","section":"Instruments","summary":"A somewhat easy project to make with the kids. All you need is a PVC tube and a couple of endcaps to make the stick. Then you nail a bunch of nails in a spiral pattern, throw a cup or two of un-popped popcorn or beans, and you have yourself a rain stick. We decorated this one with black paint and colorful string wrapped around the nails.\nOne of my favorite pictures. Such sass!\n","title":"PVC Rain Stick","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/rain-stick/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Rain Stick","type":"tags"},{"content":"Ok this is more of a kids grade school project kinda thing. All you need is a plastic bottle. Cut out a sound hole. Attach a few screws, and put rubber bands across the hole. Use crayons for the bridge and nut. Strum the rubber bands. Done!\nThe finished product\n","date":"27 December 2015","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/juiceandsodabottlesandrubberbands/","section":"Instruments","summary":"Ok this is more of a kids grade school project kinda thing. All you need is a plastic bottle. Cut out a sound hole. Attach a few screws, and put rubber bands across the hole. Use crayons for the bridge and nut. Strum the rubber bands. Done!\nThe finished product\n","title":"Juice and Soda Bottles and Rubber Bands","type":"instruments"},{"content":"This is the one that started this crazy hobby of mine. One day I spotted a Make Magazine article for making a cigar box guitar. I had never made anything in my life, and didn’t even own any tools. In fact, I bought my first set of power tools to make this guitar. I went to a cigar store and got this box, and for some reason had a scrap 1×2 that I used as the neck. It was simply gluing the stick to the box, the simplest way to make a guitar. The article calls for making your own tuners out of bolts, so I did that. It also has the strings made from twine, so I did that too. This wasn’t a guitar to be played, it was to be displayed. And so it stayed, for a number of years. Once I got really hooked on making instruments a few years later, I went back and added real tuners, real guitar strings and a piezo (contact mic). It is played with a slide since there are no frets on it.\nThe finished product\nBack of the guitar\nAt one point I tried to make a fancy bridge that would transfer the string vibrations directly to the box…\n…and it didn’t work\nThe reason there are so many holes is that I initially drilled them on the wrong side. As the saying goes, measure never, cut twice!\nTuners made from bolts\nLook at these two…\n…I mean, look at that face\nOriginal bridge with twine for strings. Those screws poking out like that can’t be safe…\nIt was a complete coincidence that the box and neck matched colors\n","date":"11 October 2009","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/guitars/myfirstcigarboxguitar/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This is the one that started this crazy hobby of mine. One day I spotted a Make Magazine article for making a cigar box guitar. I had never made anything in my life, and didn’t even own any tools. In fact, I bought my first set of power tools to make this guitar. I went to a cigar store and got this box, and for some reason had a scrap 1×2 that I used as the neck. It was simply gluing the stick to the box, the simplest way to make a guitar. The article calls for making your own tuners out of bolts, so I did that. It also has the strings made from twine, so I did that too. This wasn’t a guitar to be played, it was to be displayed. And so it stayed, for a number of years. Once I got really hooked on making instruments a few years later, I went back and added real tuners, real guitar strings and a piezo (contact mic). It is played with a slide since there are no frets on it.\n","title":"My First Cigar Box Guitar","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"20 August 2009","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/scanner/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Scanner","type":"tags"},{"content":"This is the first weird camera I made. I don\u0026rsquo;t remember where I got the idea for this. Regardless, this is basically two cardboard boxes. One box is inside the other and can slide in and out for focusing. On the front of the box is the \u0026ldquo;lens\u0026rdquo;, which is a magnifying glass. The inside of the box is blacked out, and I added black foam core to cover the part of the scanner outside the camera. The whole thing was held together by rubber bands. Professional! Instead of using film, a flatbed scanner is attached to the back of the \u0026ldquo;camera.\u0026rdquo; This is basically the precursor to the Time Warp filter on Snapchat, decades before it was released!\nTo take a picture, just aim it at something, then press Scan on the computer attached to the scanner. The scanner I was using at the time would save the images as PDFs, so I would have to convert them to jpg if I wanted an actual image.\nEventually the scanner died, as did the Windows XP laptop I used for it, and I repurposed it into a different kind of camera.\nThe finished product\nTop view. I always get a chuckle out of the \u0026ldquo;Made in China\u0026rdquo; label\nThe first images I took were self portraits as a test to see if it worked. I was thrilled to see an actual image! First picture taken was a selfie\nMoving my head during the scan created this garbled effect\nTo create cool effects you had to time it just right. Typically the \u0026ldquo;photographer\u0026rdquo; would watch the light from the scanner and guess as to when the person in the phoot had to move. Two heads! This took a few attempts\u0026hellip;\nA precursor to the Spiderman pointing meme?\nHere are a few more images. This is the view from the town house in Melbourne, FL I used to live in. Later I moved to a different house in Melbourne, so I experimented with creating panoramas of the pool\u0026hellip;one picture at a time, stitched together by hand using GIMP. I left the \u0026ldquo;frame\u0026rdquo; made by the tape on the box\nHere I cropped out the tape\nI used software to automatically stitch this one together\u0026hellip;I think I like the manual ones better.\n","date":"20 August 2009","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/photography/scannercamera/","section":"Photography","summary":"This is the first weird camera I made. I don’t remember where I got the idea for this. Regardless, this is basically two cardboard boxes. One box is inside the other and can slide in and out for focusing. On the front of the box is the “lens”, which is a magnifying glass. The inside of the box is blacked out, and I added black foam core to cover the part of the scanner outside the camera. The whole thing was held together by rubber bands. Professional! Instead of using film, a flatbed scanner is attached to the back of the “camera.” This is basically the precursor to the Time Warp filter on Snapchat, decades before it was released!\n","title":"Scanner Camera","type":"photography"},{"content":"This may be where I got my interest in making instruments, if delayed by a few decades. My father made this bass out of a galvanized steel trash can, a broom stick and a rope. Brackets covered in tattered duct tape hold up one side to let the sound out. He called it “zafa-bajo,” a combination of the words “zafacón” for trashcan, and “bajo” for bass. I remember he would play this at parties to the delight of the crowd. It was decorated with stickers from Artic-Kar, the family business. After he passed away in 2020 I inherited it, and I have to say it make a nice rumble. I suspect that the galvanized steel construction makes it sound better than an aluminum trash can. I took these pictures in January 2022, showing the wear and tear the years have brought.\nEvery single thing in this picture is cool\nIn 1997 he drew up plans and sent them to me\nNo clue what this sticker used to say\nStickers for the family business\nDuct tape will last forever\n","date":"1 January 1970","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/instruments/miscinstruments/trashcanbass/","section":"Instruments","summary":"This may be where I got my interest in making instruments, if delayed by a few decades. My father made this bass out of a galvanized steel trash can, a broom stick and a rope. Brackets covered in tattered duct tape hold up one side to let the sound out. He called it “zafa-bajo,” a combination of the words “zafacón” for trashcan, and “bajo” for bass. I remember he would play this at parties to the delight of the crowd. It was decorated with stickers from Artic-Kar, the family business. After he passed away in 2020 I inherited it, and I have to say it make a nice rumble. I suspect that the galvanized steel construction makes it sound better than an aluminum trash can. I took these pictures in January 2022, showing the wear and tear the years have brought.\n","title":"My Father’s Trashcan Bass","type":"instruments"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 1970","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/trashcan/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Trashcan","type":"tags"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/authors/","section":"Authors","summary":"","title":"Authors","type":"authors"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/series/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Series","type":"series"}]