by Crimethinc. Workers' Collective
Available in 284 free installments
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underneath, looking like a bridge. Repeat this process with each of your lengths of two-by-four. These are your keys.
Drill a horizontal hole across the end of each key. The hole should be big enough for string to pass through.
Place the keys on the foam rubber in the order you want them. Sew each one in place by passing the string up through the bottom of the foam, through the end of a key, then back into the foam. Leave the string loose; the keys should be able to sHde around on the foam a bit.
Bang on your marimba with sawed-oflf broom handles.
You can make quite an impressive, arresting noise by shaking a large piece of sheet metal; these should be easy to find unattended at construction sites.
When fixed to a surface, these little discs turn vibrations into a tiny signal that can be amplified by guitar amplifiers and P.A. systems. Tape them to your temples when you are eating. Glue one to the bridge of your acoustic guitar or bass. Swallow one and let the wires run out of your mouth to your amp while you digest this book. Stick one to a small, quiet percussion device.
PiEZo Buzzer ?You have most likely seen these things before. They are thin and flat brass discs about the size of a quarter. You see them inside telephones, where they act as speakers, microphones, and ringers; they also serve as speakers for musical greeting cards. If you can't scavenge one, it is best to order them. Radio Shack offers a wide assortment of them, but they all come encased in a plastic housing that is hard to open without causing damage; these also have an unnecessary circuit board attached.
1/4" JACK?These can usually be scavenged from old guitars, stereo equipment, dead amps, mixers, or similar musical equipment?basically anything that uses guitar cords or 1/4" headphone jacks. They can also be found at electronics stores.
Piezo Buzzer Contact Microphone
Ingredients
Musical Intruments iS7
Flux-core solder ?thin solid-core solder with an electronics Rux paste will also work Insulated wire ?Stranded is better than solid wire because it is more flexible and
easier to solder. Thinner is better; don't go too much thicker than the wires that are
inside telephone cords. Soldering iron
Instructions
You can make drumsticks for your
marching bucket band out of the
wooden handles of discarded
mops and brooms; tiiese are often
easy to find, as they don't fit in
many trash cans (figure 0.4).
If the piezo buzzer comes with its own wires already on, solder these wires to the two leads of your 1/4" jack. If you have a piezo disc that has no leads, strip the ends of two wires and solder them to the two contact points that ought to be obvious on the disc. Solder quickly, avoiding heating up the disc too much. Discs are really delicate?you can expect to ruin a few before you get the hang of this.
Mount both disc and jack securely to the item that is to be amplified. It is best to glue the disc directly on a surface. If that is impossible, use a tight rubber band. It is important to attach the mic firmly: it will pick up its own rattling if it isn't secure. Attach your jack securely to a place where it will not interfere wdth vibrations. Plug the 1/4" instrument cable into your device and an amplifier of some sort, and you should be in business.
Piezo pickups are extremely sensitive. The signal is very crisp and tinny so you may want to play around with the EQ. When you get it sounding sweet, turn the little "master volume" knob on the front of the amp up to eleven and make friends and enemies dance and give up, respectively.
Musical Intruments 388
This bow will work on most any stringed instrument, q^mbal, or musical saw, and is Insttument Bow exceptionally easy to make.
Glue A thin, flexible piece of wood the
A WOOD FILE LENGTH OF THE BOW YOU WANT
Drill A spool of thin monofilament
FISHING LINE
Some dry pine sap for rosin ?I get mine from a building downtown where a huge pine board perpetually leaks sap; you can also spot it bubbling from wounds in living pines. You want it to be a bit sun-dried, not runny or sticky. When it's dry, you can crack it off with a knife.
Ingredients
