UPDATE: Maker Faire Detroit: EXCELLENT TIMES.
We were trying to transport castle-building materials to the Faire in a 1950's schoolbus, which broke down about 20 minutes out of Ann Arbor... after one leg of the base (strapped to the roof by Valdés) snapped off, before we forgot to unstrap it and actually bring it to Detroit, at which point Noam uttered a primal scream.Things got better...
But I did have a lot of spare time on the bus to work on the 'tar, which in the end was outfitted with three pickups, one behind each set of bolts (which aren't actually held in there by anything but angled pressure and friction) and one on the bridge. The bridge is just a plastic lid, set on an empty Altoids tin for height.
On Sunday afternoon, I headed over to OmniCorp Detroit's booth for an electronic music play session. I had the 'tar strapped on with my LED rope dart, and plugged into the Angry Amp. Here I'm also wearing the superpowered goggles and juggling machine. The process of walking became a bit interesting...
As yet, it's nothing much; this is what I threw together last night and this morning. Most of the building will happen at the AHA! Shop tonight, and it shall have many strings, and longer ones. My hope is to get a glorious bass sound out of it by the time we head to the Faire.
Piezo pickup taped to an Altoids tin. Moveable bridge! I'll want to have this affixed somehow, though, as the tin/bridge likes to shift around during playing. Fortunately, the grip tape provides a great surface.
Next up: I've found that it does work to wire multiple piezos in parallel to a single jack, so that's happening. I may add more bridges to the 'tar, in which case there'd be a piezo on each... or perhaps they'll just go on the back of the board.
Later on, I shall probably also make a chainmail strap for this.
But I did have a lot of spare time on the bus to work on the 'tar, which in the end was outfitted with three pickups, one behind each set of bolts (which aren't actually held in there by anything but angled pressure and friction) and one on the bridge. The bridge is just a plastic lid, set on an empty Altoids tin for height.
On Sunday afternoon, I headed over to OmniCorp Detroit's booth for an electronic music play session. I had the 'tar strapped on with my LED rope dart, and plugged into the Angry Amp. Here I'm also wearing the superpowered goggles and juggling machine. The process of walking became a bit interesting...••••••••
Detroit's "MakerCity" Maker Faire is this weekend! Several local hackerspaces are going to be there in full force, and I'll be bringing the Juggling Apparatus again (which got a mention in Dale Dougherty's Makers Dozen article!). As for new projects, I've been trying to hack together a bass Drawdio-tar, but haven't managed to get it going yet; I need specific chips, or the original Drawdio PCB, neither of which have yet manifested themselves.
So, I've begun looking for other options. A while ago, somebody posted this video to the AHA! boards, and I loved the sound of the one with a rubber band or string attached. Pursuant to this, I made a "rubber harp" to bring to the next jam session, which worked fairly well but wasn't all that interesting (just a few bands wrapped around an open-topped box, with a pickup taped on). I'm now expanding this into a full instrument.
I present to you... the SKATE-TAR!
So, I've begun looking for other options. A while ago, somebody posted this video to the AHA! boards, and I loved the sound of the one with a rubber band or string attached. Pursuant to this, I made a "rubber harp" to bring to the next jam session, which worked fairly well but wasn't all that interesting (just a few bands wrapped around an open-topped box, with a pickup taped on). I'm now expanding this into a full instrument.
I present to you... the SKATE-TAR!
As yet, it's nothing much; this is what I threw together last night and this morning. Most of the building will happen at the AHA! Shop tonight, and it shall have many strings, and longer ones. My hope is to get a glorious bass sound out of it by the time we head to the Faire.
Piezo pickup taped to an Altoids tin. Moveable bridge! I'll want to have this affixed somehow, though, as the tin/bridge likes to shift around during playing. Fortunately, the grip tape provides a great surface.
Next up: I've found that it does work to wire multiple piezos in parallel to a single jack, so that's happening. I may add more bridges to the 'tar, in which case there'd be a piezo on each... or perhaps they'll just go on the back of the board.Later on, I shall probably also make a chainmail strap for this.
