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My daughter is a highschool sophomore and is taking IPC (Integrated Physics and Chemistry) this year, and her teacher occasionally assigns them projects to build that will address aspects of their learning. This one is a musical instrument of any sort, as long as it can produce at least four notes or tones.

She frequently helps me with certain steps in guitar building, so naturally she wants to build some sort of simple stringed instrument she might be able to play a simple tune on. She's hoping for some sort of simple guitar-like thing, but the more that I think about it, the harder I think it will be for her to build one in the time she has -- less than a month.

So, to keep things as simple as possible, and because the teacher wants only minimal input from outside (read ME), I am figuring, first, not to have to deal with frets, and second preferably not to have to deal with a neck, with the fitup issues that would likely be involved. I was thinking of something along the lines of a Japanese koto, a stringed instrument which is basically a long box with a fixed nut on one end and moveable bridges on the other.

But it doesnt' have to be a stringed instrument. She could build a flute or a kalimba or something else as well.

So anyway I'm figuring that there are probably a number of folks here who have already been there done that, and I'm hoping for ideas of easy instruments to build where my input will be necessary only for things like cutting or thicknessing the wood. I don't want her to handle the power tools just yet.

Any ideas?

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Why not have her build a tin can banjo (could even be fretless with the frets painted on- I was in Dudes music the other day & saw one - Basically a stick with frets - The sound came from a lidded cookie can about 10 inches (maybe smaller) in dia. The can was mounted on top of the stick- it wasn't too loud though. Here is a link for a really fancy one
cookie tin banjo
and another, simpler model
simple fretless banjo
Found these using "cookie-tin banjo" as a search string
Phil

Four brandy sniffers and water?

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"Da goal is to sharpen ur wit as well as ye Sgian Dubh"
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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Washtub bass!!   one string, washtub, and a broomstick.

Here's one a little more sophisticated:





Washtub bass


Ron old man39032.690775463

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Michael,

there was this on the MIMF recently.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Thanks for the ideas, guys. Keep 'em comin'!

Dave, the koto-like thing in your above link is almost exactly what I was thinking of. I'd probably use some nylon guitar strings rather than fishing line, though.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

What about a cigar box guitar?

Some sort of dulcimer?

Yeah, dulcimer. With a box for the body, four strings no frets, or one string,
3 frets. Quick and simple!

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I got a small glitch in my computer, so here's the rest on my post.

I've seen dulcimers in which all the working parts, the tuners, frets, and so on, were on the fretboard, which was just a straight stick. You could glue that to any sort of box: the ones I saw were cardboard. They didn't sound too bad. The fellow selling them was teaching classes of (iirc) third graders to make them. They'd put the things together in less than a day, and that included painting them with latex paints. The kids had a lot of fun, and I imagine the 'instruments' held up well enough, considering. Use a 'zero fret'.

One string electric - one PU, tuner, nut and bridge - the four notes can come from the open string and 3 harmonics - there's some simple physics right there .. string harmonic theory and how the PU works transforming mechanical energy into electrical current.

Build it in a 1/2 a day using a 1x3 chunk of maple. the metal heads in her class will be blown away.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I guess it depends on how high her interest level is.

She could make a PVC flute in less than an hour.

There are plenty of sites if you search the web.

what about a lap steel.

I saw one on MIMF a while ago that was a 60 minute build.

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Michael,
Here is a sight with some good ideas for simple   instruments.   http:/ /home.centurytel.net/Dulciaddict/plans.htm Wendell Powell has posted some great plans for his desings.He has cookie tin instruments and the A stick plans are great. Very simple and easy to play.
If I was better at this computer stuff I would post a link but I'm not.

CecilCecil39033.3343287037

Michael, these I did with my youngest, side by side, one day in the shop. One day project, fun and easy to do, and they sound great. Use tines from an old rake for the thumb tone bars.

Have fun!

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Good to see another Make reader around! A coworker at our Montreal office
built one following that article. He said he had an absolute blast doing it.

Michael, you could build a guitar like this:

Here's the site:
Musicmaker's Kits

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

I'm with Al Carruth. A dulcimer. It'd be easy and quick.

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

I've built several whistles in the past. You can make them quite simply
and you can drill a number of holes in them to make as many notes as
you want. As CicilJ suggested, flutes and whistles are easy to make.
Craig S.