STRINGED INSTRUMENTS

FALL 2006

We can classify the stringed instruments made by the class in Fall 2006 according to the conventional instruments they most resemble.

Bucket basses

Mark Voller’s The Tub uses a metal tub as a resonator. The single string has variable tension depending on the angle at which the neck is braced, so the pitch can be changed at will.

Patrick Murdock’s Boom Boom Bucket takes the opposite approach from Mark’s, with the bucket open end up. There are two strings that can be stopped with the fingers.

John Stoller’s Juggernaut (left) uses a tree branch for the neck and a water jug for the resonator. It is strung with fishing line.

Lutes

Jeff Williams’ Noodlayphone has a heavy wooden box for the body but a thin cardboard top. He serenaded us with “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

Claire Davis (left) demonstrated her 3 a.m., which is something like a ukulele. The body is a cardboard box. She likened it to a viola in its understated sound.

Caleb Goodrum used a suitcase to make his Burro. The name comes from the bridge, which is made from a butter slicer. The neck is a wooden crutch.

Alec Radulski (left) made his Crutchfield out of his roommate’s aluminum crutch (he assured us the roommate no longer needed it). The resonating chambers are cardboard, and it is strung with fishing line.

Chip Carey’s Bucket Banjo has a soundpost to connect the bridge to the back. It is also strung with the ever-popular fishing line.

Grey Fortenbery’s Indian Box Guitar is a fretless guitar he made in his father’s carpentry shop. The tuning pegs are press-fit into holes, and therefore hold their tuning better when they are damp.

Harps

Jonathan Mauney (left) called this the Major Chord Machine until it fell apart overnight. It is louder when he connects the strings to the resonating chamber with a bridge (he used his cell phone).

Lauren Anderson calls this the Spiro after the decorations she painted on it. It is played like a zither, and the pitches of the strings can be changed using the tensioning rod..

Anneliese Gegenheimer (left) called this the Heartstrings Harpsiscale after its shape. The strings are rubber bands held taut by friction in the slots of the cardboard sides.

Garland Potts named the G after herself, or maybe after the Glad® food storage container that forms its body. The strings are rubber bands held with pushpins.

Katie Trapp calls this the Octabox because its rubber-band strings span an octave when properly tuned.

Ford Ramsey’s Paint Roller is made from a paint roller pan. The fishing-line strings are held (not very firmly) with duct tape. A wooden bridge couples their vibration to the body.

David Ruiz’s Harp Box is made with cotton strings and a cardboard body. The different string lengths allow it to be tuned to a full scale.