Build your own instruments!

September 26, 2004 9:39 PM

How to build your own violin, in 45 pictures. Or for guitarists: build your own hollow-body, solid-body electric, or steel guitar. For the budget-minded, PVC flutes. How about bagpipes? No? Surely you cannot resist the tribal sounds of the home-built didgeridoo? Other eclectic (and not so eclectic) home-built instruments.
posted by Civil_Disobedient (10 comments total)

Neat-o!

Quite a few years back I attempted a guitar. Kids and work made it virtually impossible at the time and it ended up as a pile of scrap wood :(

A rather expensive pile of scrapwood at that.
posted by kamylyon at 9:54 PM on September 26, 2004

Heh, I made a few PVC didgeridoos from those instructions. They sound decent, and if you ever find yourself standing in a park using a blowtorch on a large length of pipe, you WILL have people come up and ask if you're making a bong.
posted by TungstenChef at 10:32 PM on September 26, 2004

I can't wait to get my hand tools back from my kid to try this.
posted by cookie-k at 11:00 PM on September 26, 2004

nice post, civil_disobediant

but i don't think i'll be able to rest until someone posts plans for homemade electric bagpipes...
posted by ubersturm at 11:18 PM on September 26, 2004

Oh man...a friend started teaching me guitar a few days ago, and I'm just goggle-eyed with joy and wonder at this stuff. Thanks.

For kid-level home-built instruments, try here--a section of the blues and folk heritage site The Mudcat Cafe.
posted by hippugeek at 11:24 PM on September 26, 2004

My niece just spent a couple grand on a flute. If only she'd waited for this post she could have made one of PVC.
Thanks for the great post.
posted by TimeFactor at 5:55 AM on September 27, 2004

Funny you should post this. Over the weekend, I built myself 2 new guitars; a 12 string electric & an archtop electric. I didn't make the necks, but I think my ambition has grown & I will be attempting to make one very soon. Accurate fret spacing is my biggest worry.

I'd also like to get into making my own effect pedals. I've seen quite a few pages around online devoted to wiring diagrams etc. One more project in the works is a leslie-esque speaker cabinet with a rotating baffle. I just need to find the right foot controller for the speed adjustment.

I always wanted to be a rock n' roll star, but now I think I might just want to build the equipment.
posted by password at 6:19 AM on September 27, 2004

Great post.

Here's another one: Matthias Wandel's pipe organ.
posted by bonehead at 6:58 AM on September 27, 2004

Great post, C_D!
posted by shoepal at 7:25 AM on September 27, 2004

Or make your own bardic, Celtic, minstrel or Paraguayan harp (and hear what it should sound like).
posted by penguin pie at 9:00 AM on September 27, 2004