i have a big ugly instrument idea that is unfolding into reality. it's
a 2' by 5' piece of stainless. bass hardware holds fat piano strings on
one side and on the other i want to weld stays to support a large
spring which i can hit with a metal rod. i will tune the strings to
resonate a certain chord when the spring is struck. i have some old
dimarzio bass pickups for under the strings but im wondering if a
contact mic would work on the sheet metal, or other ideas?
*pangmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm*
-alan

"greggery peccary" wrote in message
oups.com...
i have a big ugly instrument idea that is unfolding into reality. it's
a 2' by 5' piece of stainless. bass hardware holds fat piano strings on
one side and on the other i want to weld stays to support a large
spring which i can hit with a metal rod. i will tune the strings to
resonate a certain chord when the spring is struck. i have some old
dimarzio bass pickups for under the strings but im wondering if a
contact mic would work on the sheet metal, or other ideas?
*pangmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm*
-alan

I'm tempted to suggest that my idea is for you to seek medical help, but
sure as I do you're idea will become the next big thing ;-)

Steve King

who knows, maybe the resonant frequencies will have medical value!

greggery peccary wrote:

im wondering if a
contact mic would work on the sheet metal, or other ideas?

It will work fine. That's what the world famous plate reverbs use.
There was a DIY plate reverb article from years ago that used FRAP
pickups.

In article .com,
says...
i have a big ugly instrument idea that is unfolding into reality. it's
a 2' by 5' piece of stainless. bass hardware holds fat piano strings on
one side and on the other i want to weld stays to support a large
spring which i can hit with a metal rod. i will tune the strings to
resonate a certain chord when the spring is struck. i have some old
dimarzio bass pickups for under the strings but im wondering if a
contact mic would work on the sheet metal, or other ideas?

I have a suggestion for you that's completely off the wall:
Use autoharp-style keys and strings tuned chromatically. That
way, when you hit that spring, you can actually change the
chord that resonates afterwards.
--
---Mikhael...

greggery peccary wrote:
i have a big ugly instrument idea that is unfolding into reality. it's
a 2' by 5' piece of stainless. bass hardware holds fat piano strings on
one side and on the other i want to weld stays to support a large
spring which i can hit with a metal rod. i will tune the strings to
resonate a certain chord when the spring is struck. i have some old
dimarzio bass pickups for under the strings but im wondering if a
contact mic would work on the sheet metal, or other ideas?
*pangmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm*
-alan

Sounds great. The approach I've taken with similar hunks of suspended
metals is to make contact pickups. Go to a Radio Shack & buy several of
the low voltage piezo disk-shaped buzzer units. They used to be 79
cents, might run you a couple bucks now. Disassemble the plastic
housing & you have a copper disk with a couple leads soldered to it.
Replace those leads with the end of some single conductor audio cable,
going to a 1/4" connector on the other end. Put a daub of silicone
sealer over the solder connections for a strain relief & you now have a
fairly high output contact transducer. Tape it to your metal
instrument, plug it in & you get sound into an amplifier. It will be
bright & a bit brittle, but there's a lot of signal available to EQ to
your hearts delight.
Also check into www.oddmusic.com for other new instrument ideas.

Scott Fraser

"Mick" wrote in message
...
In article .com,
says...
i have a big ugly instrument idea that is unfolding into reality. it's
a 2' by 5' piece of stainless. bass hardware holds fat piano strings on
one side and on the other i want to weld stays to support a large
spring which i can hit with a metal rod. i will tune the strings to
resonate a certain chord when the spring is struck. i have some old
dimarzio bass pickups for under the strings but im wondering if a
contact mic would work on the sheet metal, or other ideas?

I have a suggestion for you that's completely off the wall:
Use autoharp-style keys and strings tuned chromatically. That
way, when you hit that spring, you can actually change the
chord that resonates afterwards.
--
---Mikhael...

If this is relatively thin stainless sheet metal, how are you going to
tension the strings without bending the plate?

Steve King

it's quite thick but i bolted a 2x4 to the back of it anyway. i
originally wanted something i could bend, but it was way too wobbly
because the really big piano strings (which i use because of their low
freq,length and availability) produce a huge amount of tension. it was
a little scary, could easily lose an eye if one of those strings popped
off at the end. i made a 'drone bass' years ago out of a piece of
poplar that i play by bending, but that one just has electric bass
strings. check this out: i played the drone bass through an olk HK tube
amp into some 18" woofers that were in the back of my old '64 plymouth
station wagon. i miked the wagon inside and out. it was inside the
garage and the matel garage door was humming like a giant snare drum!
it sounded great but doing that i realized i needed much better mics to
capture the whole sound.

"greggery peccary" wrote in message
oups.com...
it's quite thick but i bolted a 2x4 to the back of it anyway. i
originally wanted something i could bend, but it was way too wobbly
because the really big piano strings (which i use because of their low
freq,length and availability) produce a huge amount of tension. it was
a little scary, could easily lose an eye if one of those strings popped
off at the end. i made a 'drone bass' years ago out of a piece of
poplar that i play by bending, but that one just has electric bass
strings. check this out: i played the drone bass through an olk HK tube
amp into some 18" woofers that were in the back of my old '64 plymouth
station wagon. i miked the wagon inside and out. it was inside the
garage and the matel garage door was humming like a giant snare drum!
it sounded great but doing that i realized i needed much better mics to
capture the whole sound.


So, ;-), how is this going to work for a world tour? I like the idea of a
'64 Plymouth on stage, too. Now, if you could get Madonna wacking on that
spring you might really have something.

Steve King

"Now, if you could get Madonna wacking on that..."
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