Easy does it....

Freakin' superb - I'm finally resurrecting all of my crusty-dusty blogs, now that I have the time and the means.... just about completed www.eternalcamp.com, soon this one will be done as well as the others!

Back from the hospital!! ^_^

Alright!! I'm back from the hospital, and everything is fine, for the most part.... I got to keep my spleen, anyways. I had apparently bled internally more than a half gallon, and well.... if anyone wants to know all the gory details, y'all can read it by clicking here.

I'm in the middle of preparing the next posts, as I'd like to continue things rolling again. Thanks very much for your patience, you random readers, those from Blog Catalog, Blog Rush, and Entrecard as well.

Seeya all next post!

- Falls-Down-Laughing ^_^

Hospital

I'm typing for Falls-Down-Laughing.
This is his wife. He is in the hospital because of a ruptured spleen. and will be under observation for one or two weeks.
After that time, he will return to posting to his blogs. he apologizes for the delay.

Thank you.

Experiments in sound....

- experiments -

Greetings! ^_^

Today, as I'd like to add another post to benefit any home schoolers/teachers, self-learners or experimenters out there, I think I should add this to go along with the previous post.

To learn a bit more about bowed instruments (or even plucked strings), let's use a stick about 2 or 3 feet long (perhaps even a yard stick), an *E* electric guitar string - this is the thinnest string, the highest note string, on electric guitars, which can be gotten individually from most any music shop, for about 75 cents to little more than a dollar - and, a small balloon.

Yeah, that's right, a balloon.

Okay - wrap the free end (the end without the tiny metal ring tied in) of the guitar string around one end of the stick, tightly. Next, cut a notch, or slot, into the other end of the stick for the other end of the string to go into. The tiny metal ring tied into that end of the string should hold that into place.

Don't have this string be very tight, because you'll now want to inflate the small balloon, and place it between the stick and the string, wedging it into place - once the balloon is thusly wedged, and preferably more towards one end of the stick than the other, there should be some tension in the string.

Now take the bow we made from the previous post, and bow the string.

Not a bad quality of sound, eh?

See, this balloon is acting as a soundboard/resonating box - the vibrations from the string are being transferred into the balloon, which is merely an enclosed hollow, surrounded by a spherical diaphragm. In this case, the balloon is almost like a drum (even acting like an "eardrum", though somewhat in reverse, in it's transmuting vibrational data into sound), which is 100% drum head.

For another experiment, you can even get excellent results from closed-cell styrofoam - now, a block of this stuff can have the "stick" of the instrument pass through it.... now, place a "bridge" on the face of the block - that is, perhaps a thin square of wood, on edge, for the string to rest across, which will transfer the string's vibration into the block of styrofoam.

This will produce a good, amplified sound.

Alrighty, that's it for today's post - until next time, have a nice night!

- Falls-Down-Laughing ^_^

- experiments -

Bowed instruments; the bow....

- strings -

Hello, all - a little late this evening with today's post.... had to visit the hospital on account of some mangled cartilage in and amongst my ribs. Long story, but everything's cool, no worries ^_^

Okay, on with today's post....

For experimental instruments or for those professionally made unique items, there is a very simple and easy resource for bow strings - be they for violin, huqin, or any kind of bowed, stringed instrument.

Dental floss.

What? Yes, that's what I said. Dental floss.

Hear me out here for just a mite.... while horse hair is widely used for this, it is the common belief that this is due to the ridged, or tooth-like quality, of these hairs - that it is this, which, when dragged across the instrument's strings, micro-plucks said strings to make the vibration, and thusly, the sound. For more older types of folk instruments - those that use no rosin - this is true.

However, for the more modern types, it is the rosin (refined tree resins, such as those from pines) which creates the sound. How so? Well, it is a somewhat sticky substance, being made from tree sap, and so it sticks to the strings of the instrument, pulling them, and letting go - then sticking again, pulling, and letting go - then sticking again, pulling, then letting go.... a jillion micro instances in a row, as you draw the bow across the instrument's strings. It is this that creates the vibration, and thusly, the sound. The ridged quality of horse hair is simply exceptionally good at holding the rosin onto the bowstrings.

But it should be noted, that yes, it actually *IS* the ridges of the horse hair that does this on bows that use no rosin, as in some bowed folk instruments.

Anywho, back to dental floss - it should be the non-flavoured variety, and cotton. The weave of this also serves quite well at holding rosin. As an experimental piece, or one you might utilize to bow some strings on a few projects as they are being made to check for sound, try this;

Take a wooden dowel (or willow shoot, or long twig/branchlet, if you are good at whittling and feeling a little adventurous), and cut a slot into both ends - take a few strands, 5-7 or so, of the dental floss, a couple inches shorter than the dowel, and knot at both ends. Bending the dowel carefully, so as not to break it, place each end of the floss bundle into the slotted ends of the dowel, so that the floss bundle's end knots hold it in place. Finally, rub some rosin onto the bow.

Based on this crude example, we can learn how and why a violin bow works the way it does.

That's all for today's post - seeya next time!

- Falls-Down-Laughing ^_^

- strings -

Cheap and easy materials....

- percussion -

Here is something to remember, which we can use for the chromatic drums mentioned a couple/few posts ago, and also for the face of some small stringed/bowed instruments we'll be making in posts to come.

In the chromatic drums post, I mentioned using plastic or rubber for the heads. Well, why not rawhide?

What I have done is, I went to a pet store (or was it the pet section of a supermarket? I can't remember.... ), and grabbed one of those doggy-bone lookin' rawhide treats - you know, those ones that are just a piece of rawhide, all rolled up and thrown into a knot at each end. But the BIG ones.... the ones I found look like they were made for Saint Bernards on steroids.

Boil some water in a big pot, and when it has come to a boil, turn the flame off and set the rawhide in. After a while, it will have become soft enough to untie the ends and unroll.

Cut a piece around that's a good inch or two larger than the diameter of the tube that you will put a rawhide head on, and stretch in onto place, securing it there. One easy way to do this, is to use one of those screw driven pipe fitting fasteners that are often used to secure rubber hoses to metal piping - these can be found at any hardware shop, or home supply warehouse.

When rawhide is wet, it is very pliable - so stretch it out onto the tube. When it dries, it stiffens and shrinks a bit, and hardens like sheet-iron. This will provide a nice tone.

Okay, that ends this post for now - have a nice day!!

- Falls-Down-Laughing ^_^

- percussion -

Final Tweaks nearly finished, and READY TO ROCK!!!!

Well, that took quite a while! About a week and a half, and now I think I have this site finally redone, reposted, gave it a complete makeover, and now that it has nearly two month's worth of posts, I'll get set to start drawing some traffic to it and give it some life!!

Next posts should really focus on more percussions and creating stringed instruments, but I'll need to go over a couple more aspects of woodwinds, first.

Also to be expected in the near future, within a small few weeks here, are some video posts to explain some projects - such as; Native American flute, Japanese shakuhachi, Chinese D'tsu, and some preliminary percussion projects, and then some serious stringery.

Okay, that's it for this post.... I need to put the finishing touches on the feeds.... have a wonderful day, people!

- Falls-Down-Laughing ^_^