Homemade Musical Instruments - Two Formulas Needed to Know How to Make Instruments
Homemade musical instruments is a subject that can frustrate many people conducting searches on the internet looking to find out how to make instruments, because the vast majority of websites and videos on this topic are invariably skimpy little notes on how to put together things like butter bucket drums, paper plate tambourines and the whole shoebox/rubber band guitar thing for little kids to play with.
This is just not what those of us interested in making instruments are starving for in the lines of information.
We don't want to make toy instruments from paper or cardboard, we want to be making quality music making machines with which we can jam out on with pride - anything less just won't cut it.
But in order to do this, we need to know some universal mathematical formulas.
What might some of these be? Well, a couple of them tend to come to mind when the subject of making homemade musical instruments arises, one of which is known as the "18 rule".
This is a means of finding precisely where to put frets on the neck of a guitar.
The actual number is 17.
8167942 - you measure the distance between the nut and the bridge, and divide that measurement by this number to get the distance between the nut and the first fret...
then measure between that first fret and the bridge, dividing that by 17.
8167942 again in order to get the distance between the first fret and the second, and so on.
This kind of information is what we need when seeking to find out how to make homemade musical instruments.
So what's another necessary formula to use in order to make something jam-worthy? How about this mathematical formula...
this is good for tubular drums, or making woodwinds, but can also be used to apply to nearly anything remotely related in homemade musical instruments making - that is to say, any type of which that utilizes an enclosed column of air to create the sound in, and form the different notes.
As anyone might surmise, when making musical instruments, it's often good to know the length of a given note's wavelength.
The way this is done is simple enough - the speed of sound in inches per second (at sea level, and assuming an average ambient temperature of about 70 degrees F) is 13526.
5 (for centimeters, divide by 2.
54)...
divide this by the frequency number of any note, say for instance, "A", which is 440 Hertz.
You'll end up with a wavelength of about 30.
74 inches long.
Now the body of an open ended flute who's fundamental note would be "A", is roughly half of a wavelength long, so it would be around 15 3/8 inches long - more precise measurements would involve subtracting from this, 1/3 of the flute's bore diameter.
Closed end flutes such as pan flutes are half that.
It's formulas like these that are needed when making musical instruments, and there are as many others as there are designs.
This is just not what those of us interested in making instruments are starving for in the lines of information.
We don't want to make toy instruments from paper or cardboard, we want to be making quality music making machines with which we can jam out on with pride - anything less just won't cut it.
But in order to do this, we need to know some universal mathematical formulas.
What might some of these be? Well, a couple of them tend to come to mind when the subject of making homemade musical instruments arises, one of which is known as the "18 rule".
This is a means of finding precisely where to put frets on the neck of a guitar.
The actual number is 17.
8167942 - you measure the distance between the nut and the bridge, and divide that measurement by this number to get the distance between the nut and the first fret...
then measure between that first fret and the bridge, dividing that by 17.
8167942 again in order to get the distance between the first fret and the second, and so on.
This kind of information is what we need when seeking to find out how to make homemade musical instruments.
So what's another necessary formula to use in order to make something jam-worthy? How about this mathematical formula...
this is good for tubular drums, or making woodwinds, but can also be used to apply to nearly anything remotely related in homemade musical instruments making - that is to say, any type of which that utilizes an enclosed column of air to create the sound in, and form the different notes.
As anyone might surmise, when making musical instruments, it's often good to know the length of a given note's wavelength.
The way this is done is simple enough - the speed of sound in inches per second (at sea level, and assuming an average ambient temperature of about 70 degrees F) is 13526.
5 (for centimeters, divide by 2.
54)...
divide this by the frequency number of any note, say for instance, "A", which is 440 Hertz.
You'll end up with a wavelength of about 30.
74 inches long.
Now the body of an open ended flute who's fundamental note would be "A", is roughly half of a wavelength long, so it would be around 15 3/8 inches long - more precise measurements would involve subtracting from this, 1/3 of the flute's bore diameter.
Closed end flutes such as pan flutes are half that.
It's formulas like these that are needed when making musical instruments, and there are as many others as there are designs.