Musical instrument build & repair

[Keith 66]

A few years ago i got into building Cigar box guitars, i have built them out of cigar boxes, biscuit tins, wine boxes & have an exhaust silencer one on the go.
Recently aquired an old Alvari accordion, was in my mates scrap yard & like you do i bought it cheap, beat up old thing but it sounded ok for a while until some valves fell off! Just revalved it & waxed the reed plates in, its only an octave & a half one but there are a lot of valves in there, Interesting learning curve.
Anyone else build or repair instruments?

 

[profchris]

There seem to be a few of us here.

Much of what we obsess about is to do with achieving tone and playability, so not of general interest. But some of the woodworking techniques do seem of interest, to judge by the comments to my "Making a ukulele" thread a year or so back (now sadly ruined by Photobucket).

I notice for example that Custard's furniture requires parts to be made to the right size and shape, then joined. By contrast, many of my components are made oversize, joined, and then brought back to fit.

 

[julianf]

Virtually all of my work is musical instruments, but you probably won't like them....

http://www.thebeast.co.uk

(no animal guts or wood on any of them!)

Edit: I lie. There's some wood on this one, but I only did the control panel -

 

[thetyreman]

I have dabbled in guitar setups but not actual building them or repair work, I would love to build a guitar at some point, that is a definite life goal of mine.

 

[Keith 66]

Julian, Re the Beast, great stuff! There is some real skill there. My son is just about to finish a 4 year electronics degree at Bristol so i have an inkling of what goes into equipment like that.
Other project on the go is a laser cut hurdy gurdy, not the U gears one which sounds appalling but the Nerdy Gurdy designed by Jaap brand, it is a laser cut & 3d printed instrument that is extremely well designed & can actually sound pretty good. It helps that the school here i work as D&T technician has a laser cutter!
Bit strange really my bench has a hot glue pot on it & epoxy too. Whatever is best for the job.

 

[DrPhill]

I have made a low (A) whistle from plastic waste pipe. As practiced by me it is mainly an art form with little science (apart from the app I wrote to guestimate the hole plcement/sizes). If anyone is interested I will search out a recording and/or images.

One day, when I have a workshop I may make better ones....

 

[giantbeat]

yup.

professional drum maker & restorer for 14 years, i work for my own brand, but also serve/work for several major international drum brands , make shells & bits for dozens of other independent drum makers.

basically i just make tubes of plywood of various sizes

 

[MusicMan]

I do clarinet (mostly bass clarinet) repair and restoration (part time professionally) and am also a player. Not built a complete instrument but had training on all the techniques. I also do research on clarinet acoustics, essentially as a retirement hobby.

Currently building a harp also, but that has had to be on hold for a few months for various good reasons.

 

[whiskywill]

I am a hobby stringed instrument builder. Recently cracked the second side of a Padauk acoustic guitar whilst bending it. Replacements are now thinned and ready for bending. Wish me luck.