Tips and Tutorials – Vulpestruments

Tutorial Videos

I’m giving video tutorials a whirl, have a ganders:

How to connect your Mini.mu to PureData

I was very fortunate enough to be made one of the prototype versions of Helen Leigh Steer/Imogen Heaps amazing Mini.mu gloves, it uses micro:bit to create a gestural controller and is aimed at getting younger people into the more fun/physical things that coding and tech can do. I’ve been pushing what this little, cheap productContinue reading “How to connect your Mini.mu to PureData”

Springything Tutorial

My Springything has become a staple instrument wherever I go and whatever event it is I am at. The range and variety of noises and textures I’ve figured out how to conjure from this instrument always amaze me considering how simple an instrument it actually is. It works using one of the most basicContinue reading “Springything Tutorial”

How to make a basic dulcimer from one piece of wood!

Here’s a quick tutorial on how to make a quick, acoustic dulcimer from a single piece of wood… Start with a nice chunky bit of timber: Trim a piece off the end: Trim a thin piece off the top, the thinner the better as this will be your soundboard: This was much thicker than itContinue reading “How to make a basic dulcimer from one piece of wood!”

Fret Placement Tutorial

I get asked quite often about how I figure out where to put the frets on my instruments. Building proper guitars takes incredibly precise measurements, the length of the neck and the height of the nut and all sorts of different factors go into measuring the exact placement of guitar frets. My stuff tends toContinue reading “Fret Placement Tutorial”

The sweet spot tool.

I have 2 commissions coming to a close in the next few weeks, but in the meantime I’d like to share with you this tool I created. Now the maths and physics behind surface resonance and bridge placement in instruments is complicated. Especially if your instruments are a bit special, like mine. That’s why IContinue reading “The sweet spot tool.”

Instructable on the Tennis Racketar

I’ve finally made a how-to on the Tennis Racketar that I made all those years ago, I’ve put it all up on Instructables for your viewing/learning pleasures. http://www.instructables.com/id/Turn-a-Tennis-Racket-into-a-3-stringed-guitar/ I did another video too, although the playing skills are really no different!

How-To: The 5 minute tunable 1-stringed instrument

This is a quick how-to on how to build yourself the easiest/quickest tunable stringed instrument in the world out of bits you probably have lying around your house. The wire I used was from the inside of a washing line, however you can use a plethora of other types of wire/fishing line/old guitar strings etc.Continue reading “How-To: The 5 minute tunable 1-stringed instrument”

A Note on DIY Tuning Pegs

Tuning pegs might be one of the trickiest parts of a stringed instrument to get right while still remaining DIY. There are easy, time tested methods of accurately and reliably tuning strings; such as a set of machine heads like these: Or zither pins (these are actually amazingly useful, I ordered 100 when I started outContinue reading “A Note on DIY Tuning Pegs”

9V motor-electric-pickup with mono-slide

Most toys/gadgets/walkmans/tape players/electronic object that needs something to move will have a motor of some kind inside it. These can be easily turned into pickups thusly: The inside of the motor will look a bit like this, with the magnets around the edge and the coils around an axle in the middle: Drill a smallContinue reading “9V motor-electric-pickup with mono-slide”