The Springymaphone

This instrument came about from a conversation with experimental sound artist Phil Julian. He was after something percussive that would sound very large but also transportable! From my recent experiments with The Leviaphone I came up with the idea of having a few big chunky springs stretched close to a pickup (in this case was some long forgotten innards of a pump). The results of this simple configuration I think work very well…
I demonstrated this instrument recently at my talk in Watford and got a great response from it, I’d be happy to recreate/redesign similar pieces for those who’d be interested!

I’m doing a talk!

I sometimes forget I have a website, I’m mostly active on the twitters. So I really should mention that I’m doing a talk/demo next Tuesday in Watford.  I’ll be bringing a bunch of instruments that you’ll be able to play around with too.
Full details are below. I’m joined by some very talented people also showing off their works and there will be music and it’s all free.

The Leviaphone

This instrument came about from a Eureka moment on my long and dull commute into work. It’s to replace the failed Dronemachine I built for Christopher Campbell.
It uses Piano wire, the springs from an anglepoise lamp, the circular insides of an electric fan motor and a bunch of hardware to act as a DIY tuning machine. It has a hefty iron rod to act as a form of truss-rod to withstand the massive tensions that piano wire can create.
The results are surprising, massive, and quite fun!

Not all Dronemachines are created equal

As part of my commission for Christopher Campbell I created a fretted Dronemachine. It used circular washers, the shades from  desk lamps, my usual circular pickup from an electric fan, bits of shower rails and various bits and bobs.
The idea was nice and simple, the method of play was much like my other machines except that the washers acted like frets that you could shorten each wire with ease. In practise though, it proved very very difficult to build, and once the wooden base had warped slightly, it put all the frets out of place and messed up all my careful measurements!
I’m not one to hide the failures, if anything they’re very good things to learn from… So here is the failure in all it’s glory!
 
BUT, fear not, for I have come up with an even better sounding machine with which to replace this one with. Which is all very exciting.

Dronemachine MKIII

My latest commission is one of two Dronemachines for composer Christopher Campbell.
 It’s made from 100% reclaimed materials. The Circular cog acts as an adjustable bridge that you can change the pitch of the strings by rotating it slightly. An unexpected result of the design was that when the bridge is turned, one half of the strings go up in pitch while the other half goes down! it sounds like this:
The second machine will be ready shortly which has a slightly different playing mechanism! Be sure to check out Chris’ label Innova Recordings

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 I came up with this simple tool for finding the sweet spot!
It’s simply a piano tuning pin (which I can sell you!) and a little bolt for an anchor. It works thusly:

An Almost Shop

I often have far more bits of things in stock than I could ever possibly use, which is why I’ve decided to sell them on to you good readers.
I don’t have the time to set up a proper shop at the moment, so I will simply be updating THIS PAGE with what I have and how much I’d be willing to part with them for. I intend to add quite a variety of unusual/hard to track down bits and pieces that would be helpful for odd instrument makers like myself!
Also on the page I’ve added a few rough commission prices for the most commonly asked about instruments, so have a gander at those too.