Chapter XI: Home Made Musical Instruments

There is music in everything if you only know how to get it out without cracking it. When a small boy beats a pie-pan with a stick, or drums on a wooden fence he is making music, only the neighbors won’t believe it.

This is because he sets up the same note in succession and after a while the constant repetition of this single note gets on a grown-up’s nerves, especially if he is writing a book; hence he thinks the sounds are _noise_ but it is really _music_ of a _bombastic[103] order_.

[103] The gong, drum, bell, and cymbals all set up sound by
concussion and these are called _bombastic_ instruments.

By this I mean that what we call _noise_ is sound set up by uneven _air waves_[104] in time and volume while _music_ is made by a tone, or tones, of even air waves. Any musical instrument that produces sound by shock, or _concussion_ as it is called, is said to be bombastic.

[104] For the theory of air waves and sound see _The Magic of
Science_ by the present author, published by Fleming H. Revell and
Co., New York.

When a bombastic instrument is played alone the sounds set up by it are not very sweet or musical but if you will use a set of eight of them, or _octave_ as it is called, and _tune_ them so that the _pitch_--which is the number of air waves that are produced and heard in a second of time--of each one is a note higher than the one before it and then make first one and the other _vibrate_ you will produce pleasing tones, and by combining these tones properly you will have a resemblance of what we call music.

=The Musical Coins.=--_How to Make Them._--A simple and very pleasing way to show that there is music even in cold brass is to take a piece of sheet brass, or, better, sheet steel, about ¹⁄₁₆ inch thick and _scribe_ on it with a pair of compasses eight circles whose diameters range from 2 inches to 3 inches.

Saw them out and file them down so that each one will ring out a _whole number_, as it is called in physics; that is, if the largest and deepest toned coin, or disk, makes 250 vibrations a second, the next one must make 500 vibrations a second, the next 750 and so on until the smallest and highest pitched coin will make 2000 vibrations a second.

When each coin rings out its whole number, or nearly so, you will have what is known as a _harmonic series_. Now saw notches in the edges of each one as shown at A in Fig. 106 and then file them until the tone of each one is just right.

_How to Play Them._--To play a tune with the musical coins spin them on the top of a table--a marble top table is the best--and as each coin _dies down_[105] and its edge strikes progressively against the surface of the table it will ring out in a clear, loud tone.

[105] If you will look closely at the spinning coin you will see that
when it spins fast at first the _axis_ about which it rotates is its
diameter and that the coin stands upright. As the coin commences to
_die down_ the axis about which it spins gradually begins to shift
from the diameter to the center of the coin until finally at the
finish the coin is spinning directly about its center. This motion is
the same as the processional motion of the earth.

The coins should be laid in a row on the table and whatever note you want to ring out pick up the coin which will produce it, hold it as shown at B, and give it a little spin. You can soon learn to spin them with either hand and keep two or more of them going at the same time, when you will have that agreeable combination of tones that is known in music as _harmony_.

The musical coins are easy to learn to play and at a little distance off they look like real coins and are a very pleasing novelty.

=The Musical Tomato Cans.=--_How to Make Them._--The musical tomato cans make a bombastic instrument--very bombastic I should say. Be that as it may, get eight tomato cans, soak the labels off carefully and keep them. Next melt off the tops of the cans and paste the labels on them again. Set each can on a piece of felt as shown in Fig. 107.

Now by pouring water in the cans you can tune them so that each one will send forth a whole number note and all of them together will give the notes in the regular order of an octave. You do not need to put any water in the first can but use this one for the _fundamental_ note, that is the note on which the _chord_ is formed.

Make a couple of _mallets_, as the sticks to beat the cans with are called, of a pair of sticks about as thick as a lead-pencil and twice as long and glue a wooden ball ⁵⁄₈ inch in diameter on one end of each one.

_To Play the Tomato Cans._--When you have tuned the cans set them in a row on a piece of felt, or a couple of thicknesses of thick woolen cloth will do, and with a mallet in each hand tap them softly.

While some folks who have no ear for _melody_, _harmony_ and _dissonance_[106] may say that both the instrument and the performer ought to be _canned_ still the instrument is a great one to play Chopin’s[107] funeral dirge[108] on. Undertakers are crazy about the musical tomato cans.

[106] These are the three chief factors that make up the various
combinations of tones which we call music.

[107] Chopin (pronounced Sho′-pan) was a Polish musical composer.

[108] A _dirge_ is a tune expressing grief and mourning.

=The Musical Glasses.=--_How to Make Them._--Different from the tomato cans, the musical glasses make about the sweetest music ever heard. To make a set get eight very thin glass goblets and mount them on a board 12 inches wide and 2 feet long. An easy way to do this is to fasten the foot of each goblet down with a couple of thin strips of tin or brass placed across it and screwing the ends of these to the board as shown in Fig. 108.

To tune the glasses pour water in them until each has exactly the right pitch and together they form an octave. When you have learned to play simple tunes on an octave of musical glasses you can build up the set to 22 glasses or three octaves, which will give you enough notes to play almost any of the popular airs.

_How to Play the Glasses._--Before starting in to play moisten the rims of the glasses and rub your fingers with water in which you have put some vinegar, or better, a little _acetic acid_,[109] until they feel quite rough.

[109] This is the acid contained in vinegar that gives it its value.

Now when you lay the tips of your fingers flat on the rim of a glass and rub them around it, the friction between the skin of your roughened fingers and the edge of the glass will set the latter into vibration and a wonderfully sweet tone will be sent out. By varying the pressure of your fingers on the glasses you can produce a very beautiful _tremolo_ effect.

It is a good scheme to put a few drops of acetic acid into each goblet so that just as quickly as the volume of sound begins to fall off you can dip your finger tips into whatever glass they are nearest to and so increase the friction between them and the glass.

If you can play a set of musical glasses well your services will be in demand for all kinds of entertainments.

=The Tubular Harp.=--_How to Make It._--This easily made instrument gives out tones very much like those of the musical glasses but they are much deeper and louder.

To make this harp you will need 12 feet of ¹⁄₂ inch _bell-metal_[110] tube--brass tube will do but it is not as good--and cut it into eight pieces; saw off the first tube 2 feet long and cut off each of the other pieces ¹⁄₂ an inch shorter than the one before it. Cylindrical sticks of wood can also be used for the tubes.

[110] Brass and bell metal tubing can be bought of the U. T.
Hungerford Brass & Copper Co., 89 Lafayette St., New York.

Get two strips of wood 1 inch square and 3 feet long and screw them together as shown at A in Fig. 109 with a couple of thumb screws; this done bore eight ¹⁄₂ inch holes in the sticks every 4 inches apart and smooth them out with a half-round file.

Glue a strip of cloth on the side of each strip that is bored out, set each tube with the middle in the groove so that they grow shorter in steps and screw the strips together tight with the thumb screws to hold the tubes in securely as shown at B.

To tune the tubes saw off and file off the end of each tube until it gives forth the proper note. When you have tuned them make a stand to hold the instrument and this can be of either wood, or metal tubing if you want the harp to look nice and you don’t care about the expense. The harp is shown complete at C.

_How to Play the Harp._--When you have made the stand get a pair of old gloves and cut off the fingers; powder some rosin and rub it well into the palms of the gloves.

This done, put on the gloves, grip the top of the tube and draw your hand slowly down toward the sounding board, as shown at C, and a beautiful tone will be emitted. Not only does the tube vibrate to make the sound but as it is hollow it acts as a _resonator_, that is, the sound will set up _sympathetic_ vibrations in the tube which will reënforce the simple vibrations of the tube both in strength and quality.

By waving your finger over the top of the tube while you are playing it with the other hand a tremolo effect can be produced that is very beautiful and if you are versatile you can make it sound almost like a human voice.

=The Musical Push Pipe.=--_How to Make It._--This musical instrument is an organ pipe but it is played like a _slide trombone_, that is by pushing in and pulling out a slide that fits inside of it.

Spruce is the best wood to make the organ pipe of but you can use any other kind you have at hand. Saw off four strips of wood ¹⁄₄ inch thick and 16 inches long and have two of them 3 inches wide and the other two 2¹⁄₂ inches wide, as shown in Fig. 110. Saw off one of the 3 inch wide boards so that it will be 12¹⁄₄ inches long and plane down one end to a sharp edge as shown at B.

Take another board ¹⁄₂ an inch thick and make it 2¹⁄₂ inches high and 3 inches wide as shown at D. Cut out a board for the end ¹⁄₄ inch thick, 2¹⁄₂ inches wide and 2¹⁄₂ inches long and bore a ¹⁄₂ inch hole in it as shown at E.

_THE PUSH_

_THE PIPE_

_BACK BOARD_

_TOP FRONT BOARD_

_LOWER FRONT BOARD_

_LIP_

_SIDE BOARDS_

_END_

_MOUTH PIECE_

FIG. 110. PARTS OF A MUSICAL PUSH PIPE]

As you supply this pipe with air by blowing in it, take a common thread spool and trim down one end of it as shown at F so that you can get it into your mouth; then glue the large end over the hole in the bottom board. Next glue the sides together to form a square tube and make and glue into the lower end a three-cornered piece of wood 2 inches wide, 3 inches high and 2¹⁄₈ inches thick as shown at G. This will bring one of its sharp edges just under and very close to the sharp edge of the short side of the pipe.

Glue the thick piece of wood shown at D to the lower end of the pipe so that it leaves a ¹⁄₄ inch space between its top edge and the sharp edge of the short side of the pipe. Finally glue the mouthpiece in the lower end of the tube and this part of the push pipe is done.

If now you will place your hand over the open top of the pipe and blow through the mouthpiece, a soft note like that of a steamboat whistle will issue from it. To play a tune on the pipe it must have a range of an octave but if it will sound an octave and a half you can play many of the popular airs on it.

To do this fit the organ pipe with a _movable stop_, or _push_, which slides in and out of the pipe. Make this push of two strips of ¹⁄₈ inch thick wood, 2¹⁄₂ inches wide and 12 inches long; screw one end of each of these boards to a block of wood the size of the top of the organ pipe and screw a knob--the head of a clothespin will do--on it in the center for a handle. The stop, or slide, will of course be open on two sides and must slip snugly but easily in the pipe.

_To Play the Push Pipe._--If now you will blow through the mouthpiece and slide the stop in and out various tones and semi-tones will be produced. It takes very little practice to learn just where to stop the slide to make a given note--that is if you are at all apt in playing musical instruments. A push pipe[111] is just the thing for a black-face musical act.

[111] A push pipe can be bought for $4.00 of the L. E. Knott
Apparatus Co., Boston, Mass.

=The Curious Xylophone.=--_How to Make It._--This instrument, which is pronounced _zil-o-fon´_, is cheap to make or buy[112] and is easy to learn to play.

[112] Can be bought of any dealer in musical instruments or of the L.
E. Knott Co., Boston.

To make one cut off fifteen bars of a stick of maple ¹⁄₂ an inch thick, ⁷⁄₈ inch wide and make the longest one 5 inches. To get the right lengths of all the others you will have to saw them off a little at a time and try them out for tone, because any variation in thickness will make a difference in the length of them. Hence the above rule-of-thumb method for determining the sizes of them.

Drill a ¹⁄₁₆ inch hole through both ends of each bar and string them on a wire to keep them in place. Make two rolls of straw ³⁄₄ inch in diameter and 20 inches long; fix the ends of these rolls on a board as shown in Fig. 111 and lay the maple bars on them when they are ready to be played on.

_How to Play the Xylophone._--The xylophone is played with a pair of hammers. To make the latter cut off two sticks ¹⁄₄ inch in diameter and 8 inches long; get or turn two wooden balls 1 inch in diameter; bore a ¹⁄₄ inch hole in each one and glue in one of the sticks.

Take a hammer in each hand and hold it loosely; stand over the xylophone so that the sticks of the hammers are parallel with and about 6 inches above the bars of the xylophone and with the ball ends in the middle of the bar it is over. Now pound the bars for dear life and the faster the tune the more musical it will sound. For this reason pieces like the _Circus Life Gallop_ are especially adapted for the xylophone.

=The Peculiar Tubaphone.=--_How to Make It._--By using brass tubes, or better, tubes made of bell metal, you can have a xylophone of another order. Use tubing ³⁄₄ inch in diameter and have the first one 5 inches long for the fundamental.

Keep on sawing them off and filing them down until you have them all done and all in tune. Make a wooden frame of ¹⁄₂ inch stuff and have the bottom 2 inches wide at one end, 4 inches wide at the other end and 17 inches long.

Saw off two strips of wood ¹⁄₂ an inch thick, 1 inch wide and 17 inches long. Bore fifteen ³⁄₄ inch holes 1 inch apart measured from their centers in them; glue a strip of felt or thick cloth to the wood in each one and slip the tubes in the felt lined holes as shown in Fig. 112.

_How to Play the Tubaphone._--To play this peculiar instrument use a couple of felt covered mallets; these can be made by winding a little ball of string around one end of each stick which should be about ¹⁄₄ inch in diameter and 8 inches long, and then covering it with felt. Beat the tubes with the felt mallets in exactly the same way you do when you play the xylophone.

=The Cathedral Chimes.=--_How to Make Them._--This is one of the easiest musical instruments to make and the music produced by it is impressive in its tone and depth.

To make it saw off a board, ³⁄₄ or ⁷⁄₈ inch thick, about 12 inches wide and 22 inches long and screw a block 1 inch square to each corner for it to rest on. Get eight _binding posts_[113] of the size shown at A in Fig. 113; drill eight ¹⁄₈ inch holes in the board, 4 in a row with the holes 5 inches apart and have the rows also 5 inches apart, and then screw a binding post into each hole.

[113] These can be bought of the Manhattan Electrical Supply Co.,
Park Place, New York City.

A. A full sized binding post.

B. The chimes on the sounding board.]

Make eight spirals of No. 14 spring brass, steel or, better, _phosphor-bronze_[114] wire; you can do this by cutting off eight pieces of the wire each of which is 20 inches long. Draw a spiral on a sheet of paper as described in Chapter V so that the inside turn of wire is about ³⁄₄ inch in diameter, the outside turn about 3¹⁄₂ inches in diameter and each turn of wire will be separated from the other by a space of ¹⁄₄ inch as shown at B.

[114] Get it of the U. T. Hungerford Brass and Copper Co., Hungerford
Building, New York.

With your round nose pliers bend each length of wire like the pattern you drew on the paper. When you have made the spirals screw the inside end of each wire in the binding post and your cathedral chimes are done all except the tuning of them.

Let the first spiral of the upper left hand side give the fundamental tone and tune the others to it by cutting off the free ends of the wires until they are all tuned in unison. Make a couple of wood mallets and cover the ends with leather or rawhide.

_How to Play the Cathedral Chimes._--Strike the inside turn of wire up close to the end that is fastened to the binding post, and a tone will issue from the spiral that is long, deep and loud, for the wire with its free end forms a very perfect vibrating body.

=The Æolian Harp.=--_How to Make It._--This harp is of very ancient origin and it gets its name from _Æolus_ who, in classic mythology, was the father of the winds, and very appropriately is it named, too, for it is the wind that plays it.

Make a box of ¹⁄₂ inch thick wood, 2 inches deep, 5 inches wide and 3 feet long; use clear pine, or deal will do, for the sides of it but the ends should be of beech to hold the _tuning pins_ and the _hitch pins_. Cut a _sound hole_ 3 inches in diameter near both ends of the board which is to be used for the top; then glue the box together and screw up the ends with your wood clamps to hold it together tight while it is drying.

When it is thoroughly dry, drill a dozen ¹⁄₄ inch peg holes ³⁄₄ inch deep in one end, six in a row as shown at A in Fig. 114. Make a dozen pegs to fit the holes and these should have _wings_ on them as shown at B like violin pegs. Each peg should be about 1¹⁄₂ inches long and each one should have a ¹⁄₃₂ inch hole drilled near the top of the shank for the end of the string to pass through. The hitch pins can be brass brads driven into the other end of the box and in a line with the holes, all of which is shown at A.

Make two _bridges_ of hard wood ¹⁄₈ inch thick; have each one 1 inch high and 5 inches wide and with 12 notches cut in one side. Now get a dozen catgut strings of different thicknesses and put them on the sounding board; to do this twist a loop on the end of each one; thread the other end through the hole in the peg and tighten it up a little.

When you have all of the strings in place set a bridge under each end and then tune the strings in unison, but don’t stretch the strings on very tight or the wind won’t make them vibrate. This done, cut out another ¹⁄₂ inch thick pine board and glue a block ¹⁄₂ inch square and 1¹⁄₂ inches long to each corner and set it on top of the harp. The purpose of this cover is to make the wind blow with as much force as possible over the strings.

_How the Wind Plays It._--To the end that old Æolus may play the harp to the best of his ability set it on the sill of an open window so that the wind strikes the strings at a slant. Pull the window down on the harp in order to make all of the wind pass between the cover and the strings.

When the wind blows softly beautiful tones will be emitted and when the wind blows hard discords will be produced but as the wind subsides exquisite harmonies will again prevail.

=An Egyptian Fiddle.=--_How to Make It._--The early Egyptians invented the fiddle, or _rebab_ as they called it, but they did not play it with a bow. Later in _medieval_ times, that is in about the 9th century, this fiddle came to be called a _rebec_ and it was then played with a bow. I’ll bet though that the fiddle I shall tell you how to make and play sounds better than any Egyptian rebab ever made--though it is not exactly a _Stradivarius_.[115]

[115] The priceless fiddles made by the famous old violin maker
Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, Italy, in the early part of the 17th
century.

To make a fiddle of this kind--it only has one string and only one is needed by a master violinist--make a sounding box of ¹⁄₈ or ³⁄₁₆ inch thick wood except the ends which should be of ³⁄₈ inch thick stuff; this box should be 4 inches high, 6 inches wide at one end, 8 inches wide at the other end and 12 inches long. Cut a hole 6 inches in diameter in the center of the board which you are going to use for the _sounding board_, and then glue all of the pieces together using wood clamps to hold them tight.

For the neck take a stick of wood 1¹⁄₂ inches wide, 2¹⁄₂ inches thick and 15 inches long; cut it down until one end is 1 inch thick and cut a piece out of this end ³⁄₄ inch wide and 1 inch deep; bore a conical hole through this end and fit in a peg. Next saw out the other end 2 inches deep for a length of 3 inches back and glue and screw this end of the neck to the narrow end of the box. The shape of the neck with the peg in it and the way it is fixed to the sounding box is clearly shown in the top view A and the side view B in Fig. 115.

Cut out a _bridge_ of a piece of hard wood ¹⁄₈ inch thick, 1 inch high and 1¹⁄₂ inches long as shown at C; and, finally, make a _tail-piece_ of a bit of hard wood ¹⁄₈ inch thick ¹⁄₂ an inch wide at one end, 1 inch wide at the other end and 2 inches long. Drill a hole in each end and whittle or plane the large end to a sharp edge.

In the middle of the large end of the sounding box bore a ¹⁄₄ inch hole and glue in a hard wood peg for a _hitch-pin_. Fasten the tail-piece to the hitch-pin with a piece of catgut string. Slip the end of an A violin string through the hole in the sharp end of the tail-piece; knot it to keep it from pulling through, and bring the other end up and thread it through the hole in the peg in the neck. Finally put the bridge under the string and tighten it up. Tune it to the treble, or G _clef_, if you know enough about music to do it, or if not tune it so that it gives a pleasing tone.

_How to Make the Bow._--The best kind of wood to make a violin bow of is Brazilian lance-wood or of snake-wood, but for this one stringed fiddle of yours you can use a piece of beech.

Take a strip of wood ¹⁄₂ an inch thick, 1 inch wide and 24 inches long and saw it out as shown at D; then round up the stick and sandpaper it smooth. Cut out two blocks to fit the ends, or _frogs_ as they are called: drill a hole in each one and screw it to the bow but not very tight.

Now comes the hard part and that is putting on the hairs; get 50 or 60 white horsehairs about 2 feet long; I do not advise pulling them out of _Dobbin’s_ tail but rather to buy a bunch of them from Sears, Roebuck, and Co., Chicago, Ill., for 10 or 20 cents.

Having got them somehow put one end of each one under one of the blocks and when you have them all even and close together screw the block down tight; this done fasten the other ends of the hairs under the opposite block, and when you have them all drawn taut screw down the block and put a little glue on the places where they go under the blocks.

If you will look at a horsehair through a microscope you will see that it seems very like the scroll saw blade I told you about in the second chapter, that is, it has a lot of fine teeth on it and all of them run the same way. By rights then half of the hairs ought to be put on the bow with the teeth running in one direction and the other half with the teeth running in the other direction so that the friction of the hairs is the same on the string on the up and the down strokes.

Do not use much rosin on the bow but rosin it often. You can buy a piece of regular violin bow rosin for 5 cents but the kind that gives the best results is the genuine _Bernardel_ imported from France and which costs about a quarter. It bites hard on the string and makes a large volume of sound. The way the fiddle is played is shown at E.