Are the handles made of pipes or just made to look like pipes? If it’s the first, what would you Google for if you want that kind of pipe. I love the pipe estethic but when I look for it on Google I always get ugly or plastic piping.
Yes, they are metal pipes/fittings that I got from Lowe’s (local hardware store). I used a spray paint with the term “hammered” in the name, it gives a nice textured metal coating, since they don’t look this nice off the store shelves!
I used strong dish soap and a scrub brush to get them dirt and grease free, then assembled and put them in the oven at 200 degrees (F) for 30 minutes to dry. Then put on rubber gloves to handle (no skin oils) and painted them. Have had no issues with the paint chipping off or anything like that.
That looks awesome. What about the frame of the wheels cracking the kayak frame? Also, most kayaks go through sandy or muddy ground, would you want fat wheels for better surface area?
Building your own musical instrument sounds like a daunting project at the beginning but one with very satisfying results. :)
Not knowing much about marimbas or woodworking, I’m super curious about the actual hand-tuning process! Is it carefully trimming the boards down? And how much do the tubes (?) at the bottom affect the tuning vs the wood pieces on top?
So each of the keys is cut to specific dimensions (I just stole these from an existing Marimba) where deeper keys are larger and higher keys shorter, then you cut an arch into the bottom of the key. The arch is where the real tuning comes from, the size of the key just gets you into the general neighborhood.
Each key has 1 primary tone and 2 overtones (actually way more, but these are the 3 that the human ear can actually pick up on), and each of the tones is tuned by specific regions of the arch, so if you trim material from the center for instance, it will affect the primary tone. I tuned my marimba so that the 2 overtones were the fourth harmonic and the tenth harmonic, which is standard for marimbas, and is what gives it it’s unique deep sound.
The tubes are called resonators - they’re sort of natural amplifiers, without them, the whole thing sounds like you’re just smacking wooden blocks (which you are, to be fair), but with them you get a very powerful, room filling sound. Each one is “tuned” to the resonance of the key it sits under!
Do It Yourself
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