Junkyard Jam Band: DIY Musical Instruments and Noisemakers
About the Author David Erik Nelson is an essayist freelance writer and award-winning science fiction author whose stories have appeared in Asimov’s and The Magazine of Fantasy Science Fiction among others He is the author of Snip Burn Solder Shred No Starch Press He lives in Ann Arbor Michigan with his lovely wife tolerable children and aging poodle
Brief Contents Acknowledgments xix Introduction xxi Part I Quick Projects and Tinkering 1 Project 1 The Slinkiphone 3 Project 2 The Plasti-Pickup 15 Project 3 The Elephant Trumpet 27 Project 4 The CPVC Slide Whistle 37 Project 5 The Scratchbox 57 Project 6 The Droid Voicebox 71 Project 7 Circuit Bending for Beginners 95 Project 8 Junkshop Percussion 115 Part II Weekend Projects 129 Project 9 The Playing-Card Pickup 131 Project 10 The Robo-Tiki Steel-Stringed Ukulele 143 Project 11 The Twang Roar Kalimba 169 Project 12 The Mud-n-Sizzle Preamp 197 Project 13 The Universal LFO 219 Project 14 The Twin-T Phaser Wah 241 Project 15 The Single-Chip Space Invader Synth 265 Project 16 The Bleepbox 8-Step Analog Sequencer 289 Appendix A Electronic Components Tools and Skills 323 Appendix B Extra Circuits 357 Appendix C Music Theory Crash Course 369
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It’s a well-worn cliché that any book is a team effort and even in our magical Information Information Age of disintermediated self-publishing millionaires that cliché still has more than a kernel of truth When I say This book wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of all those great folks at No Starch Press I’m not glad-handling glad-handing or buttering up No Starch Press to buy another book from me It’s quite literally the truth I showed up with a jackstraw mash of words and some pretty threadbare photographs The folks at No Starch Press beat that unwieldy mess into something you can actually use to make some awesomeness From vague concept through completion this was a complete collaboration First and foremost I need to thank Jennifer Griffith-Delgado my editor Again I’m not overstating one iota when I say that these were crappy confusingly written projects prior to her efforts If you believe in a God Thing please ask it to bless JGD for her patience and good will While you’re at it please also ask Your Personal Notion of Grace and Forbearance to rain fortunes down upon Riley Hoffman who is a great friend and wonderful designer and who worked tirelessly to make this all beautiful My technical reader Ron Sloat brought several welcome improvements to these projects in addition to generally keeping me honest and figuring out the true build times Liz Chadwick and Julianne Jigour caught the vast majority of my diverse collection of mistakes malapropisms and unnecessarily confusing flights of fancy Any that remain are my bad not theirs The fact that you’re looking at these words right now indicates that you somehow heard about this book’s existence I have no clue how that happened but I know Marlon Rigel did it He is a peach Most of all I need to thank No Starch Press’s publisher Bill Pollock for his irrational faith in a book that was 26 months late and sort of crazy to begin with There are also plenty of folks who’ve never set foot in the No Starch Press offices who’ve done me great service Phil Proefrock lent me his material knowhow knowhow Jesse the Guitar Tech at the Southfield MI Guitar Center fronted me a geared tuner when I most needed one Eli Neiburger and the Ann Arbor District Library furnished me with not one but two digital oscilloscopes Craig W Van Otteren and Jim Jett shared the intricacies of their DIY tin-can washboards Joe Neely steadfastly steadfastly attempted to teach me piano and also introduced me to the Penguin of Fifths for which I am eternally grateful Vince Russo Adam Stein and John Churchville are all excellent musicians and affable chaps whose insights on practical instrument instrument design and construction as well as real-world musical techniques were truly invaluable
Most importantly I want to thank my strong patient and determined wife but I have no idea how If something comes to you please email me dave davideriknelson com Finally I want to reiterate something I brush up against in Appendix C I need to thank Everyone The making of music and more importantly the making making of musical tools is a deeply human thing that humans have done and continue continue to do often with little compensation beyond the constant reminders that they are wasting their time and just making a bunch of noise while everyone else is doing something important and earning money I’m deeply indebted to every anonymous rando who’s ever strummed a chord plucked out a melody looped a drum cut posted to a forum about her preferred sine-wave oscillator circuit or taken a shot at singing that One True Song which is to say odds are I’m deeply indebted to you Gentle Reader and Maker of Things Thank you xx Acknowledgments
