../making an electic cello stick thing
got real inspired by Jacob Cohen here :)
unfortunetly i didn't record the making process like he did.
the string length is around 71cm neck to bridge, really the only thing that makes it a cello.
i used a 3ft+ piece of 1.5 inch olk wood. was a scrap left over from a railing.
the strings are held at the base by these holes. used the drill and a file to get the curved leadouts on the top. (otherwize the strings would have been bent at a sharp right angle)
the brigde sits right on top of the contact mic. gets a real nice sound. had to cut out a slot for the mic and bridges with a band saw. in the future i would like to make this slot smaller. it just needs to have space for the brigde and mic.
the bridge has little slots cut in it, made with a small file (so the strings stay put). it was cut from a small piece of oak with a bandsaw then sanded to the right height. later i might make a dirffrent one that has a curved top instead of flat, that way it could be played with a bow.
for the mic wiring, the center disc goes to the tip, and the outer copper disc goes to the shield.
drilled a big hole for the aux jack bellow where the strings put stress on the body.
the hole only goes part way through so the jack has some wood to hold onto.
getting the height on the neck piece is important for comfort. to tall an the strings become real hard to press down. to low an dthe strings will rest / buzz on the finger board.
for the tuning pegs i used some bass tuners from Gotoh.
i tryed to give the tuners some vatage to pull the srtings down by cutting the head piece so that it angles down. this was done with a bandsaw.
otherwize i just tucked the strings at the bottom of the coils to make that angle greater.
before the final constrution i routed the back of the neck to give it a nice curve instead of sharp square conners. then sanded it up to 400 grit with a power sander. so nice to use :) then stained the body with some of Hope's pure tung oil. its 50-50 mix of pure tung oil and mineral spirits. wipe on with a rag, wait 30 min, wipe off exsses with paper towl, then wait 12 hours for cure..
the only recording i have of it so far is in this song here, the cello starts at 0:48
just some picked harmonic intervals
got real inspired by Jacob Cohen here :)
unfortunetly i didn't record the making process like he did.
the string length is around 71cm neck to bridge, really the only thing that makes it a cello.
i used a 3ft+ piece of 1.5 inch olk wood. was a scrap left over from a railing.
the strings are held at the base by these holes. used the drill and a file to get the curved leadouts on the top. (otherwize the strings would have been bent at a sharp right angle)
the brigde sits right on top of the contact mic. gets a real nice sound. had to cut out a slot for the mic and bridges with a band saw. in the future i would like to make this slot smaller. it just needs to have space for the brigde and mic.
the bridge has little slots cut in it, made with a small file (so the strings stay put). it was cut from a small piece of oak with a bandsaw then sanded to the right height. later i might make a dirffrent one that has a curved top instead of flat, that way it could be played with a bow.
for the mic wiring, the center disc goes to the tip, and the outer copper disc goes to the shield.
drilled a big hole for the aux jack bellow where the strings put stress on the body.
the hole only goes part way through so the jack has some wood to hold onto.
getting the height on the neck piece is important for comfort. to tall an the strings become real hard to press down. to low an dthe strings will rest / buzz on the finger board.
for the tuning pegs i used some bass tuners from Gotoh.
i tryed to give the tuners some vatage to pull the srtings down by cutting the head piece so that it angles down. this was done with a bandsaw.
otherwize i just tucked the strings at the bottom of the coils to make that angle greater.
before the final constrution i routed the back of the neck to give it a nice curve instead of sharp square conners. then sanded it up to 400 grit with a power sander. so nice to use :) then stained the body with some of Hope's pure tung oil. its 50-50 mix of pure tung oil and mineral spirits. wipe on with a rag, wait 30 min, wipe off exsses with paper towl, then wait 12 hours for cure..
the only recording i have of it so far is in this song here, the cello starts at 0:48
just some picked harmonic intervals