Handmade Music Factory

handed guitars. Grommets are a great way to hide tattered edges, especially on cigar boxes that are covered with paper. If you end up with a box that doesn't sound that good acoustically, you can electrify it for a couple dollars and make it sound great

step instructions, Orr's book includes profiles of cigar box guitar builders and a large photo gallery of beautiful instruments made by cigar box guitar aficionados. One of my favorites is a banjo made from the hubcap of a Volkswagen. If you're interested in getting started in building your own musical instruments, or you have built them but would like to learn additional tips and tricks and find out how others have created their own musical instruments, this is a great book.

to book on creating home made instruments. Published by Fox Chapel Publishing, he takes the reader through the step by step processes of building 7 instruments from materials found around most households. Beautifully illustrated with plenty of progress photos, Orr teaches us how to build a: 1 string washtub bass soup can Diddley bow electrified stomp box and washboard 3 string cigar box slide guitar cookie tin guitar fretted 4 string tenor guitar ironing board lap steel guitar Mike also covers basic electronics explaining how to simply electrify your instrument. He even shows us how to make an amplifier from an old cassette player! There are a lot of sidebar snippets describing history, shop tips & tricks and playing advice, as well as bios of several of the high profile performers playing handmade instruments. There are a lot of other instrument photos in the gallery section. An enormous amount of inspiration for any level builder is crammed into these 160 pages. The forward is written by members of the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation, an organization founded by descendants of the legendary bluesman. They are dedicated to keeping his spirit and the music he inspired alive. These instruments are a tribute to the days when factory instruments weren't an option for poor musicians who played what they built from found parts. This book is a must read for anyone considering building their own instrument, as well as experienced builders who want to learn a few new tricks. Orr lists all the materials and tools needed and guides you every step of the way to creating a simple, magical instrument. He even provides full size templates of many of the components you'll build. Your copy will have dog eared pages and notes written in the margins as you go back to Mike's plan of attack as you create your own one of a kind instrument. Handmade Music Factory embraces all the great things here at the Handmade Music Clubhouse. Like many members here, Mike Orr is a creative and talented inventor who loves to share his creations and knowledge to help people to build their own. Bravo Mike! Great job and thanks Fox Chapel Publishing for helping spread the word about what goes on at the Handmade Music Clubhouse every day.

Good Instruments" gives you all the knowledge you need to go out and build your own stringed instruments from scratch using household and junkyard materials. Build a one stringed washtub bass, a cookie tin guitar, or even a lap steel from an ironing board. Packed with enough projects to put together an old time string band, it's a lot more fun than that weekend birdhouse you promised to build for your family.

String Washtub Bass but the principal is the same, it emanates a true resonating bass sound and he shows you how to build one.. Orr and his collaborators continue with old time instruments with a 'Soup Can Diddley Bow, a Stomp Box and Washboard. In later chapters Orr details four guitars of varying types and then show you how to amplify them. This book is a blast! Not only are there super improvised instruments but Orr has included a great compendium of musicians that played these fabulous musical innovations. Oh, check out the Hub Cap Banjo on page 127.

step illustrations. The more sophisticated stringed instruments require a lot more tool use and special materials; unfortunately, the resources list does not provide adequate coverage. Still, solid instructions and templates make this attractive book quite usable. Recommended for high school and public libraries.

scampin' fun!

inch model, even in landscape mode, the text is uncomfortably small. All factors considered, if this is a book you plan to purchase, skip the ebook version and go with a physical copy. This book has much of value to a Christian homeschooling audience, but would require several edits. Two handmade guitars involving bedpans as resonators are given names playing off of words not used in polite company. Each name is mentioned two or three times. There is also a (positive) reference to "mojo," and a reference to those who make their own instruments as "subversive." With those caveats duly noted, the remainder of the book would provide a homeschooler who is both musically inclined and has decent craftsmanship skills with hours of fascinating and invigorating challenges. This book came so close to a perfect Biblical Bookshelf rating, but ultimately fell a few words short. It receives three stars.

inch model, even in landscape mode, the text is uncomfortably small. All factors considered, if this is a book you plan to purchase, skip the ebook version and go with a physical copy. This book has much of value to a Christian homeschooling audience, but would require several edits. Two handmade guitars involving bedpans as resonators are given names playing off of words not used in polite company. Each name is mentioned two or three times. There is also a (positive) reference to "mojo," and a reference to those who make their own instruments as "subversive." With those caveats duly noted, the remainder of the book would provide a homeschooler who is both musically inclined and has decent craftsmanship skills with hours of fascinating and invigorating challenges. This book came so close to a perfect Biblical Bookshelf rating, but ultimately fell a few words short. It receives three stars.