Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

Blue_Fingers_Jay

Blue_Fingers_Jay

New member
I just love this thing and since it's so easy to make and the comercial alternatives are **** expensive I decided to share with you guys.

hobogear005nf6.jpg


It's made out of a box of Porto wine, actually you only need half of it, one box makes two os these things.
I got a couple of piezo buzzers remove the plastic cover, and stuck the piezos inside the lid, solder the wires to a mono jack and you are done.

Here are the guts:

hobogear011vm1.jpg


Now you have a small box you can tap with your foot to make a steady rythm, just turn the amp up loud, cut the mids and the treble to zero and the bass to ten, step on it and you get a pretty good thump, kinda like a bass drum or turn the treble and the bass to zero and the middle to ten and you get something that sound more like a snare drum.

Especially in blues this thing is great!
Not only does it help you ALOT with rythm playing and makes things much more interesting for an audience if you are playing alone.
It's also great to play slide, just use it to keep the rythm going and slide away.

You can make one with any piece of wood a jack and one or two piezos, if you don't to use an amp only for this use a EQ pedal and a A/B/Y box and presto.

Hope you find it useful and if you make one please report back.
 
Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

Nice. Can you post some clips?

Que marca de Porto era? Meu granda bebado lol
 
Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

Very cool! Thanks for sharing. I would like to build me something similar, after seeing this thread. Reminds me of what this guy's using.
 
Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

DesertRat said:
Interesting. How loud will it get without feedback?
Click to expand...

Surprisingly quite loud, if I keep it away from the amp and don't use any gain on it, I think the fact that the treble is on zero helps.

I used to stomp my foot, but the fact that alot of places don't have a floor that resonates well and my leg being screwed up after a couple of songs It would get painfull as heck, this makes life much easier.
 
Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

Luís said:
Nice. Can you post some clips?

Que marca de Porto era? Meu granda bebado lol
Click to expand...

Let me try to record this using both settings, altough I only use the bass on 10 the middle on ten is cool too.

Era Porto Calém LOL
Já tenho a caixa parada aos anos.

Tor said:
Very cool! Thanks for sharing. I would like to build me something similar, after seeing this thread. Reminds me of what this guy's using.
Click to expand...

Thank you and you are welcome.
If you need any help just ask, you can use any old box and piezos are really cheap and easy to find (those little birthday cards that have music when you open them have a piezo inside) even soldering is pretty easy.

Very cool clip, that's how I use it only much much worse.
 
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Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

Here's an awful clip sound starts about 10 seconds in.
Keep in mind that I don't have shoes on and the amp is low (it's night time here) tomorrow I'll try to record something better but this should give you a general idea.

It starts with the bass on 10, middle and treble on 0 then middle on 10 and bass and treble on 0 then back to the first setting.
On the middle on 10 I changed to spot where I tap so you can hear the difference it's small but it's there.

Here you go
http://www.zshare.net/audio/16787614da582b7d/
 
Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

Not bad, like a heart beating. Sounds pretty much like an Adufe, a Portuguese instrument.

I think you're onto something, J.

Now all we need are tone snobs to start making these out of Indian Rosewood... of course the vintage dudes will always prefer pine wine boxes LOL

Porto Cálem FTW!
 
Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

Great for that John Lee Hooker foot tap...

Nice little gadget Blues, thanks for sharing.
 
Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

That thing is sweet! An alteration with steel tines could make an electric African kalimba! Kalimbas don't have to be tuned to a Western scale. They can be as small as a book, or can be as large as a 1x12 cab (with the player sitting on it). They just have to sound cool. I have seen some small, rather crude ones, with tines that looked like they were made from rusty barbed wire. ;)

http://www.kalimbamagic.com/

http://shop.kalimbamagic.com/produc...4FE7F8.qscstrfrnt02?categoryId=2&productId=11

The Potuguese connection:
http://www.kalimbamagic.com/learnabout/learnabout_how_old.php
 
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Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

Sludgenutz said:
That thing is sweet! An alteration with steel tines could make an electric African kalimba! Kalimbas don't have to be tuned to a Western scale. They can be as small as a book, or can be as large as a 1x12 cab (with the player sitting on it). They just have to sound cool. I have seen some small, rather crude ones, with tines that looked like they were rusty barbed wire. ;)

http://www.kalimbamagic.com/

http://shop.kalimbamagic.com/produc...4FE7F8.qscstrfrnt02?categoryId=2&productId=11
Click to expand...

I have seen a guy who built one from a full size hollow core door.:34:
 
Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

gettin back to the roots of rock, when elvis drummer would be miked up bangin on a phone book or something.
I still prefer a drum machine , but after all, Im pushin 100 watts with medium high gain.
 
Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

Great thread! Now, I really want to make one of these. Do you suppose it'd work with a simple acoustic piezo with battery? It'd be fun to make a simple one with a 3" car speaker on it. Just for something to take around to acoustic coffee house things.

I dig the fact it was made out of a wine crate. More mojo.
 
Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

rabidrabbit2727 said:
http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp?pn=3035200&bhcd2=1218410302
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G2602A

Are these what I'd need to make one? Thanks
Click to expand...

Yes.
That's exactly what you need.
You don't need two, one is enough, but I wanted to have a loud sound wherever I taped.

Gearjoneser said:
Great thread! Now, I really want to make one of these. Do you suppose it'd work with a simple acoustic piezo with battery? It'd be fun to make a simple one with a 3" car speaker on it. Just for something to take around to acoustic coffee house things.

I dig the fact it was made out of a wine crate. More mojo.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
I think so, as long as it's a piezo.
Good idea! With an active piezo you wouldn't need an amp, dunno if it would be loud enough.
That's exactly for what I use mine. Not only is it fun and helps you out, but it also makes a performance more interesting.
Plus chicks dig it, I have no idea why, they don't care about stompboxes, but the little wooden box sparks their interest, must be the mojo from the wine crate!

jerryjg said:
gettin back to the roots of rock, when elvis drummer would be miked up bangin on a phone book or something.
I still prefer a drum machine , but after all, Im pushin 100 watts with medium high gain.
Click to expand...

I didn't know about Elvis drummer, very cool.
You kids and your crazy music with the loud volumes!
I can't work with drum machines, too many buttons and I lose interest before I can't get the beat I want, I'm like an old geezer with ADD

Luís said:
Not bad, like a heart beating. Sounds pretty much like an Adufe, a Portuguese instrument.

I think you're onto something, J.

Now all we need are tone snobs to start making these out of Indian Rosewood... of course the vintage dudes will always prefer pine wine boxes LOL

Porto Cálem FTW!
Click to expand...

Holy poopie!
It does sound alot like an Adufe! I just noticed that!

I created an foot electric adufe! I shall call Footdufe!

LOL Cheap pine wine boxes have that fancy drunkard hobo tone.

Surgeon said:
Great for that John Lee Hooker foot tap...

Nice little gadget Blues, thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

You are welcome.
Actually John Lee made me start using my foot to keep rythm.
Everytime I listen to him my jaw drops, that man had some serious groove.

Sludgenutz said:
That thing is sweet! An alteration with steel tines could make an electric African kalimba! Kalimbas don't have to be tuned to a Western scale. They can be as small as a book, or can be as large as a 1x12 cab (with the player sitting on it). They just have to sound cool. I have seen some small, rather crude ones, with tines that looked like they were made from rusty barbed wire. ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks!
Kalimas rock!
They are actually simple to make I saw an article online on how to make one an electric one would rock!
Overdriven Kalimba! hahahah
 
Re: Homemade piece of gear I would like to share

jerryjg said:
gettin back to the roots of rock, when elvis drummer would be miked up bangin on a phone book or something.
I still prefer a drum machine , but after all, Im pushin 100 watts with medium high gain.
Click to expand...

The ol' drumming on the guitar case:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thYqu9rAF04&feature=related

Hey guys, why not mount a few piezo pickups and a jack to a guitar case! One could even mount a cedar plank from the inside. Wicked hillbilly tech!

Or howsabout a piezo electric guitar case/bass drum pedal...and a cigar box tuned to the high tone, on the other foot?
 
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