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Simple build for 9 year old
Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 6:28 pm
by John Nephin
My 9 year old daughter has to build an instrument for a school project. She only has 2 days to complete it.
I was thinking a canjo or mbira but would like to hear any other ideas people may have.
Re: Simple build for 9 year old
Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 11:57 pm
by Michael Lewis
Canjo! Kazoo!
Re: Simple build for 9 year old
Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 9:01 am
by G.S. Monroe
I recently did a building seminar for a grade school age church youth group.
I showed them how to build "Canjo"s with plastic "Red" dixie cups, and 45 lb fishing line.
I used 3/4" wood dowels for the necks, cut in half length wise about 18 inches long.
and brass linoleum tacks to hold it all together. A small eye bolt for a tuner, and staples for frets.
The kids had a blast, and there were minimal sharp edges for poking little fingers.
Primitive, but it teaches the basic principles of how an instrument is built and functions.
Re: Simple build for 9 year old
Posted: Tue May 28, 2013 12:23 pm
by Jon Whitney
A rectangular banjo with a soda-bottle (PETE) plastic head and fishing line strings with friction tuners is a little more sophisticated but can easily be done in two days. The head is shrunk tight with heat from a blow dryer after tacking it on the body frame. Make it fretless but mark the fret positions with a Sharpie for simplicity.
Re: Simple build for 9 year old
Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 3:25 am
by Arnt Rian
Re: Simple build for 9 year old
Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 7:30 am
by Clay Schaeffer
A stick dulcimer might be a good choice. Half as many frets and it's hard to hit a bad note if they have to demonstrate them. The body could be a cigar box or cookie tin or whatever might be on hand. A quick search of you tube will show all sorts of possibilities.
Re: Simple build for 9 year old
Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 8:14 pm
by Neal Carey
Cigar box ukulele? Easy to make.
Re: Simple build for 9 year old
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:11 pm
by Andrew Porter
Probably to late but a unican or canjoe:
http://canjoe.com/myblog/?p=14450
I made my school teacher wife several for her class. I use a soup can screw to a stick open end facing the butt. I drilled a small hole ~1/4 inch from rim of the bottom of the can to feed a guitar string through. The frets where finishing nails with the heads cut off. Short right angles where bent at each end to form a staple. The location was determined by holding a straight nail on the neck and fretting the string. I slid the nail up and down till I found the correct location using a tuner. I went with a dulcimer scale. I then drilled slighty undersized holes to tap them into.
