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This track features Jonathan, playing a three-string acoustic guitar of his own design, as well as a Native American style flute he built from a kit. He also added vocals. Collaborators include Alan with electric guitar and Alina with vocals.

This particular acoustic guitar features three strings and a bridge consisting of a piece from a broken hockey stick. The vendor who supplied the guitar parts referred to instruments made with the suppled body as “fat bottom guitars.” The body itself required assembly. I fastened all the parts except for the back section together with wood glue. The guitar neck features a fret board, frets and nut. The fret board and nut were already glued on the neck itself. The neck features a threaded bolt, nut and washers.

To fasten the neck to the body, I needed a socket wrench. Once the neck was fastened in place, I glued the back of the body in place and added wood screws to keep the whole thing together. Then I drilled holes in the head stock for tuners and inserted the tuners. Evidently, I did not align the neck and body properly because when I added the supplied metal bridge, there was a problem with how the strings sounded when strummed and plucked. So I added the piece of hockey stick as a second bridge, using the metal bridge as a tail piece instead.

The Native American style flute featured on this track is an instrument I made from a kit. I have built similar instruments from kits in the past and have discovered what some people have advised: you get what you pay for. At least in some cases, I have tried to make lemonade from “lemons.” This particular flute happens to be a favorite. All i needed to do was shape the mouthpiece and block (sometimes called a fetish) and drill finger holes. As another step, I used to a wood burning tool to add my initials and simple designs. Note: I describe this particular instrument as a Native American style flute to distinguish it from Native American flutes made by Native Americans. I myself am not of Native American background. Also, Native American flutes of this kind include leather strips. One uses these strips the fasten the block/fetish in place on the top of the flute. I do my best to avoid using animal products when it comes to making my instruments.

As an aside, I used to make my own Native American style flutes from bamboo, PVC, wood and fallen branches. My sources of inspiration were books about how to make simple folk instruments, as well as relevant websites. The flute I described earlier is my best one, as far as I am concerned.

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This track features Jonathan playing a cedar board one string diddley bow of his own design, as well as providing vocals. Julie plays EWI harmonica, Alan plays electric guitar and Lew plays Kalimba.

The diddley bow may be considered a monochord and a one-stringed zither. There are similar instruments in West Africa. The diddley bow itself is uniquely American and typical of the deep South. The most basic diddley bow consists of a wood board, two nails, a string and a bottle, sea shell or rock serving as a bridge. Some diddley bows are and were built from the side of a house.

There are no rules for building a diddley bow. This allows for plenty of room for design variations.

Creating a how-to article about building this instrument is challenging. Even though the diddley bow seems simple to construct, there are many factors to consider. Let us consider building a diddley bow using a wood board instead of the side of a house. The kind of wood you use may make a lot of difference. Some wood boards, such as those made from pine or cedar, may bow because of string tension. Then again, such boards may also crack and splinter when you drive nails into them. I have seen instructions suggesting using four nails instead of two. The extra two nails are used to keep the string from moving up the first two, thus allowing the string to become slack. Then again, positioning the second set of nails may be difficult.

I have also built diddley bows using screw eyes. A possible drawback is, string tension may cause the screw eyes to bend inward and possibly even pull them out of the board. Then again, the size and length of the screw eyes themselves may be a factor as well. Possibly screw eyes three quarters of an inch to one inch long, are strong enough to remain in place once screwed into a wood board.

I have seen diddley bows with strings made from broom wire, baling wire, screen door wire and guitar strings. Then again, I have also experimented with steel single-stranded picture wire, with fairly good results. I myself have no use for baling wire. In addition, it is rather pricey: ninety-nine dollars a bundle. Broom wire may be more accessible but is tough to straighten out because it is rather thick--almost an eighth of an inch in diameter. I tried making a diddley bow with broom wire and was not happy with the result because I did not hear distinct notes when I attempted to play the instrument.

My introduction to diddley bows was a DIY (Do It Yourself) cigar box diddley bow kit. The kit featured a guitar string. In my experience, guitar strings work very well, even if there is the possibility of a string breaking and needing to be replaced. Note: I shall describe the kit I built when I get to Capstone track #4.

With the diddley bow, there is the option to amplify the sound. The kit I just described features a resonator in the form of a cigar box. Resonators provide natural sound amplification. You may also use pickups. I have experimented with piezo disks and magnetic pickups. The disks and magnetic pickups are soldered to stereo jacks. A simple magnetic pickup may consist of a metal or wood bobbin, a wire coil and natural magnets. I, myself, have used neodymium disk magnets but there are other options, such as Alnico.

Just as there are no rules when it comes to building a diddley bow, there are no rules when it comes to playing them. I use a wood dowel as a drum stick to “percuss” on my instruments. There is also the option to pluck or bow the string. I also use a glass medicine bottle slide to play melodies.

Tuners of some kind are useful for adjusting string tension. You also have the option of tuning an instrument such as a diddley bow any way you like. If guitar machine head tuners are not readily available, you can use eye bolts. My source of inspiration was an article in Make Magazine about how to build a cigar box guitar. The featured instrument featured eye bolts, nuts, wing nuts and washers. After building a few cigar box guitars with eye bolt tuners, I began building diddley bows with eye bolt tuners as well. A drawback of this was the possibility of scratching furniture or even causing unintentional injury with the bottoms of the eye bolts. I remedied the situation by adding pieces of scrap wood to the bottom of the boards and close to the ends with the tuners.

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The Yay Blues features Jonathan on Midi Keyboard, with a Piano setting, as well as vocals. The collaborators are Barbara and Alina. Barbara plays Tuba, Staccato style. Alina plays Native American Flute.

Here, I used a Midi player to play twelve-bar blues. I also improvised vocals. Something about these twelve bar blues suggested “Yea” energy so I played around with how many ways I could say or even shout “yea” or even “Yay!”

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Wailing Blues features a cigar box diddley bow built from a kit. Jonathan plays this instrument. Collaborators include Paula with vocals, Barbara with Percussion and Lew with Diddley bow loop.

About the instrument I, Jonathan, play:

This particular kit featured an inch diameter wood dowel. cigar box, screw with slot head, headless threaded bolt, machine head tuner, wood screws, two brass ferrules and a guitar string. The dowel itself is thirty-two inches long. Coincidentally, this is the length the kit vendor recommends for cigar bvox guitars. The instructions suggested drilling a hole near one corner of the box lid. I used an inch diameter Forstner bit for the purpose. Alternatively, you can use an inch-diameter hole saw drill bit for the same purpose. I also used the Forstner bit to drill holes on two sides of the box so I could pass the dowel through the box. Two wood screws keep the box fastened to the dowel. The purpose of the screw with the slot head was to guide the string, as well as to serve as a nut. The bolt served as a bridge and was held in place by string tension.The instructions further suggested making fret lines and dots along the length of the dowel.

NB: I mentioned brass ferrules. These may be small tube-like items. Some of flanges at one end. Ferrules are useful for keeping strings from gouging into the wood, thus shortening the life of an instrument. I used ferrules with various diddley bows and cigar box guitars I built.

This particular instrument may be played by holding it on your lap and percussing the string with a drum stick. You can also use a slide, such as a small glass medicine bottle, to shorten or lengthen the string, thus generating melodies.

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Singing Single String Blues features a one-string guitar made with a plastic food container for the body and a wood square dowel for the neck. Jonathan plays this particular instrument. Paula provides vocals while Julie plays an EWI instrument. ("Respiro. ").

The inspiration for this instrument was a children's book about how to make simple folk instruments.

This instrument features a plastic food container and lid, a square dowel, machine head tuner, two pieces of scrap wood, two brass ferrules and a guitar string. In general, Guitars feature head stocks. One attaches tuners to the headstock. Sometimes you need to shape the head stock in such a way as to allow the tuner pin to stand clear of the wood, making attaching strings easier. This is what i did with the wood dowel. Then I cut holes near the bottom of the plastic container and slid the dowel through the holes. I fastened the container to the dowel with two small wood screws. Next, I drilled holes for the tuner and added it to the head stock. I glued small pieces of scrap wood to the neck, just below the headstock and to the top center of the plastic container. The final step was adding the guitar string. In this case, the string was a 0.009 steel wound electric guitar string. If you build a guitar such as this one, you can experiment with various strings to find out which is your favorite. Another possibility is start with one and if it breaks, you can use another one in a set. Once again, there are no rules when it comes to building these instruments.

Note: this particular guitar has no frets. Fret markings or actual frets are useful and helpful as guides for playing specific chords, especially blues chords. But these are options and not required. I myself play instruments such as this one by feel. Using a slide, such as a small glass medicine bottle, helps.

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PDF featuring notes about the instruments featured in this project

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PDF featuring notes about the instruments featured in this project

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Here, I am including descriptions of the instruments I played during the course of this project, as well as explanations about how built this instruments. Maybe you will be inspired to build your own simple folk guitars, diddley bows and the like.

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Short Blues on Box Bass features a one string bass with a string consisting of Weed Whacker cord.

Here we have Jonathan on the bass, Paula playing violin, Julie playing EWI "Flugelhorn," Lew playing tenor saxophone and Anna singing the blues in her own inimitable fashion.

This instrument consists of a 1”x2”x4' (one inch by two inch by four feet) piece of lumber for the neck, a large corrugated cardboard box for the body, a piece of scrap wood for the bridge, a small quarter inch diameter wood dowel for the nut, a machine head tuner, two small washers and a piece of weed whacker cord. My sources of inspiration were children's books and websites about how to make simple folk instruments. Boxes used to carry small cans, bottles or small appliances may work quite well, as long as the boxes themselves are sturdy. The box I used measures 6.5x14x19 but there is no standard size or ideal size for this kind of project. You might even consider using a shoe box and do very well.

I cut holes in the sides of the box bottom so the lumber could fit snugly. Then I slid the lumber in place, using wood glue to fasten the neck in place, leaving an inch and a half protruding below the box. Having done so, I put the box top in place and taped up the seams. Then, I used a small round file to create a groove near the top of the neck for the nut and drilled holes for the machine head tuner. I also glued the scrap wood bridge to the middle of the box. A simple resonator is basically a box with a hole in it. I cut out two holes in the cardboard--one on each side of the wood neck--for this purpose.

Once I had drilled holes for the tuner and the tail piece where i was going to attach the string, I added the tuner, string and two washers to keep the string from gouging into the wood on account of string tension.

Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Ordinarily, I would probably make a shallow groove in the lumber neck. If the top of the box is not level with the neck, the range of notes you can play on instruments such as this one might be limited. I have built cigar box guitars where i needed to cut a groove in the instrument neck in order for the box lid to fit snugly. Doing so allowed me to be able to play notes on part of the box lid itself and not just the neck. To cut a groove in the lumber, you can use a coping saw or a rasp file. Some rasp files allow you to remove a lot of material in a short time. An example is the Japanese Shinto (TM) rasp.

NB: I am providing the notes for these instruments as separate PDF as well, for your interest.

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This is the homemade three string acoustic guitar featured in Rocking Blues Jam. I added drawings of a few of my original cartoon characters on the top of the instrument body.

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This instrument is featured in If Mother Goose Got the Blues. In the recording, the diddley bow is an acoustic instrument. I have since added an electric guitar pickup.

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Blues tunes on Native American style flute? Why not?

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This is a Native American style flute I built from a kit. The flute is what. you hear on Rocking Blues Jam.

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This is the cigar box diddley bow featured on Wailing Blues. My source of inspiration was a Do it yourself kit about building a cigar box diddley bow.

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This is the food container guitar featured on Singing Single String Blues. The inspiration for this instrument was from children's books about making simple folk instruments, as well as similar websites I discovered online.

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This is the one-string cardboard box bass with string consisting of weed whacker cord featured on Short Blues on Box Bass. My sources of inspiration include children's books about making simple folk instruments.