Author: factoid

Logistics, mechanics, acoustics

More key cutting

We cut more keys this weekend. We’re up to F#. Almost one out of the four planned octaves of keys is cut (but only half of the keys are tuned so far.

Since the metal heats up during cutting, and heated keys resonate a good half-tone lower than room-temperature keys, you’re forced to put them aside until they cool down before trying to tune them. It’s time-consuming work – each key can take up to an hour to cut and tune properly.

We also spent a lot of time figuring out the polishing/buffing routine and tools, but I’ll let @alienrobot tell you about that.

Step 4 – Seat hunting

It’s a big, old van and it needs new seats. Or at least new upholstery.

Spent a good hour calling around to junk yards yesterday, including TruckWrecking.com and had no luck digging up a set of seats for a 1985 Ford Club Wagon XLT. The seats any Ford van built in the surrounding 10 years would probably do it, but no one seemed of a mind to help. I have a couple more numbers to call in the morning.

Step 2 – start cutting xylophone keys

We bought some aluminum bar (3″ x .5″), which has a nice, resonant tone without any nasty harmonics to it.

Also, it’s the lightest choice (brass and steel are MUCH heavier), which will become important when we have close to a hundred pounds of keys, steel framing and audio pickups hanging off the van.

I learned how to choose raw materials for this project eight years ago the first time I built a xylophone (this one), after downloading these instructions.

I spent a good deal of time hunkered down on my knees, balancing odd bits of aluminum, steel and brass on balled-up socks (per Jim Doble’s excellent instructions), whacking it and listening to it – which gets you stared at, but generally dismissed as not worth calling the cops on.

Eventually, you figure out what sounds best – and off you go.

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Step 1 – get enormous van

If you want to build a rolling xylophone that a lot of people can play on, you need to start large.

Garage-defyingly, big-elbowed, fat-assed gas-whale large.

I don’t even want to think of how thirsty this platform is, it’s stupidly gorgeous. Burly rhomboidal lines. Four rows of seating (that won’t last long). Brown/orange “sunset” striping. Eight lugnuts per beefy wheel. Go ahead, click to enlarge the pic. You’ll barf, it’s so large.

This, friends, is our pigheaded American folly.

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