I've got a collection of 1st (E) and 2nd (B) strings.  Does anyone have a use for these?  I found that I can make diddley bows using the 6th (low E) string, but don't know what to do with the others.  I would gladly mail them to anyone who wants them.

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How many you got?

Maybe a dozen strings all together.

I just made a 21" scale cbg and tuned DAD using leftover 1,2, and 6 strings.  I made the cbg without really thinking about strings and have a few of these around (maybe a common theme!) and figured what did I have to lose so I tried it.  Kind of twangy but different, good change from the usual GDG for me.

Ye, I got strings laying around the place myself. First and sixth strings. I need to make a two stringer so they'll all find a home. 

Diddly bow's for kids. Try building sympathetic strings inside the box. Short scale instruments.

I just gave my first diddley bow to a bass player.  The guy was pretty happy with it.  He tried to give me money, but I told him that as long as it was appreciated, that would be enough

Fomhorach, can you elaborate?

First, if you are saying "Diddly bows are for kids," I would disagree with that.  Diddly bows, or one-string guitars, are a great simplified introduction to hand-made instruments, but they are not only for kids.

Second, even if you view a diddly bow as a children's instrument, I would hope you are not lacking respect for kids.  Kids are people, too.  Just shorter.  And naive.  And often sticky.

I like the idea of resonating strings inside the box, though.  That's something to think about.

-Tommy

I read it as "Use them to make diddly bows for kids."

Diddly bow's are a great introduction to musical instruments. Yup, they are not just for kids but kids love them and loving music creation is the key to a lasting love of of all kinds of musical instruments. I think there's nothing worse than a kid being made to take lessons. I believe it drives them away from playing. Give them something noisey that they can get really creative on and let them rip. It doesn't take a long time to make a simple one so get them strings on and give the gift of music. I'll add a picture of my efforts of sympathetic strings inside the box.

Attachments:

Oh, thank you for that picture, that just makes my head spin.  Do you have a recording of what that sounds like?

Also, I appreciate your clarification about diddly bows and kids.  I've made and given away a number of them, mostly but not exclusively to kids.

I don't have a recording. It sounded ghostly when it was working. The guitar would 'sing' back harmonics. It was strange and lovely but very sensitive to bumps and hard strums just made all the strings sing. The way that I constructed it was bad design too. It was murder to tune without the strings knocking each other out of tune.
I've raided that guitar for parts but I have a good understanding of it all, what to expect and how to build a better one. It's the main reason I've been practising headless designs.

One day I will sit down with everything I've learned so far from all my builds and build something crazy and cool. But I have more to learn, lots more.

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