I wanna build small kantele and bowed lyre aka jouhikko made from cigar box.
Searching small kantele and bowed lyre dimensions and measures.
Found only that in google smallkantele1.pdf and that Construction of Kantele
What size cigar boxes is best for making simple slide guitar ?
Too long and narrow is not great for playing. Too big is like square regular guitar. In this case regular guitar is better.
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I think once they used a turtle shell the same way as they today use cigar box. The first string instrument was likely a bow, which went through a turtle shell with one end, and there was a bridge on the turtle shell which transmitted the vibration of the string to the turtle shell. The ancient greek lyre (had four strings) is a modification of this, two bows called arms go through the turtle shell, and there is a yoke between these arms to fasten the strings. My original idea was that these two bows were bendable, which enabled to release the tension from the strings and to tune strings with knots.
.http://handmademusic.ning.com/group/forgotteninstruments..... there`s a group over at the clubhouse just for this type of stringed instruments with a few builders who have made them.
My version of the kantele:
- (cigar) box as the resonator/body,
- laminated top, first/top layer can optionally function as lid of an open box/frame as well,
- "ponsi" (bridge) attached to the lid of the box to make the instrument louder,
- friction tuners (pegs) - I will probably take a 6-in-a-row guitar tuner, I'm frakking lazy ;-) - but it would be classy.
I made an initial prototype of a very simple cardboard box kantele http://archive.org/details/CardboardBoxKantele , see also how to tune lyre using wraps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo_UkPpm5pE&feature=relmfu . Maybe you can use some of it, please ask me if you have any questions.
I tried to tune my prototype using knots only. With such a small scale of strings it has to be tuned to something like g4, b4, e5. For that i adjusted the knot to some 2 cm from the yoke (varras) and then adjusted the loop around the yoke. I once even succeeded in tuning all three strings (for strings i used a 0.3 mm fishing line, with more than three strings the cardboard box may become unstable) but after a few hours they went out of tune due to stretching the nylon. And i did not succeed to tune them again because after released, a knot may slightly change its location, this was hopeless. The strings can be fine tuned by sliding them on varras, up to a tone up. The strings do not slide on yokes, nor do the yokes slide when plucked, but the strings may slide when strummed.
The intervals between strings have to be 2 cm, then it is possible to put fingers between the strings. I know the strings on jouhikko, etc, are stopped from side, but the only way i could stop the strings on my instrument (prototype) was pushing the strings up with the finger nail from below. It was completely possible to play that way and the sounds were clear. I also found it possible to stop two adjacent strings with two fingers. For that purpose the strings also have to be high enough so that it would be possible to put fingers below the strings.
I think that it is possible to tune the strings on kantele with knots, but only when it is possible to release every string separately. So there have to be some pegs (but not tuning pegs or movable pegs) or anything else to fasten strings separately. Once tuned, the strings may well stay that way. These may only be tags on the edge of the box, but that box then has to be made of wood, cardboard is too weak for that. As well as for any other ways of tuning (wraps, sliding bridges) the design has to be more complex than a simple cardboard box enables.
I hope that there would be some use to someone of the things which i found. Have fun with making some novel (or modern versions of the forgotten old) instruments.
My cardboard box kantele is now tuned to g4 and d5 http://archive.org/details/CardboardBoxKantele2 , tuning it with knots when it only has two strings is not too difficult. You may also use such thing as a two string jouhikko, by cutting incisions to the sides for bow.
When talking with some people here, some thought that my kantele does not resonate well. The solution i proposed was to add ribs made of strong cardboard which press against the yokes and are glued or otherwise fastened to the cover of the resonator, thus transmitting the vibration of the strings better to the cover of the resonator (these would be like an equivalent of the ponsi on kantele). This solution was accepted, though it was also understood that this makes the design more complicated.
I have also thought that on boxes which are not deep enough, parts of the box cover may be used to cover the box partly up to the strings, the covered areas may thus also act as a kind of resonators.
I'm sorry for posting again, but i should finish it by writing about all details. First i found that the double bottom (the resonator cover with a hole) in the most simple form of the instrument was a bad idea. It now resonates the best with a box only, what resonates there is all the body of the box. Thus it may be that shallower boxes are even better for the purpose than deeper boxes.
Also when you play it on the table, add some small legs to it to the corners, some half a centimeter thick, because the bottom of the box doesn't resonate well when in contact with the table. I added the legs and it resonates much better now, thus this was the biggest reason why it did not resonate well.
My instrument's sound in my recording in the video was not loud because i used the headphones microphone to record. The headphones microphone is directed towards the face and thus does not record well anything from another direction, sorry.
About jouhikko, no matter whether you make a bow from corrugated cardboard or anything else, it is important what you use as the ribbon there. They used to use horse hair in bows. As i am so ignorant in this, i had to try it out. I took a piece of fishing line, and after i rubbed it against the rosin, i were really able to make sound by rubbing the fishing line against a metal string of my guitar. So i guess one option is to use many fishing lines in parallel, and rub them strongly against rosin, this rosin is what finally makes the sound. I happened to have some pieces of rosin, this is an amber-like substance which they use for soldering. I used it for soldering, but violin players use it, and they sell it where they sell musical instruments. This is in fact a dried tree resin, so perhaps some kind of tree resin would do as well. Being so ignorant in this, i wrote it in case if someone is as ignorant as me.
The cheapest bow I made used painters' self adhesive paper tape as the "hair". You have to re-tension it all the time (with a finger) and replace the tape quite often, but when it's good enough for an upright bass it's good enough for jouhikko (test runs at least).
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