TUNING digest 623, McLaren

In tuning digest 623 Brian McLaren writes:

"Making a megalyra is literally no more complex than drilling 11 pairs of
holes, sinking 11 pairs of piano pins, and winding tight 11 pairs of piano
strings across a piezoelectric pickup. That's essentially all there is.
(Hint: get used rusted piano pins from a piano repair shop. You can
emory-cloth the rust off the pins, and they work just fine. The only real
expense is the piezo pickup, the 11 piano strings, and the piano tuning
hammer."

As for the piezoelectric pick-up, I stumbled across this idea a few years
ago and its cheap and works great! Radio Shack sells replacement buzzers
for electronic alarm clocks. You simply remove the plastic casing to reveal
a small, round transducer. Then, connect the wire leads to some shielded
cable and a jack. Tape the face of the transducer to the soundboard of the
instrument that you wish to amplify and there you have it--a full-range
electric pick-up for about six bucks! Try it, it works.

Oh, and I completely agree with everything else you said, too ;)

--Matt Puzan



Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl
with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 7 Feb 1996 07:20 +0100
Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI)
for id WAA14303; Tue, 6 Feb 1996 22:19:57 -0800
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 22:19:57 -0800
Message-Id: <960207061216_71670.2576_HHB48-7@CompuServe.COM>
Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu
Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu