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thing 22: automatic tension guitar
I thought I’d try changing the pitch of a guitar string by pulling it with a solenoid - thus “tension guitar.” I thought I’d be able to get multiple pitches by turning the puller on and off very quickly (PWM) but that didn’t work well, so I was stuck with just two pitches. That was boring, so I added a little finger that frets the string. With the combination of the two, it can play four pitches. Over and over and over, thanks to the automatic strummer. Like this. There’s also video of the various moving parts here.
Details of the strummer, finger, and puller.
Last 5 posts by ranjit
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Gadzooks. Stunning. And beautiful sounding. I could listen to this going for a long time!!
The parts where I mostly hear the “drum machine” rather than the tones, is that just because you were moving the microphone around?
Thanks! That’s right, I was moving the microphone around from the mechanism over to the amplifier and back.
holy crap this is amazing. i read yer blog, and I beg you, PLEASE DON’T HAVE A BONFIRE!!!!! have a sweet show instead and broadcast it over the internet for your newly minted West Coast fans