This year I gave a mini-conf workshop at Linux Conference Australia. I gave each of the participants a plank of wood and a bunch of cheap parts. By the end of the workshop, I had them all rocking out on their own homebrew slide guitars!

Here’s a video of the build process and a bit of a demo:

Because of the lack of time and tools during the workshop, it was important to keep the complexity down, so I pre-drilled and “milled” the planks.

Here’s a list of the parts if you’d like to make one yourself:

• Guitar pickup
• T-section bracket
• eye-screw
• Electric guitar string
• 1/4” input plug
• metal pipe (whatever size fits your finger best)

Tools needed:

• drill with thin drill bit
• router with flatbet milling bit (or chisel)
• hacksaw
• file
• pencil

Some tips:

• Make sure the string is an electric guitar string. It needs to be made of metal in order for the pickup to work
• Use a thinner gauge string rather than a thicker one. Thicker gauges cause more tension on the eye-screw.
• Be careful when tuning or handling the string. The string may slip or snap and get you in the eyes!
• You’ll want to wrap the string in a clock-wise motion, because the screw will tighten in that direction

I made a great little battery-powered practice amp thanks to the ubiquitous “Little Gem” project by runoffgroove.com.

My first time filming/editing (I used Premiere Pro)! The video highlights the build process of the amp - keep an eye out for a demo of it at the end. :-)

My recording setup: one camera on a tripod, two tablets with chairs/boxes as make-shift stands, a mic, a laptop running Audacity and a bunch of desk lamps.

The schematic I used for building the amp. The main component of interest is the LM386 op-amp chip to be inserted in socket - a popular choice for battery powered amps.