Slide guitar workshop at LCA 2013
At the 2013 Linux Conference Australia, I gave mini-conf workshop on building simple musical instruments out of everyday parts. I gave each of the participants a plank of wood and a bunch of cheap parts, and 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:
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
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