instrument-a-day 7: second try horn
February 8th, 2010
Since my first horn was a failure, I tried again, this time in
acrylic, with a narrower tube and larger holes. But it still doesn’t
work as anything but a kazoo. Third try soon!
acrylic, with a narrower tube and larger holes. But it still doesn’t
work as anything but a kazoo. Third try soon!
A new handmade instrument each day in February 2010 photoblog
3 Comments Add your own
1. Doctroid | February 8th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Wait, that thing’s not even playing the fundamental for that pipe length, is it? I mean, even given that it’s a stopped “cylindrical” tube, I think the note you’re getting is too low.
I think that means the reed is the problem.
I don’t remember which book it was I was reading that talked about this, but what I vaguely remember is that in order for the reed to drive the air in the tube the reed’s resonant frequency must be higher than the tube’s. Otherwise you just get the reed vibrating at its own frequency and that’s all.
Not that it’s easy to determine the frequency of the reed.
But that would explain what’s going on here, if the reed’s frequency is too low. I bet you need something stiffer.
2. ranjit | February 8th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
That’s true! But I did experiment with a very stiff reed (a real tenor sax reed) with a high natural frequency, and I still only got one note out of it.
I made the video with this floppy reed instead of the sax reed because the sax note is VERY LOUD and I don’t want to bug my neighbors!
3. Doctroid | February 11th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Was it the same note?
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