source file: m1406.txt
Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 17:58:50 EDT

Subject: building a monochord

From: A440A <A440A@aol.com>

Allen writes: 
We need to build a monochord (obviou
sly!) 

    I also needed a monochord for a course at Vanderbilt, and found a
relatively simple solution. (well, simple for me, maybe you too, (:)}}
    Find a piano rebuilder in your area, and ask for an old "pinblock".  This
is the part of a piano that holds the tuning pins, and is frequently replaced.
It is about four feet long, 1 1/2" thick and is full of holes.  Get several
oversize tuning pins from them at the same time.  
   You  attach the wire, ( I used brass harpsichord wire of .020", but you can
go as heavy as you like) to two tuning pins hammered into existing holes at
either end, and then place two bridges at an easily divisible distance. 100
centimeters makes a lot of calculations  very easy to keep track of. 
    For amplification, I built a rough wooden box about 5 X 9  X 2 inches
deep, and attached one bridge to a 2 " diameter post wooden post that went
through a big hole in the pin block.  glue this post to the bottom of the box
and you will be able to hear the thing.  
   Then you only need make a movable bridge and write out all the ratio
postitions on top of the pinblock to demostrate the linear placement effects.
I found that a steel bar or large nail that was epoxied on a hardwood block
did just fine. 
    These old pinblocks are laminated maple, and are very strong.  They
provide the "spine" of the instrument, as well as the tuning requirements.  If
you build one, by all means, safely find out the breaking pitch of your wire
for your length, and stay well below it. ( if you can cover the wire's length
with a a folded piece of carboard and tune it up till it breaks, then you know
your maximum pitch will be about a fifth below where it was when it let go.) 
Good luck, 
Ed Foote