An idea that I haven't seen - any thoughts?

Posted by Habanera Hal on March 19, 2015 at 7:09pm

A while back I built a cajon for my grandson with a built-in snare. It came out great and the snare added a whole different dimension to the sound.

I'm currently working on a reso CBG using an Old Lowe cone with a rod piezo in the biscuit bridge.

Has anyone thought about adding a set of snare springs inside a CBG, riding on the reso for a built-in reverb effect?  If not for reverb, how do you think it would effect the sound?

I searched the web for "snare guitar", "spring reverb", etc, but couldn't find anything.

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  • Fomhorach May 4, 2016 at 12:37pm

    306553505?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

    • Philip Hale > Fomhorach May 5, 2016 at 1:08am
      God that's genius stuff, it's sorta inside the box thinking.
      Is this one of those woke up at 3 am moments.
    • Fomhorach > Philip Hale May 5, 2016 at 2:00am

      It's a way to experiment with an idea I have. When you try out these things you run into all types of problems on such a basic level it's best to know before you go for the real build. This guitar is my monster, I call it frank. I chop it change it tinker with it.

      For instance.. Now I know that if I try this in a future refined build I need to use tuners with a higher gear ratio as the slightest turn changes the pitch wildly (might also need different string type/size) and these would work better if each sting has its own support instead of one piece of wood (the high tension and change in note from very slight movements mean any very slight change in pressure on the wood from the other strings knocks the refinement out). They also need their own sound board too. But.. It works! They pick up the harmonics of the played notes and make a drone similar to.. Umm.. I dont know :) and this drone changes depending on the harmonics of the notes that you play. Best for fingerpicking and slide not so good for strumming. This type of knowledge can't come from the drawing board.

      It's worth it though.. People play it and you can see the puzzled look on their faces as they think "wtf is going on here?"

    • Fomhorach > Fomhorach May 4, 2016 at 12:40pm

      Sympathetic strings inside the box. Jus an experiment. The guitar sings back whater notes the four strings inside are tuned to 

  • Philip Hale May 4, 2016 at 4:15am
    I like the sound of this idea, no pun intended, it's certainly something worth trying out, I myself just yesterday, bought a type of small drum, head like a tight skinned tambourine which I want to try as a sound well beneath a resonator cone, and also within an accoustic cbg. Going back to your snare idea.
    Within some very old Hawaiian instruments they found very small slivers of metal almost wafer like stuck to the inside of the body in a way that they would wave inside with the resonance, so there is good reason to believe that your idea could work.
    I would think that the finer the snare springs were and the deftness of their touch upon the reso cone would transfer into sound changes, with experimentation.
    So I salute you for this concept, and would love to know how it works for you.
    Nothing ventured etc, better than wondering endlessly wether it would have worked.
    Best Wishes, keep me posted,
    Philyaboots
    • Philip Hale > Philip Hale May 4, 2016 at 4:19am
      Stopped posting just, and it hit me in the face Durr, a combination of yours and mine could well be the way to go.
  • the anonymous pick March 20, 2015 at 10:51pm

    my   first  swamp witches    all  had a reverb  spring inside and are  now     only installed  upon  request  . 

    it  added  a slight  sympathetic  reverb/  drone    and slightly  more    enhanced     if run  under the  pickup  .

    brought  out  more  with  bass   or  playing hard    or  knocking  .   but  otherwise  hard  to  notice  off hand .

    i  understand  this  is not the same  setup  you  are  describing  ,  but  .......

    i  recently   made a goatskin reso  and  attached the  end of  the    spring  right onto  the skin  (by  the bridge ) with  hot  glue, and stretched  it  down  to  the body  to act as  one of those kids echo  mics  ,,  it  works    , and echos   pretty  good  .

    i  believe  if  your  starting point   is  on the    reso   , it  will   act better  as a  drone  /echo   than  running it across  . or  bridging it  underneath.  as a  "snare "    it  may  be a sustain / reso  killer .  or  uneventful.

    think  how  much   impact a   drum  takes  compared to  a guit strum.

    there's  my  free advice ,  and  probably  worth  every penny  ;-)

  • Wade March 20, 2015 at 8:55pm

    Hal,

    I think Shane and some others played around with this idea. Kind of like those toy microphones that add that reverb effect. Someone had a sketch on here a long time ago( it may have been on the original yahoo forum!) it was basically a small eye hook screwed in under the bridge with a spring and attached to a corner of the box on the inside. Wanted to try this for a long time, but always in a hurry to close things up and get to my next project

    Hope this helps,

    Wade

  • Order99 March 20, 2015 at 8:02pm

      Just at a guess, i'll bet you end up with 'Drone strings',actual tone based on the tension-a loose enough tension would make a 'snare rattle' and tighter tension an actual ringing or droning echo...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardanger_fiddle

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitar

     I'm only guessing though-love to hear yours when you finish!

    • Habanera Hal > Order99 March 20, 2015 at 9:12pm

      Order99 -

      Thanks for your thoughts.  Both the Hardanger and Sitar use sympathetic strings that are anchored at both ends and tuned to a specific note.  The snare springs are loose at one end.  I'm thinking that the loose ends "rattling" against the resonator cone and picked up by the piezo would make that echo come alive.

      Wade -

      That was my original thought (the springs and eye hooks), but then I remembered the snare.  I'm going to pick one up this weekend and incorporate it into my build with some sort of "on/off" device and see what happens.

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