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Homemade Diddley Bow?

This is an Action Project for my core class Light, Sound, and Time. For this unit, we learned all about sound and how it works in the world around us. We mainly focused on instruments in this unit and how sound waves work inside of the instrument. We have also learned about how to calculate sound waves in different objects, in different temperatures, and in different distances. We also learned about the pitch and frequency of sound. If you press on a part of the string, it shortens it which makes it have a higher pitch. There is also something called harmonics. These are marks on the instrument to mark points like the half way, the quarter mark, and so on. For this action project, I have been tasked with creating an instrument from scratch. My classmates and I went in-person to create our instruments. I created something called a diddely bow.  

Below are photos of my homemade Diddley Bow. I created this out of wood, nails, a can, a battery, and a guitar string. As you can see in the second photo of my diddely bow, there are marks at 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 3/4, 2/3. These are all the harmonics on the diddely bow. You are probably wondering how this works? Well, this creates sound by sending vibrations through the string when it is played to the can which acts like a amplifier. The sound waves bounce off of the inside of the can and leave through the back. You can change the pitch of the string by tightening the string, or shortening the string.

CJH/Harmonics/2021
CJH/Diddley Bow/2021



 

To dive deeper into this project and the instrument, we need to find its calculations. For example, the string frequency, pitch, volume of the can/amp, etc. Below is a specific drawing of the instrument with labeled parts. Also I have included a short clip of me playing my diddley bow.

CJH/Diddely Bow Drawing/2021


 

Calculations:

String length: 19 inch

H = Vibrating String Length: 16 inch

String Thickness: .025 inch

Wood Length: 15 inch

B1 = Wood to Battery Height: 0.75 Inch

B2 = Wood to string from can: 1.5 inch

Height of Can: 3 inch

Radius of Can: 1.5 inch

Volume of Can: 21.205


Harmonic Calculations:

Open note Frequency: 247

Open not Wavelength: 1.38

H2 Frequency: 494

H2 Wavelength: 1.44

H3 Frequency: 741

H3 Wavelength: 2.16

H4 Frequency: 988

H4 Wavelength: 2.88

CJH/Harmonics/2021

 

 This project was very interesting to me. I was able to learn more about guitars and how they produce sound along with other instruments. I am a fan of music in general just because I have a guitar at home, so being able to dive deeper into how instruments work was very cool for me. One thing I would redo if I could would be remaking my diddley bow so I can make it have a clearer noise. Overall I am happy with my project.


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