The Little Noise Wheel

So I don't know how many people are aware of this, but a few months ago I open my own studio right here in the heart of Parkdale. Well maybe not the heart, but just to the left of that. In the process of opening I found a surprisingly large amount of undocumented projects. A few Junkstruments which I will be posting over the next few weeks. A fair number of Fauxbots that I have already started posting on their page, Jars and jars of Swirls, a disturbingly large amount of Random Acts Of Art. So many that I don't even know where to start. There were even three Metal Dresses just waiting to be built into free standing forms. Don't even get me started on what I am going to do with the Spaceroom.

This was a Junkstrument I built for a play called Petrichor. My job in the play was instruments and set design along with some foley work. I will be posting all of the foley junkstruments soon.
This was built from my nephews old bike, a lovely brass candy dish, the cast metal bass of a floor lamp, and high tension steel strip that goes thwap. Very simple to build, dosen't do very much aside from thwapping, but does that thwapping well.

Keep that thwapper thwapping.

Banjolele

A new hybrid I built for the relaunching of a play called Reesor. Unfortunately the Ragga can only be played by David William McEathron and he was unavalible for thos production. I will be filling the roll and decided something simple would be best. Basicly the banjo that was donated by The Kensignton Hillbillies and the neck was kicking around from and old busted ukulele I had lying around. In this image you can see Andrew Penner and how he is when doing musical direction for a play.

Some New Fauxbots

Hey ya'll. I have posted a bunch of new Fauxbot. Check them out
One day I will teach them how the play the Junkstruments

New street sweeper tine thumb piano

New rake tine thumb piano

City News Article

Here is a great article about my new place.
citynews.ca
Thanks Mr. Talbot

I made a top ten strangest musical instruments list.
Right on.
http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-strangest-musical-instruments.php

The Big Ugly 2

Single String Drum Bass

Drum Bass

Street Sweeper Thumb Piano

Small Hacksaw Blade Thumb Piano

Rake Tine Thumb Piano

Jigsaw Blade Thumb Piano

Wooden Single Strings

The New Kick Chime

Ressor

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=39264371657&ref=ts

http://www.eyeweekly.com/theatre/article/48727

Underwoods Bell Stage One

Metal Rico Rico's

Pelee

The album will be in stores September 16

About to release their fourth album, Calling Out (2008), the FemBots have set off in yet another direction while in many ways returning to their beginnings. Born out of improvisation and experimentation, Calling Out sees the FemBots once more stretching themselves musically to produce an album that is daring yet accessible.

The FemBots began as a home recording project of Dave MacKinnon and Brian Poirier and their debut, Mucho Cuidado (2000), featured songs written and performed on power tools, toys and broken down thrift store instruments. The duo quickly carved a unique space in the Toronto music scene bringing their post-industrial folk songs to the stage using tape loops and reel-to-reel machines mixed with often frantic live performances.

Their critically acclaimed second release, Small Town Murder Scene (2003), adopted a more atmospheric approach with traditional instrumentation and soulful laments. The third FemBots record, The City (2005), built on this earlier work while taking it up several notches with banging piano chords, catchy choruses, soulful vocals, swinging guitars, woven strings and horns. The City – that landed on several top ten lists for 2005 – pushed the stark black and white vision of their earlier albums into full technicolor.

The FemBots originally envisioned their fourth album Calling Out (2008), as an entire album using an assortment of junkstruments, musical instruments created from garbage by artist Iner Souster. Eight months into the project it became clear that the junkstruments were simply too unpredictable and too difficult to work with to sustain an entire album. Rather than scraping the project entirely, the FemBots used the junkstrument instrumentals they had recorded as rhythm tracks, the rock and roll chassis that the rest of the songs are built on.

Calling Out also marks another departure for the FemBots. This is the first time Dave MacKinnon and Brian Poirier have collaborated with other musicians during every stage of the writing and recording process. In the past MacKinnon and Poirier wrote the songs, then brought in other musicians to fill out the arrangements. With Calling Out the songs were built up from improvisations with Iner Souster and drummer Nathan Lawr.

The result is a collection of pop and rock song built on a foundation of odd sounding home made instruments, resulting in their most straightforward and strangest record to date.

The FemBots have drawn comparisons to Califone, My Morning Jacket, Latin Playboys and Wilco but their sound is not easily categorized. Influenced by a wide range of music - from Rock ‘n Roll, Blues, Soul, Country, and Folk - they continue their genre bending approach, honing a new style from the old. With each new album the FemBots transform in ways unforeseen, yet strangely familiar.

The Chime Wheel

The Microphone of Pasts Future

This is number two in the new microphone department, and slightly more authentic in appearance then the Funnel Mic. I built this for a secret project that I alluded to in my last blog posting based on images I found online of microphones from around 1880 to 1920.

I used an old 510 microphone I bought years ago for about ten dollars. It had been sitting in a metal box in the spaceroom almost immediately after I purchased it so I really didn’t feel bad about ripping it out of its casing. The base of the microphone is from one of the many old useless brass instruments I also have laying around the spaceroom. So in a way I am clearing out the old junk and making new and wonderful junk in the process. Sometimes I find this to be a good exercise when the creative juices aren’t flowing as well as I would like. This goes for the strainer on the back of the microphone as well. For years I have been collecting old kitchen utensils and it hasn’t been until recently that I have discovered a use for them. The face plate was actually from an old busted microphone I took apart years ago to use the body for one of my Fauxbots. If only I knew then what I know now, but I guess it’s always better could regret something you have done, then something you haven’t …Feel free to fill in the next line. There is an output jack and an on/off switch that were salvaged from one of the many broken electronics that get sent my way. As far as the two metal rings that round the face of the microphone I have no idea where they came from, sometimes the spaceroom just gives me gifts.

Again, much like the Funnel Mic I have no idea if this will work in a live setting. Years ago I had the brilliant idea of getting rid of both my amps. I think it one of those I suck at music moments why do I want this stuff taking up space in the spaceroom. If somebody knows what I was thinking please let me know.

Over and out.

The Funnel Mic

This is the year that I have decided to go back to working with a few electronics in my instruments. After learning as much as I have in the ongoing process of recording an album in the studio I have now decided to turn my attention to live performance. A few months ago I was contacted by some friends who asked me if I would like to be part of a new project. At this time I don’t want to go into the details of this project mainly because none of us are sure what exactly those details are. All I can tell you is that it involves the turn of the last century, some thespians, an animator, and my instruments.

I am experimenting with a few different microphone configurations using all the old mics I have picked up over the years. None of them are exceptional great so tearing them apart isn’t really a big deal for me. Some have been taken out of telephones, kid’s toys, or crappy musical instruments made of plastic that have all but died under my curious tampering.

I built the funnel Mic using parts from a few old brass horns I had scattered about, and some hand made aluminum swirls. The microphone is mounted fairly close to the mouth of the horn and I am hoping it will be good for picking up stringed instruments. Testing has yet to be done on any large scale. One of the side effects was the way the mic inside picked up the sound of the swirls. It is jammed into the horn as far as it will go, touching the metal a full 360 degrees. It now seems to be acting much like a contact mic would. My only fear is that it may feedback easily at very low levels.

Some time after the Funnel Mic was finished I got the idea of building a similar piece, but this time placing a much smaller microphone at the other end of the horn in the hopes of creating a more tinny sound. Perhaps they could be used in conjunction with one another.

When I build it I will let you know.

Iner

The Return of the Alien Bell Monster

I am still very much on a percussive kick lately. I keep going through the spaceroom finding all these different metal bowls, cups, and bells that I have been collecting from my travels throughout Canada and the United States. I am trying to use them all up do to the fact that they are somewhat bulky and difficult to store. Real estate in the spaceroom is hard to come by on a good day, so I figured it best that I get these things out of the room and out of my head.

I built this instrument as part of an ongoing project I have been working

on with my good friends the Fembots. For those of you that don’t know, we have been working on an album now for quite

some time. Over this period of time I have learn many things about the construction of Junkstruments, and the convenience of transporting these instruments.

Some of the materials in this instrument include a kettle straight from our stove top, candle holders, metal lids, serving bowls, drink coasters, disk breaks, and of coarse a had to throw in a few salad bowls.

The Swirl Hi-Hat

This is one of my attempts at making an instrument that is road worthy. Something I can pack away in a box that can easily be situated safely into a touring van. Right now if you try and move any more then four instruments a time you’ll end up with cacophony of stings and fridge parts that sound slightly better than when I perform live.

The “Swirl” as I will call it from now on was made from a busted hi-hat stand. A ribbed metal vase, and six handmade aluminum swirls. On the top there is an aluminum ring that guides the swirls around the vase. Below that sits a cymbal I found at the dollar store. Not the greatest of sounds but it is more about the swirls in this one.

Basically the swirls run up and down the vase scraping along side its ribs and flicking off the tops and bottom to get more of the swirls chimes.

I am still up in the air about the sound it produces, sometimes it can be a bit harsh, and then sometimes I think harsh is good.

I guess I will have to wait till my next trip up north and get the word from the professionals.

The Electric Chicken Cooker Thumb Piano

Well it has been a long time since I posted new instruments. I have been very busy with a few other things lately so my poor instruments were put on hold. Here are a few new thumb pianos I made to get me back into the swing of things.

The Electric Thumb Piano was built for a new year, and a new mind set. Over the last few years I had started pumping out crazy instruments for shows, but started to get the feeling that some of there uniqueness was lost. At one point I was making two to three instruments daily. I had five shows book for one month, each needing about twenty instruments to fill the walls. I think that took away from them drastically. I was sick of seeing them, and I’m sure that all the folks who live in this neighborhood were sick of seeing them as well. The mass production has stopped. The Fauxbots have taken over as my art show pieces. It helps that they practically build themselves now. The instruments I can now spend as much time as needed on them. There are no deadlines to be kept, and now, more then ever there are no restrictions on what I want to build.

My plan is to start with a few that are simple but reliable instruments that can be used in a live setting without fear of it falling out of tune or snapping in half, or snapping in half and then falling out of tune.

As some of you may know I have been working on an album with a band called Fembots. We have been recording for about a year now and getting some great results. Over that year I really had the opportunity to see the instruments in action. This has helped refine what I was building, or rather Brian telling me it was crap helped refine what I was building. In the studio there is much room for error. Often I found myself banging away on an instrument for five to ten minutes only to watch Dave cut it down to about ten seconds and make it into a loop. I would ask Dave about this and all he would say is that I needed the practice. He reminds me of my piano teacher I had as a small boy. She was a most evil cow. The point is that in the studio little bits can be added here and there, things can be altered and fixed up, live on stage is another matter all together. As I say these new instruments have to be reliable and sound good. For the next few months I am going to build things around the album with the idea of touring in mind. I may rebuild old instruments that we used in recording, or I might just try to build new to get a sound we already have, this time without the aid of a computer and sound technician.

I am looking forward to what this year will bring.

Having said all that I can now finally get to the Electric Chicken Cooker Thumb Piano, and it’s extremely simple construction. Maybe after you build a certain amount of thumb pianos from junk the universe give you a little break and make it just a bit less frustrating. I think that was the case for this instrument. Thumb pianos have always given me a hard time. There are a great many thumb piano carcasses in the spaceroom right now as I speak. It is the mounting of the tines that always makes me snap. This time though I used a mount that I recovered from a junction box. It has threaded screws already in place and a pre-drilled hole you can use to attach it to what ever face plate you like. I have a thing for chicken cookers so I went with that. The tines are from a street sweeper that Dave had collected so many years ago. They are strong and flexible, but thin. For years I was using rake tines, but they are a bit too thick and everything always sounded a bit flat. The back end of the tines has been swirlafied which slightly changes the sound if you pluck it from behind. I might experiment with this further I think it warms the sound up a bit, but I don’t want to chance it on this piece.

Inside there is a simple contact mic, a volume knob and a three quarter inch jack. All of it is very simple in its construction, but extremely effective in its sound.

Iner

Tin Can Thumb Piano

The Tin Can Thumb Piano was inspired by a work room full of material I was given after my wife’s father passed away. These are materials that most people would consider to be of no use, outdated, or just down right garbage. Odd little bits of this and that, a mind boggling assortment of rusted nuts, bolts and screws that I can waste hours on sorting. Basically things that most people don’t seem to think have any value emotionally or financially. I love finding a machined piece of something completely foreign to me. It opens up an entire world of possibilities, and a new place for my mind to wander while I figure out where I am going to store all of this stuff before my wife kicks my ass.

I have always enjoyed placing my father’s things into my projects, and through him my grandfather’s things as well, it gives me a strong feeling of connection to my Dad, and an introduction to a man whose name I share, but know so little about. In this way my father is still a very big part of my life. Unfortunately I can now do this with Jen’s father’s things as well, and I am getting to know him in a completely new and wonderful way.

It is interesting to compare the pieces from both there lives. There are so many similarities between them in the things they held on to. Is this just products and mindsets from there times, or were they just similar in work and life.

There will be many things over the next few years that will have little pieces from there lives incorporated into mine. When that happens I will find a way to document what they added to the piece.

Before I forget and sign off, the instrument sounds great.

Cheers

Iner

A Saw Blade Thunmb Piano

This is made from dull reciprocating saw blades I took from Brains house. It has a deeper tone to it then any of my other thumb pianos, but I am not so crazy about the way this one looks. I am most defiantly in a metal stage right now. Who knows, those blades could be on a tin can in the near future.

The Electric Saw

Three strings and a Chiken Cooker

The Fat Body Fiddle

The Work Out Rubber Drum Bass

The Clock Bass

Some Kind of Wooden Clakity Clack Thing

The Cameron House Opening 2007

So last night was the big night for my show at the Cameron. A collection of mostly new instruments that looks great in such a wonderful venue. The Backstabbers were kind enough to play the opening, and you know when those folk are around things tend to get a little messy. The night was great and I am very thankful for all the folks that came out. I would also like to thank Jen for all the wonderful pictures she took. I better get on booking my show for next year before all the spots are gone.

Cheers

iner

Five Stringed Chicken Cooker

It has been a mighty slow summer as far as instruments are concerned.
I finally managed to get the Five Stringed Chicken Cooker finished yesterday.
The neck was from a busted up Ovation that some kind person left for me at my local pub. It was just slightly more bashed up after a few pints and a rock and roll ending.
The only reason it’s a five string is because one of the tuning pegs was busted and I didn’t feel replacing it. I’m just lazy like that.
The eye bolt on the end was put there for two reasons. The first is to raise the strings when I raise the bridge. The second is to add my blackberry that I never use. One of the neat side effects is that it can be used as a whammy bar if you are into that kind of stuff.
Most importantly it has a great tin banjo sound.
One of the best things I like is the bridge I used. It came from an old film projector base. It was used to raise the front end up or down. Now it can be use to raise or lower the action. I think I may need to try this on a new instrument, raising both the nut and the bridge to convert it into more of a slide instrument. The only problem I can see with that is the intonation being messed up. It may have to be re tuned each time, but that’s a story for another day.

Iner

Reesor

So this is a first for me.
I was asked if some of my instruments could be part of a play that was going on for this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival. At first I had no idea that any of the instruments I have built had any interest in the theater. Boy was I wrong.
The play was written by Erin Brandenburg and Lauren Taylor. I could go into the history of Reesor Canada but I would probably mess it up. Erin is the lead in the play and Lauren directs it. My instruments will be played by Andrew Penner of the Sunparlor Players, Dave McEathron (who’s album I played on) and Gord Bolan. Leah Bowen is the stage manager, and the costumes were made by Vanessa Wishart.
The play opens on July 4th 2007 – 10:30 pm at the Factory Studio Theater.
For more information check out the attached fliers, or go to each individual page.
If I have forgotten anything please forgive me as I have a plate in my head.

Iner

Sympathetic Slide Chicken Cooker in Open G

So now that I am back in the saddle I have decided to work on a few of the less successful of the instruments I have built. The Chicken Cooker in Green was one of them. I had it hanging in my local pup for years which really sucked every time I went in for a pint. All I could see was bad art and an even worse musical instrument. Finally after a good re-hanging I decided to bring it home and rip it apart, at worst I would have twelve tuning pegs for another instrument. Things went surprisingly well, even though the original construction was substandard at best.

Both the bridges are new as well as the string placement. I cleaned up the neck and restrung it only to be pleasantly surprised to find it holding its tune.

The instrument is tuned to an open G. Open tunings seem to be the thing for me this summer.

So that’s all I have, but hopefully a lot more to come in the near future.

Thanks

Iner

Fiddle Case Three

So it has been a while since I last updated this site. I have been busy recording music and building robots. I have started back with a few rebuilds and just basically trying to use up some stuff in the Spaceroom and once again find my experimental instrument building legs.

This is the third of my old fiddle case series. Thanks to Tony Allen for the case. You’re a good man Tony.

I used the neck from an old busted up electric guitar, unfortunately I removed the frets some time ago for some other long since forgotten instrument.
I tuned the instrument to an open D.
I think that’s all I’ve got.
Cheers

The Jane Bond Show

So even though I have not been building instruments lately I have still been having shows. This one was at The Jane Bond in Kitchener/Waterloo. It’s one of the coolest places you’ll find out that way, and I always enjoy my time there.

16 stringed slide zither

Percussive Droid 108

It seems like I haven’t been keeping this blog up as much as I should lately, but it would seem that little robots have taken over the spaceroom, and all my spare time. The one good thing is that as they continue to grow in numbers they end up using all the old unwanted materials that can’t seem to find there way into an instrument.

Percussive droid is a direct result of their influence on my state of mind.

Bleep Boop Bop

To see some of these Robots just click on anything that says Robot and a Robot will guide you to the other Robots and Robot. Robot. Robot.

Just for the record Percussive Droid 108 is the only one of the many Robots built over the past month that is actually trained to be beat on with a pair of sticks, any of the other Robots will just break. And that would be bad. I would cry.

Bleep Bop

Percussive Box Two

Scrap Horns and Other Hardware’s From the Spaceroom

This is another attempt at my ongoing struggle to build wind instruments. The past few have been a bit more successful, but are still very limited to what the can do. The body of this piece is from some weird instrument that has been kicking around the spaceroom for way to long. I think it was originally meant as a practice piece for the bagpipes, but honest to god I really haven’t got a clue. I bored out the holes to be considerably larger, before they were just little pin sized holes. I

added a metal lampshade to the end to give it more of a horn look, but the real treat came from the reed being mounted on an antenna. By extending or reducing the length of the antenna you can quite noticeably alter the pitch of the instrument.

I think I am now going to have to find a placement for the other hundred antennas I have been collecting in the spaceroom for far to long, unfortunately I am going to have to get my reeds somewhere else.

Olive Oil Tin Can Ukulele

I'm still looking for a name for this one

Maple Syrup Ukulele Two with real neck

Spring Loaded Ukulele

Again with the metal ukuleles, I just keep coming across so many different cool metal cans that I can’t stop myself. This one is much like the Maple Syrup Ukulele with a few slight alterations in design and function. After a few recording sessions and playing the instruments in a more percussive fashion it had been talked about that perhaps giving something a snare like. At first I had the idea of just running a few springs across some kind of metal container, and then I thought I would produced it from some of the already existing metal stringed instruments. I’m glad I decided to build something completely new. I gave me a chance to add the sink strainers I found at the Dollar Store, and I didn’t have to worry about messing with something that was already completed, not to mention I hate reworking old pieces.

All the springs on the side of the can when strummed together produce and E flat tone, so when stringing the instrument up I went with an open E minor tuning EBEG.

St. Michaels Metal Ukulele

I have had this tin can now for about twenty years. I have been moving it from place to place, and every single time it has just been full of junk. Don’t get me wrong I love junk, but sometimes even I think something is garbage. When I found it in the spaceroom it was full of blank keyboard keys. What was I thinking? Well now it has a purpose. Continuing on in my metal ukulele construction, my own answer to the rush of emails I have been getting about cigar box banjos, and why am I not building them. I think I might have to add metal tins to my ever increasing list of things not to pass up when junk shopping.

Slide String Three

Slide String One and Slide String Two have left the coop and with that they also left an empty place in my heart. For the past month I have been in the process of cleaning and reorganizing the space room. Usually when that happens I come across things I have either forgotten about completely, or just forgotten where I had placed them. Well there were a few bongos packed somewhere in the back end of time and space.

The slide string is a relatively easy instrument to build; all you need is one string, one tuning peg, a body of some sort, and roughly three feet of a dowel. Drill a hole somewhere around the mid section of the body. It may seem low at first, but the dowel will bend as you tighten the string. Then drill a second hole on the exact opposite side of the body. Run you dowel though the two holes, hook up your string, put in the bridge and you are ready to go. Slide the body up and down the dowel till you find a tuning you like, and then start playing away.

The Murgatroid 3000

Once again we find ourselves in the middle of another case of salad bowl misuse. I couldn’t stop myself, and I openly admit that I have a problem. Jen and I were in some store out Kitchener/Waterloo area and I found these lovely bowls for an even lovelier price. I couldn’t say no, I would have been mad to say no. Often when we travel or visit one of the things we love to do is find second hand and thrift stores for that area. Rarely do we ever walk away empty handed, often with empty pockets but that’s all right with me.

So basically it is comprised of four metal salad bowls that are mounted on a threaded rod. The base of the instrument is another one of those disk breaks that I have been collecting from a local garage. Instead of throwing all their busted or replaced parts in the garbage they just pile them neatly against there front wall, most of the trash doesn’t last more then a few hours before some competing artist grabs it. One day we will all converge on the same piece and then there will be hell to pay. Actually I would pay to see a bunch of artist batting it out over a muffler or some other kind of car part.
I mounted the next few pieces on it for no other reason then trying to make it look good, and, at the same time clean some material out of the spaceroom. So there you will find a saw blade, a kid’s symbol, and a cocktail shaker, three things that sound really bizarre when categorized together.
Finally the top was a metal candle holder I found at the local Goodwill. It has a good sound, and finishes the piece off nicely.

One of the interesting things about this percussive piece is the bottom two bowls. Do to their size when you strike them they give off a nice wobbling sound which really adds to the science fiction sound and feel of the whole instrument. With that in mind, how could I call it anything other then the Murgatroid 3000?

La Petite Fureur

Rockin' Horse

Much thanks to Jen for coming up with the name for this one, and also putting up with the madness it brought upon our household.

Well this instrument started off going to be something completely different, but as we all know things don’t always work out as one plans. I kind of live my life with that mantra to guide my way. Ok maybe that’s a lie, or maybe not. Anyway, there was so much more to this instrument then the one you see before you. I was using Dennis Bathory-Kitsz Uncello as my inspiration, I had the glass bowl and the similar pattern already worked out. Of coarse there were many things I wanted to add that would make it some what more of an inerstrument and all those things were moving along just fine. There is the fridge grates I have been using a lot lately, I wanted it to be a fretted six string, and also I had the idea to reverse the tuning pegs from the neck to the bridge for nothing more then an aesthetic appeal. The instrument was all but done, all I had to do was tune it up and put it in the growing pile of things that have to be recorded. I was on the last string fine tuning it, and right as the needle in my electronic tuner hit the center mark the glass bowl exploded in my lap. I don’t know if it was the tension because the bowl was almost entirely free of any contact, it was mounted to the bottom and the neck and bridge where mounted above the bowl. I think it had something to do with the wonderful sound that briefly came out of it that caused the bowl to shatter in sheer ecstasy. At least that’s the story I will be telling everybody.

Chime Box

I openly admit that I have been slacking off somewhat in the naming of some of the more recent instruments, but that’s only because I have been spending so much more time building them. The Chime Box came to me in a flash while recording one night. I awoke yesterday with the idea already worked out in my head. Basically as you can see it is a simple rectangle form. I used some aluminum sheeting that I have had sitting around for years to make the back and the face. The swirl rods are made from a weird aluminum composite that has also been kicking around for years. I used to use them back in my dress making days, but for the most part the two metals have just been sitting around the space room for years, waiting for me to trip over them. Some of the instruments that I’ve used the swirls on in the past are the Shimmering Swirl Chimes, the Percussive Computer Panel, Kick Swirl, and Mechano. To date none of them have been able to match the versatility of the box.

Some of the more successful ways of playing the Chime Box are as follows: there is the good old banging on the chimes themselves; pulling the rods out to varying lengths helps control the pitch. There is also plucking at the rods; this gives you a nice bass sound with really interesting harmonics. If you want to exaggerate those harmonics even further you can use mallets once again, on the rods close to the bridge.

I also added seven strings that run horizontally on the instrument. I thought that it might add a slight resonance to the instrument, but last night in the studio we could hear nothing, and we ended up breaking five of the strings to boot.

Fat Body Accustic Bass

Junkstruments

So for some time now two of my friends, Brian and Dave of the Fembots have been trying to hash out some kind of album, soundtrack? Who really knows? Along the way I have been trying to document the process with a series of photos, though I must admit that when it comes down to playing or shooting I would rather play. Anyway I have decided to create a blog just for the images from our adventures in trying to record an album with junkstruments. Hopefully I will be able to keep text out of it, but I make no promises.

Just click on the image to see photos of our recording sessions. Some wild and wacky things have come out of the few months we have been working on this project. You can also check out the Fembots website if you are feeling adventurous.

Four Stringed Chicken Cooker in G

The Fiddle and the Case

It had to be done. I was in desperate need of a place to store my Tommy gun and I thought to myself what better place then fiddle case disguised as some crazy fiddle itself. No Copper would ever think to look there.

OK so I made that all up. Actually, my friend Tony, or Big T as I like to call him ask me If I would like some of his old wooden fiddle cases. Instantaneously I said yes, and then spent the next few days racking my brains on the conundrum of just what I would use them for. In the interests of relationship betterment I have decided that taking in everybody else’s trash is not entirely a good thing. Though no formal complaints have been lodges of late, I feel it would be better to keep it that way.

As far as playability goes I have no idea. I’m not a fiddle player, but I think Big T might be headed over here in the near future to help me eat some ham and then all will be revealed.

The Tiny Tin Thumb Piano

I had to do it. Jen just keeps giving me metal tins to play with and these are some of the things I come up with, well actually I didn’t come up with anything. This one was inspired by instrument builder Bob Collier and his Zedrin Thumb Piano.

I had fun building this, and finally I have found a use for all my little saw blades I have been saving since I was a wee child. So much history together, so many fond memories of cut wood and cut flesh. Not to mention I now have a place to store my street car fair. Good times.

The Big Ugly

There ain’t nothing pretty about how this monster looks, but it sure does sound sweet. Honest to God I new when I was about to start building this piece that it wasn’t going to be the most esthetically pleasing instrument, but I had no idea it was going to be this ugly. I think it takes the prize away from the Bowed Web of Tacky Instruments as my ugliest piece to date. I think it’s that ugliness that is drawing me towards it. I can’t stop staring at it, and the worst part is that it’s so shiny that I often find myself caught in the reflection distorted and stretched out like and acid trip in a funhouse of mirrors.

So the instrument itself sounds amazing, and that is kind of what I was hoping when I decided to use the aluminum sheeting for the body. Though it is strung up with heavy gage guitar strings it has a bass sound to it. I could really take this to an extreme and build another Bungee Cord Bass with an aluminum body.

You may notice that there are six strings on The Big Ugly, and that was not some kind of crazy accident. The top string is for the drone I love so much, and the five on the neck are set up as four. The last two stings are both tuned to D an octave apart, the idea is from a four stringed dulcimer I have though I pretty sure the last two strings are of the same octave. A last minute decision caused me to remove the frets from the neck. I was going to fill the groves in, but that would have involved the removal of strings and I ain’t down with that. Besides, I now have markers, and the grooves don’t affect the playability at all.

You also might notice the chicken cooker has come back into play, that’s because I found a bunch of them when Jen and I traveled out east this summer. There will definitely be more instruments with cookers in the near future.

The Raga and the Drone

there aren’t 16 months in a year, but when a place has free wall spaceHow crazy is this? In my mad rush to get shows hung this year I totally forgot to create a blog for this instrument and the one below. For some crazy mixed up reason I have had a show booked for every month of the year in 2006 in either a bar, gallery or restaurant. I have done 14 shows so far and still have two months in the year left. Yes I know I have to take it. The studio where I have been recording is packed full of my stuff, and the place I Jam at is full as well. There’s only so much wall space here and trust me, it fills up quickly. I guess the point I’m making is that sometimes one or two things get forgotten about, never left behind, but never really acknowledged. I don’t really even know how the instrument sounds; when I brought it down for a showing the varnish was still a bit tacky. (This would be the place where a funny person would say all my instruments are tacky)

The idea for the instrument was really to follow up on my droning obsessions, with four strings on the fretless neck, one sitting just above the neck, and one on a neck all to itself ala the single string. I had great ambitions for this one, unfortunately none of them where ever realized. Now it hangs in an old smoking room newly renovated into a non-smoking room up at Mitzi’s Sister. They have given me the room to do with what I will and as I write this I am thinking to myself performance space. I’ve done it in the past so why not revise the idea and do it again.

Four Stringed Chicken Cooker in D

The Banjo and the Ruler

Almost a full year in the making and I still messed this instrument up. Well actually it sounds pretty great, but the action is a bit to high, with no way of lowering it. I am thinking about shimming the fret board, but then that goes against my once it’s done its done policy. It’s not like there are five others in line for being completed. I’ll just take what I learn from this one and apply to it the next.

Some of the interesting pieces that went into the instrument are of course a chicken cooker, which I love to use as much as I can, but seem to be unable to find them of late. I think I may have depleted the stock beyond repair. The neck of the instrument was made from a piece of oak, and the fret board was designed from an old yard stick from my father. On the right hand side of the instrument I placed seven strings tunes to an open G. I think I did this more the visual then the audio. Who knows, hopefully day they might come in handy.

Lil’ Peppa

This instrument was the direct result of Jen cleaning out the kitchen cupboards. I had just finished up fretting the Maple Syrup Ukulele and she came into the spaceroom asking if I had any use for the pepper can that had been sitting empty in there for about six months. Of course I had to take it, it was just screaming “very little two stringed guitar”. I must say, it was a real pain in the butt getting all those frets on. Many a time was it that Lil’ Peppa almost never saw the light of day.

Maple Syrup Ukulele

After Old Bluey the Metal Ukulele was done I had a very sad feeling about the poor fret work, so after a day of washing dishes up at a local café I stumbled across a maple syrup can, and thought to myself hey, this is a chance to fix all the wrongs in your life. That’s right folks; an empty can of good old Canadian maple syrup is all one needs to take those blues away.

I quickly ran home and started working. Having the construction of Old Bluey still fresh in my mind helped out immensely, so needless to say putting together the Maple Syrup Ukulele was a walk in the park. I took extra care not to make the same mistakes I did on filing out my grooves for the frets, once that was done all I had to do was string it up and see how it sounded. Everything went off without a hitch. I had even felt ambitious enough to start work on my third tin canned instrument, but that’s a story for another day.

Two nights after the instrument was done, I had it up at a studio recording some tracks with it. The sound was great, and it was fun to watch people play it. I think I may have to start adding maple syrup cans to the ever expanding list of junk I love.

The Golf Cart, the Fridge and his Vacuum

Q: What do you get when you cross a golf cart with a part from your fridge and the insides of a vacuum?

A: One really messed up instrument of musical destruction

I feel like I’ve said this before but here it goes for those of you that missed it the first time. Once again the refrigerator grates have taken over. My many years of bartending experience have led me to the conclusion that this grate is most likely from some sort of beer fridge, and in a weird/sad way that makes me happy. The grate was a gift from a couple of Newfies I know that somehow managed to break into our place while Jen and I were away over the summer. In the interests of the two Newfies’ privacy I have changed their names and will now refer to them as Sarah and Jason. .

The reason I like this grate so much more then just a conventional grate is the fact that being from a beer fridge means it has separating bars running through it. These bars are nice and thick so they produce this great bass sound. If you get two or three vibrating as you pluck them the whole contraption starts to rumble in an awesome and sometimes scary way. The golf cart was donated by a Fembotian father who I will now refer to as Mr. P. I love a few things about the cart. One is that it gives the instrument a chance to stand on its own. Two it is very easy to move around now because of its big honking wheels. Three the instrument can recline back on a varying degree of angles which adds to it stability and easy playability. And lastly I think I like the cart so much because it is golf related and I hate golf. Or is it that golf hates me? Either way we both know that I will stay away from it, and if it gets in my way I’m dismantling it and turning it into something else. Trust me, this isn’t the first time, and I have a Two Stringed Golf and Refrigerator Bass to prove it.

And now we come to the vacuum body. This thing has been sitting in the spaceroom for years now. I have moved it about twenty times from one permanent spot to another. I have tripped over it; it has fallen on my head and even drawn blood on more than one occasion. Now it’s trapped in the instrument, never to be freed and that makes me very happy. It’s now just one less thing for my dented brain to worry about.

I guess I should wrap this up. Some of the other bits involved are a few strings to pluck away at when one tires of the tines from time to time. There is also a giant spring running from the bass of the instrument to the grate that once held beer. This adds to the overall resonance of the instrument, and Dave loves springs. And lastly, all the wood on this bad boy was given to me by my good friend Jules, of Jules and Tools. She is always giving me great stuff and I always give her a hard time, but that’s just the kind of guy I am.

Percussive Box TDSOFP

This is one of those things that the big toy companies don't want you
to know about. The dangers that awaited every child as they were young
and growing, the instruments of jagged edges and sharp tips of metal that
could not only take an eye out, but if you did not practice the utmost
precautions you might even lose a limb. I had heard a rumor that back in '43,
somewhere south of the border a small boy who grew up the son of a somewhat
destitute coal miner had been playing his TDSOFP when something happened. The
details get a bit sketchy as to what exactly happened; some say that it was an
earthquake that caused the accident, others say one of the old
abandoned mine shafts caved in and triggered it. All we know is
that nobody really knows for sure. The young boy had somehow managed
to puncture both his legs, and what most people nowadays will agree on as
being his left arm. It didn't take long for the gangrene to set in, and
it took even less time for that kids' toy manufacturing company to
backpedal their way right out of town, destroying all of the evidence in their
wake.

I was lucky to get my hands on a copy of one of the original blueprints
and have painstakingly managed to rebuild this instrument. Many of the
materials from the original are now deemed harmful by today's standards; some
were even considered to be downright toxic, so obviously I had to improvise
a little. Some of the new bits include carburetor caps, a light for a
fish tank, a sink stop, some poor kid's bell from their bike, my new
favorite item - fridge grates, and a few old aluminum buoys we found up north last
year. The body is made from salvaged house parts.

Old Bluey the Metal Ukulele

I know bluey isn’t a word, and I know that I will hear this from many people so lets get this straight right now, Bluey is his name.

This here instrument is another of the Excess Space Baggage series that I have been working on for a few weeks now, and Old Bluey has to be the most complex of the instruments I have built in this series.

The body is a casing for an old security camera that the kind folks at my local video store 724 Movies and More gave me a few months back. There were three casings in total; unfortunately one was destroyed in the attempted construction of the instrument you see before you.

I laid the frets out in a ukulele kind of way, but unfortunately my gal Jen has informed me that my G chord is off. If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, well lets just say I would have about seven cents by now. Anyway, I think I have discovered what the problem is; one of my frets is just slightly on a angle which is causing it to sound out of tune. I could rebuild the neck, but in reality I think a second instrument might have to be made. There’s just something about going back to a piece I’ve finished that just rubs me the wrong way. My biggest regret is that the instrument sounds amazing. Who knows, I may just have to revise that whole not going back theory I have with art. Time will tell.

Sympathy for the Fantabulous Bowafridgeaphone

That’s right; the name of this mammoth beast is the Bowafridgeaphone (bow a fridge a phone) Ever since I started my things from the fridge instruments I have had the idea of building something way too big for my living room. I almost came close with Alex’s Left Handed Bass, but this one really takes the cake.

Let me tell you, the construction of this instrument did not go according to plan. At first I started with it being built into the base of Alex’s Left Handed Bass, but that ended up being too clunky, and not very appealing to look at. So from there I decided to go with the design I used in the Evolution of the Fridge instrument. When I was working on the Evolution I had the idea of running a bunch of strings along the body to help with its resonance, and maybe pick up a few sympathetic tones along the way, but alas sometimes things don’t go according to plan. I knew that wasn’t the end of that idea and soon the day would come that I had a chance to put those strings into practice. That was the day when the Bowafridgeaphone was born, and it has been a very lengthy birth.

Finding a way to mount the fridge grate was difficult enough, but when I added the busted old speaker, the bundt cake pan, the metal salad bowl, and the few other pieces of metal I had lying around was when things really started to get challenging.

There was a version very similar to the one you see before you not twenty four hours before I recreated this new instrument. I had finished building everything, the grate was mounted, the pegs were in, and the contact mic was hooked up. All I had to do at this point was string it up. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. After putting the twentieth of thirty six strings on I started to tune them up. All was going well until I heard a small creaking sound. I thought to myself “hey, that’s just the instrument settling into place.” I cranked on a few more pegs and heard that creaking again, only this time it was quite noticeably louder. I thought to myself “wow, this thing is really settling into place, but in a scary way.” Again with the cranking, and again with the creaking, creaking, creaking CRACK. Like a spring activated suitcase, the two ends, both bottom and top decided that no longer were they to be apart. That’s when the cursing started. OK that’s a lie, I curse all the time, but this time I meant it. After coming down from my string induced rage and rethinking my plans on complete and utter instrument destruction I meticulously started the process of dismantling the yet to be named Bowafridgeaphone. I spent until the wee hours of the morning taking it apart, screw by screw, and nail by nail.

When I awoke the next morning I was single minded in my actions. I had desperately wanted this instrument to be ready for some Fembotian recording that we had scheduled for later in the week.

Now that it was in pieces it made it all the more clear as to what it is I should be doing. I was now sitting in the Spaceroom calmly and methodically constructing spines to run down the back of the Bowafridgeaphone. I have now added spines to my growing list of things I need to do when building instruments out of junk.

It all came together with amazingly fantabulous speed. I added four strings to the back. Two long and two short to help counter the tension, attach the spines and reinforce the already existing body. All I had to do was string it up again, and let me tell you the idea of adding strings to this again scared the heck out of me, but I did it anyway because that just the way I am.

Jen always laughs at me when I break things and get upset because I have to rebuild them. She tells me that every time it happens I create something better then the original and stand there looking dumbfounded at this new creation. Well the Bowafridgeaphone was no exception. It looks sleeker, is somewhat lighter, sounds a lot better, and isn’t cracked in half laying out on Queen Street with so many other things on crack.

Old Kitchen Bits

What started off as a junk piece that was just supposed to be using up some of the garbage I had lying around the space room has turned into something considerably more functional. The body was an old baking pan that Jesse, the owner of Mitzi's Café, gave me a few years back, and up until I decided to build this instrument it stayed screwed to my ceiling, collecting dust. The faceplate was from a Fembot who goes by the name of Brian - if you believe that. He recovered it from a restaurant he was rebuilding, and the metal sheet it's mounted on I reclaimed from a back splash in a residential kitchen, hence the name Old Kitchen Parts.

It is a fretless three stringed instrument in my usual acoustic ways. I really didn't think the body would be strong enough to hold it together, but for some reason I was wrong, and that makes me happy. I think the key to this instrument's successful sound is the post I mounted under the bridge. I always forget about using that on larger scaled instruments.

I am starting to realize that all my acoustic instruments from now on are going to need one or two of their own.

The Story of Little Peanut

There once was an old man that lived in an old part of town, in an old work shop, by a very old river. That man went by a very old name, and that name was Inereano. The years had been good to Inereano, blessing him with good teeth and a strong sense of smell. Though Inereano had enjoyed his life immensely, he always regretted that fact that he never had children. One day Inereano decided that if he could no longer have children he would just have to make his own. And make his own he did. At first they were just unfortunate stumps of wood with hay for hair and twigs for limbs, but as time progressed the stumps became less stump like and the twigs were quickly replaced by much larger twigs. Inereano really had no idea what he was doing at all and everybody in the town new this, but never in their wildest dreams could they ever imagine hurting the old man's feelings. As the town's folk would pass by Inereano's old workshop on his old plot of land they would politely wave at him and his now many children, exchange the usual pleasantries and quickly move along. Then one day while Inereano was busy sleeping in his very old bed a voice came to him in a dream. "Inereano," boomed the voice. "Listen closely to what I have to say. For I carry the secret of the Little Peanut"

Inereano, in his semi subconscious dream state, listened as carefully as a man with ears as old as his could. As the spirit in the dream spoke, Inereano tried his hardest to remember every last detail of the creation of Little Peanut. Finally the voice was done. "Goodnight Inereano" he boomed again, and then all was silent. For three days and three nights Inereano slept, dreaming about the adventures that he and Little Peanut would have together. Winter had set its cold claws in deeply this year and now he could finally burn off all the rest of his children. After all, the voice had given him everything he needed to build Little Peanut, so why would he possibly need any others? Besides, none of them ever spoke to him. He was always embarrassed when his neighbors would pass by with greetings only to be ignored by his one hundred and twenty three rude young children. "Rude and lazy," that's what Inereano's very old mind thought the town's folk would be saying about his kids, and could he blame them? Little Peanut would be a welcome addition to his soon to be depleted family ranks.

Finally, when Inereano awoke he went to work. It was as though his hands were guided by the spirit voice of his dreams. Within only a few old hours Little Peanut was born. Born of the twigs and stumps of all his failed brothers and sister, and he was a fine specimen indeed. Inereano had finally done it - a peanut he could call kin.

Though Little Peanut (much like his siblings) never once responded to the town's folk, Inereano still loved him with all his heart. They did have their crazy adventures. Many the good times had been enjoyed by both, and when they finally came to take Inereano away he was happy in the knowledge that everything he had would be passed on to Little Peanut.

The end

Bungee Cord Bass

I love this instrument. Not only do I enjoy how it looks, but I also loved building this one a bit more then any of the others. I think because the idea to begin with started of as a bit of a joke. While on one of our regular retreats in Huntsville at the Munce house, we were doing some work around the place as I so love to do. As we were unloading some lumber from the back of the car I hit one of the bungee cords that were holding the trunk shut. Of course I immediately fell in love with the sound. For a few minutes Jeremy and I plucked away working out the “Trunkial” rhythm, as the ladies stood by mildly amused at our ability to be distracted by anything. Knowing full well that Alayna would not allow me to cut the back end of her car I started thinking of replacement ideas. Since none of the replacements were feasible I fell back on my old routine of metal bowls and face plates. The bowl for this body is actually some kind of industrial light fixture I found in a junk shop up by Kitchener/Waterloo area. It has a ceramic coating which gives the body a nice ring. The face plate is an old serving plate I found on our trip out to Alberta a few years back. The tuning pegs were part of a chair I found on the sweet streets of Parkdale in Toronto, and the bungee cords were purchased in Saint John New Brunswick, it’s like my own little cross Canada instrument inspired by the Six String Nation guitar. All that aside, it also sounds pretty neat. I think the may even be a few more bungee instruments in the future.

More Instruments and Art Then You Can Shake a Stick At

So I have finally cracked under the pressure and separated my blog into a few different parts in the hopes of making this thing easier to load. Below you will find a few different categories for your viewing pleasure. I plan on adding most of my older posts into these different sections as the page starts to slow down or get to big, so you will always have access to the images. I have also added some of my other blogs on here for your viewing enjoyment. You’ll find adventures from not so sane people that travel through the vastness of the cosmos, hot women in

metal dresses and other interesting, non conventional attire. You’ll see just what thousands and thousand of hand made swirls look like on my kitchen floor. You will also have access to all the other stuff that doesn’t fall into musical sculpture or insane metal fashions that I very loosely call art. There are videos with music and sound clips of some of the instruments, a bit of T.V footage of yours truly hamming it up. Secret little hidden images are everywhere as well so keep your eyes peeled you might find something interesting. I hope you like what you see, and I look forward to your feedback or comments. Love Iner.