Paper Mache Instrument

../previews/015-Instrument03.jpg.medium.jpeg
This is my first experiment using papier-mâché. all of my previous experience with papier-mâché has been a couple of masks for various fancy dress events.

This project was inspired by the desire to build a something a bit like a Sitar and a book I got out of the library on building cardboard instruments. When I started the project I was a little worried that it would end up looking good, but sounding really dull because of the sound absorption by the papier-mâché. In the end, when it was all finished and tuned I finally got to hear what it sounded like. It was fantastic. A very rich sound. Unfortunately a design flaw was that as soon as you started using the frets, you closed off the top chamber and the richness was lost. So I shall build a new design, maybe based on a Gu Zheng, that can be played with all strings open.

Anyway, the papier-mâché I used ended up being very hard with almost the sound of wood when tapped. I was very pleased with this as it gave me some confidence that it mold make a good soundbox material.

The main spine of the instrument has a wooden beam in it, the sound board is very thin MDF, and the strings are steel. The surface has been painted very thoroughly with housepaint to get a totally waterproof finish that will protect the instrument from the moisture off the player’s hands. As far as the paint scheme goes, I dragged out a book on paint effects and gleefully thumbed through it. Finding a page on weathered metal and some stone effects I decided to do a bit of a mix of rusted, metal, lead, and granite effects. I also added a blue tint to some surfaces with the same orientation as if there was a strong blue reflection coming off another surface. It all started out well and I painted it adding a bit more rust here and there until I was able to step back and think to myself “Yayy! Done.” I was busying moving a ceramic sculpture later in the day that I had made some time earlier using the same mold and observed that I had unwittingly managed to simulate the same colour schemes with. Here I was trying to move into some new colour themes …. And yet. Ah well.

As for playing it, it is playable although a bit awkward to handle comfortably. I settled for lying it down and playing it like an Appalachian Dulcimer. As for the sound it has a really rich warm sound if you strum or pluck it without using the frets. As soon as you use the frets you lose the benefit of the upper chamber and the sound becomes quite dull - a bit of a design flaw that one. I guess that may be why the Sitars use drones to keep sound going to the second chamber even when the player is using the frets. It was a fun project though.