Monthly Archives: May 2012

How to Build a Whamola! (Part 2, Electronics)

Posted by on May 31, 2012 2 comments
whamola-electrical-assembly

Don't be confused, it's easy!

So you’ve built your whamola, and would like to hook your amp and distortion pedal up to it.  Fortunately for you, this isn’t too hard.  To do this, you’ll need the following parts.  All can be bought, or an old donor bass guitar would also work as a source:

  • Whamola assembly – see this post
  • P-style bass pickup
  • Volume and Tuning Pot
  • 1/4 inch plug receptacle

Tools Needed:

  • Screwdriver
  • Milling machine or Router to make cavities
  • Soldering iron (optional, but recommended)

Obviously, the barrier for most people on this job would be the milling machine/router but if you’ve somehow followed the first instructions, you’ve figured out how to do this somehow.  Click on the “read more” for instructions, and a video of everything getting put together! Read more »

How to Build a Whamola! (Part 1, Acoustic Assembly)

Posted by on May 29, 2012 3 comments

jackson-playing-whamolaFirst of all, as we’ve found out breaking strings, this instrument can be quite dangerous and prone to string breakage even if constructed correctly.  Safety glasses/mask are recommended both when building and operating one.  I take no responsibility for any injury that this instrument is capable of, but if you somehow choose to build one, seriously take it easy on the handle!

As teased in the last Whamola article (including a video of ours in use), here are instructions for building this instrument.  It’s really a simple to make, but having a miter saw and milling machine (here’s my mill and miter saw from Amazon) or router will be extremely helpful.  I’ll show how to assemble everything in this and the next post.  To begin with though, here’s the components and tools that you will need:

Whamola Comonents:

  • Wood – 1 3/8 inch square x 8 feet long
  • Axis of rotation – 1/4 – 20 bolt 6 inches long
  • 2 1/4 – 20 nuts to lock bolt down and  and some 1/4 inch washers
  • Roller for string – replacement roller from screen repair tool
  • String – “D” string for bass guitar
  • Pickup – P-style bass pickup (single)
  • Electronics – Pitch and volume pot, female receptacle for cord
  • Tuning peg from bass guitar
  • Wood screws (2) to attach handle assembly (roughly 4 1/2 inches long)
  • Wood screws (2) to attach bridge (roughly 2 1/2 inches long)

Tools Needed to Make Whamola: Read more »

Working With Audio Files in Ubuntu

Posted by on May 28, 2012 No comments

recordable cdsOne of my good friends, who’s work has been featured here several times, does a comedy podcast.  For whatever reason, he don’t have access to a CD burner.  The huge “best of” podcast needed to be split up into tracks as well.

Either way, I was happy to do this favor for them, although I will continue to harass them about their lack of modern equipment that has been on the market for 20+ years.  For my part, I never really burned CDs either, because by the time I could afford a ‘burner, I had a thumbdrive (here’s how to make a sweet key-lanyard thing for one).  Regardless, I’m now using Ubuntu Linux, so the process would probably be different anyway.  After around 5 months of use, I’m really starting to like Ubuntu, and the CD burning process/MP3 cutting turned out to be no problem at all.

Cutting the Tracks: Read more »

Death of Err

Posted by on May 27, 2012 No comments

err mosaic dropped on workbenchTHOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, before this blog got many readers, a mosaic of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force character, “Err” was made (here’s the post).  Unfortunately, it was recently dropped.  Many tiles fell off, and not being in the mood to fix this piece of “art,” it was subsequently moved to the trash.

Like my Chinese lamp before it, this blog helps me get rid of stuff that I will no longer need, and in this case is no longer fit for even the wall on my garage.  Either way, you may want to check out the original post if you find this interesting at all.  Or click on the “more” for a before picture. Read more »

Whamola!

Posted by on May 23, 2012 4 comments

As I recently leaned, a whamola is an instrument that uses a single bass string, but has a lever to vary the pitch.  Les Claypool of Primus brought this instrument, if not into the mainstream, at least into focus for those that like that kind of music.  After seeing my cousin Jackson one weekend, we decided to make one and he promised that he would be able to get all of the parts for it.  All he supposedly needed was help assembling it.

Although I was skeptical, he did indeed have all the parts needed – mostly an older bass guitar and a square piece of wood (more build details in a later post).  After an afternoon’s worth of work, here’s what we came up with:

Whether you think this instrument is awesome or annoying from the video, I can definitely say it’s Read more »