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Author Topic: nephrite lithophone  (Read 6782 times)

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Itsandbits

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nephrite lithophone
« on: November 03, 2014, 12:49:40 PM »

In my jade cutting I started testing the ring quality of the pieces to see what I could put together; inspired by Jim. Like him I am musically challenged so this is just to show the musical quality of the stone as cut; our ancestors must have had some stone jams from time to time LOL

here's the musical link
https://plus.google.com/photos/110050783532864937229/albums/6077651746989029937?authkey=CPD7kbmW2peyZw
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Minkos61

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #1 on: November 03, 2014, 01:19:03 PM »

Couldn't watch it Lloyd but the pic looks good.
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Ernie

Itsandbits

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Re: nephrite lithophone (fixed the link)
« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2014, 02:25:17 PM »

sorry all, I'll work on it...it works for me but I'll dial in from a different computer and see what happens




try this new link; I think I finally figured it out

https://plus.google.com/photos/110050783532864937229/albums/6077651746989029937?authkey=CPD7kbmW2peyZw
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Bentiron

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2014, 02:38:01 PM »

Nope, wants me to sign in with a password for Google or some such thing and I already have more passwords than I can remember in what's left of my time in this life. :dontknow:
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Itsandbits

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2014, 03:08:18 PM »

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Minkos61

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2014, 05:30:46 PM »

Yup that one worked and a cool sound for sure :icon_thumleft:
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Ernie

Itsandbits

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2014, 05:43:23 PM »

thanks Ernie, sorry for my screw-ups; I'm a rockhound not a computer tech, LOL
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wampidy

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2014, 08:13:23 PM »

Damn, you got your video up before I did but we both ended up with our stones laying on about the same thing. I wrapped string around the aluminum wire to give it something soft to lay on the same as you. I see that you have some that ring better than others too.

I ran out of pieces of jade long enough (except for some really good stuff) so I ended up with five notes on a six note instrument. Is what it is I guess. All you have to do now is figure out how to make your instrument. I am thinking that a piece of wood under a string on both sides then put a pin up through the wood to keep the slabs from moving around. The holes in the slabs don't seem to have any affect on whether or not they ring but they may change the pitch. It would take a lot of slabs to get the correct pitch up the scale and I was surprised that the thickest slab had the highest pitch and the slab just below that is the thinnest. Go figure.

Much more experimenting if I can get more jade to use. I hate to use my good stuff on something that I will never play. Maybe I will have to try to talk Frank out of some of his yard rocks. lol
Jim
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Itsandbits

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #8 on: November 04, 2014, 11:25:14 PM »

Damn, you got your video up before I did but we both ended up with our stones laying on about the same thing. I wrapped string around the aluminum wire to give it something soft to lay on the same as you. I see that you have some that ring better than others too.

I ran out of pieces of jade long enough (except for some really good stuff) so I ended up with five notes on a six note instrument. Is what it is I guess. All you have to do now is figure out how to make your instrument. I am thinking that a piece of wood under a string on both sides then put a pin up through the wood to keep the slabs from moving around. The holes in the slabs don't seem to have any affect on whether or not they ring but they may change the pitch. It would take a lot of slabs to get the correct pitch up the scale and I was surprised that the thickest slab had the highest pitch and the slab just below that is the thinnest. Go figure.

Much more experimenting if I can get more jade to use. I hate to use my good stuff on something that I will never play. Maybe I will have to try to talk Frank out of some of his yard rocks. lol
Jim
LOL, not trying to outdo you JIm, just having some fun. That black jade of mine is the best sounding next to the stuff with the yellow lines in it but any small weak spot throws the sound off. They sure ring with a pure tone and resonate nice when everything is right. I have some plastic coated copper wire that sounds the best but I couldn't keep it straight so I used the aluminum fencing wire just to show all the sounds. I'm going to try some magnet wire next but I also think maybe a dowel will let it resonate well too because I tried a 3/4 square wood length and it sounded real nice. I think something soft enough to not ring like the wire and hard enough to not deaden the sound would be the right choice and I'm going to experiment with it too. Do you want to combine threads or keep separate?
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wampidy

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #9 on: November 05, 2014, 08:57:02 AM »

Good info. I think it would be easier if we did progress reports here in one place.

You have been working harder on it than I have and the dowel or small square wood sounds like it would be easy if it works good. I can put pins in the wood to control the slabs. I still think that the holes do not have a bad effect on the sound and will continue with them. This is getting interesting enough that I may have to break out the good stuff to make this thing work. I just cut some black jade out of California and it is some pretty good stuff with no fractures. I paid ten dollars a pound for it so I need to save enough to get my money back. Don't care about anything other than breaking even which I can do with two rings.

I have a couple of grand daughters that love black rings so I need to keep up with that also. lol The babies (no longer) always come first.

Anyhoo, Lloyd, I am glad you got into this and kept me interested.

Gotta go see the doc for a follow up so I am outa here.
Jim
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Itsandbits

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2014, 01:36:49 PM »

luckily all I do is cut it and test the sound as it comes off the saw and if I need to trim for sound it still is in usable sizes although I do cut double slab thickness some times just to get the right tone but I can easily split the slab later. I might just do an all black jade one because it has the nicest ring to it so far.
All in good fun Jim, good luck with it. I'll keep expirementing on my  end too :)
Lloyd
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Itsandbits

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #11 on: November 06, 2014, 07:23:20 AM »

did a little more cutting yesterday and while I was in the shop I found a coil of polyurethane foam gap filler I use in my door business to fill gaps around the frame before caulking. It comes in 1000ft. rolls in different round diameters right from 1/4in. up to 1in. and the 1/2in. piece I tried seems to make the stones ring better than anything else. I order mine from the glazing supply company but I have seen some in HDepot. if you want to try it.  It's called "backer rod" in the industry here's what it looks like
https://www.hitechglazing.com/catalog/40328

I've found that taking off the outer rind of the nephrite and making a long rectangle improves the tone considerably also
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Enchantra

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #12 on: November 06, 2014, 07:40:37 AM »

Necessity is the mother of invention.  (Some famous person said that!  Don't ask my poor brain without coffee to remember right now who said it!)

Sounds like you found the perfect stuff to make your lithophone work.
Once you get it all set up, you're going to have to play us a nice song!   :icon_sunny:

Itsandbits

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #13 on: November 06, 2014, 12:47:35 PM »

Did I not say I was musically challenged; LOL
My kids got all the talent in that area from their mom, they can pick anything up and make it sing; me, I sound like someones killing the cat LOL
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Enchantra

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #14 on: November 06, 2014, 05:58:16 PM »

Then have one of your kids play it.   :thumbsup:

wampidy

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #15 on: November 06, 2014, 07:24:07 PM »

I hadn't thought of that. I used to use the stuff down in Texas when I installed doors and windows. It is available in most lumber yards in a lot smaller pieces. There is also a closed cell foam that is black and comes in rounds. They would be easy to stick down to a narrow board with contact cement (maybe) because contact cement melts some foams.

I have not done anything more with mine because the guy I am giving it to is on his two week work schedule and won't be back for another week. Plusssss, it is a lot easier when you figure it all out. lol Actually I have two other projects that I am working on and have not taken the time to mess with it.
Jim
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It came to earth "ouch"
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Itsandbits

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #16 on: November 06, 2014, 08:06:09 PM »

Yours looks a lot prettier than mine Jim, mine is still two strips of foam laying on the workbench LOL Now if I mount the foam on a couple of strips of wood with some dowelling separating them; actually, those bamboo skewers for shish kabobs cut into 2in. pegs and stuck in holes in the wood supports would be perfect; although it's getting pretty non ancient tech all the time, I like the look of yours better
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wampidy

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #17 on: November 07, 2014, 05:29:20 AM »

Your bamboo pegs idea sounds a lot better than my aluminum pegs so I will switch gears again. You are a great second brain. Well, I guess in this case you are a great first brain.

It will be easy to convert my frame and it will look a lot LOT better without the string wrapped around an ugly aluminum wire. Now that you have all the bugs out I will go ahead and convert mine. I wish I would not have drilled such big holes in my slabs because with small pins they are probably going to rub together at times. Since it probably isn't going to make it into a symphony orchestra there shouldn't be a problem with that.

I have some of those skewers somewhere but it will be much easier to go get more than try finding what I have. And thanks for figuring this all out. You have probably saved me two rebuilds.
Jim
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I threw a stone into the air.
It came to earth "ouch"
I now know where.
You can quote me on this, I have the scar.

Itsandbits

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Re: nephrite lithophone
« Reply #18 on: November 07, 2014, 07:05:24 AM »

I have a bunch of short dowels for joining wood that I was going to use until I thought of the skewres and they are pretty easy to get around here but I'm thinking of putting the pegs in between the slabs so I don't have to drill holes in them and the skewers will take up less space but still get separation. I'm also thinking if you put a sound box of some kind just under the slabs that the sound will get amplified; maybe even build a sound box and put the foam and pegs right on the edge frame of it so you don't loose the resonation of the lighter wood sounding boards; I have a cigar box I'm going to try for effect.   
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