One Can Band

In Light, Sound and Time, Unit 2, we learned about sound, how fast it goes and what role it plays in our everyday lives. We looked at different waves sound makes, the role frequency plays, how the ear processes sound, and the Doppler Effect. We observed how different instruments produce sound and the acoustics of a space. We then went on an FE to Threshold Acoustics where our guide told us the importance of acoustics in a space and how it affects us daily. This brought us to the action project, to build Diddley Bows, which are one string guitars with a can attached to wood. It had been difficult to get the tension just right, but luckily my peers assisted me. I am proud of how my Diddley Bow sounds and looks. Please enjoy my one stringed guitar below.

Making the Diddley Bow had been both fun and difficult. I created this guitar with a piece of wood, a tin can, screws, a guitar string, and a battery. To build the Diddley Bow I poked a hole in the middle of the can in order to get the string through it. Then you screw the screws into the wood and tie each end of the string to a screw. Once this is done place the battery under the string farthest from the can. I suggest putting a screw in front of the battery and behind the can in order to hold them in place.

TS "Marked Harmonics"(2016) GCE Lab School

TS "Diddley Bow"(2016) GCE Lab School

The Diddley Bow creates sound when the string vibrates and is then amplified by the tin can to make it more audible. When you place a slide on the string it shortens a part of the string causing the pitch to change. This one string guitar demonstrates pitch/frequency in both the tightness and thickness of the string used. Once we have the frequency we can see what the wavelength and amplitude of the sound waves would look like. It demonstrates sound waves when the string is plucked and the sound wave is resonated.

TS "Sketch"(2016) GCE Lab School

The Doppler Effect is the change in frequency due to motion relative to the listener. If I were to move the Diddley Bow towards a listener would seem like it has a higher frequency and louder sound as it moves towards a listener while it would seem like it would have a lower frequency and quieter sound as it moves away from the listener.

The string of my Diddley Bow had a length of 27 inches and a thickness of 0.049 inches, and the volume of the body is 31.8 inches cubed. The frequency is 55.00 Hertz (Hz) and the wavelength is 627.27 cm. Below are the harmonics involved with my one string guitar. To get the second harmonics you must multiply the previous frequency by two while dividing the previous wavelength by two.

TS "Harmonic Calculations"(2016) GCE Lab School

If I were to do this project over again I would want to add more strings and have more wood on the bottom to cover the screws that are poking through. Below is an audio of my Diddley Bow.