Instrument Building

I’m currently doing R&D on a physical instrument/sound generator, and my go-to practical reference book has always been this one:

Musical Instrument Design – Practical Information for Instrument Making
by Bart Hopkins

 

 

Also invaluable:
an archive of all of the back issues of Bart Hopkins magazine “Experimental Musical Instruments”
Download the entire PDF archive, there is so much invaluable info and practical advice…
There is a TABLE OF CONTENTS for all of the issues, which is a good starting point

 

 

Another book I found recently, ‘rented’ for free as an ebook via Archive.org

Vibrations : Making unorthodox musical instruments
by Sawyer, David

 

 

This one looks interesting:
Acoustics of Wood
by Voichita Bucur
but the purchase price is rather prohibitive at $379.99 for a paperback copy….

 

 

Another free to rent ebook from Archive.org

Tone : a study in musical acoustics​
by Levarie, Siegmund, 1914-2010

 

 

Sound Designs: a handbook of musical instrument building
by Reinhold Banek & Jon Scoville

 

 

Sound Sculpture, ed. John Grayson
Download [PDF, 24mb] at ubuweb
A collection of essays by artists surveying the techniques; applications; and future directions of sound sculpture.

CONTENTS

PART I: ESSAYS ON SOUND SCULPTURE

BERNARD BASCHET: Structurcs Sonores
FRANCOIS BASCHET: Structures Sonores and the Future
A. VILLEMINOT:Sketches of Large Scale Baschet Sound Sculptures
HARRY BERTOIA: Sounding Sculptures
ALLAN KAPROW: Animation: Stephan Von Huene’s Sound Sculptures
STEPHAN VON HUENE: Photo Album
DAVID JACOBS: Notebook
REINHOLD PIEPER MARXHAUSEN: Variations on the Theme for Listening to Door Knobs
CHARLES MATTOX: The Evolution of My Audio-Kinetic Sculptures

PART II: HERITAGES & ATTITUDES

HARRY PARTCH: Monophonic Just Intonation (excerpted)
HARRY PARTCH: No Barriers
LOU HARRISON: Lou Harrison’s Music Primer (excerptcd)
GYORGY KEPES The New Landscape in Art and Science (excerpted)
R. MURRAY SCHAFER: The Graphics of Musical Thought

PART III: FUTURE DIRECTIONS

DAVID ROSENBOOM Vancouvcr Piece
WALTER WRIGHT: Videotape Kitchen Notes
DAVID ROTHENBERG: Visual Music – A New Art Form
JOHN CHOWNING: The Simulation of Moving Sound Sources (excerpted)
Corporeal Sound Sculpture
COREY FISCHER:Transitions
JOHN GRAYSON: A Sound Awareness Workshop

PART IV: PRACTICAL PROJECTS & POSSIBILITIES

WILLIAM COLVIG: A Western Gamelan
PAUL EARLS: Sounding Space: Drawing Room Music
IVOR DARREG: The Amplifying Clavichord
TONY PRICE: A Musical Carillon
A Concert of Factory Sirens and Steam Whistles
LUIS FRANGELLA: Rain Music II : A Large Scale Environmental Sound Sculpture
MAX DEAN: A Sound Activated Sound Sculpture
Sound Sewage
Selected Readings
A Request to Sound Sculptors