How to make a Gigamonica

How to make a gigamonica.
Or a half-a-gigamonica
or an 8th-gigamonica
or a 'Blues-tooth adaptor'
etc. etc.

The other day I was screwing around in the shed and made something wonderful. I managed to get a 512mb flash card inside a harmonica and have it still playing. Today, having bought a new harmonica and a new flash drive, I plan to repeat the process with pictures.

YOU WILL NEED

o a cheap $10 dollar-ish harmonica (I've only used the same brand and model - twice, not sure how other types work)
o a smallish flash drive (the 2gb one here didn't end up fitting)
o OR a smallish bluetooth adaptor / anything small and usb connected
o a hack saw
o rusty garden clipper thingies (I used these the first time to trim the flash drive... no seriously)
o needle nose pliers
o duct tape / electrical tape
o rusty craft knife (I only used this because I couldn't find a screwdriver to fit)
o Those yellow grenades are optional (long story short: "Flash grenades")

Step 1 Pull stuff apart

This cheapy harmonica has a screw at either end. Using the rusty craft knife or similar screwing device, unscrew them and be careful to keep at least one (the other one won't go back in because there'll be usb device in the way)

Note that you need to hold the other end of the screw steady as you spin this end, or you will waste several minutes screwing to no avail.

Once you've done that, you should be able to see what the harmonica looks like inside.


QUICK HARMONICA LESSON:
I don't know much about them either, but when you blow through the holes, those little prongy bits you can see here apparently vibrate and make the noise, similarly, when you draw (suck) the ones on the inside do.

Now, lets take off these parts. The first time I did this, I used the actual case of the harmonica to undo the screws here, this time they were too tight and I had to find a real screwdriver.

(NOTE keep track of where those plates go. when you put them back on you need 1 set of prongs sitting out, on set sitting inside and all the big bits lined up with the big bits etc.)

QUICK HARMONICA LESSON:
If you try and play it here, the draw notes won't work, they need the case on.

Comments

[l0rd0ct0d0rk]

beats my harmonica grenades

[SinAmos]

I was totally expecting a gigantic harmonica, but you failed me. <---Crying.

[agis68]

hahahaha....the title is deceptive i agree!

[cd41]

I was thinking of an electric harmonica, it's ok, i was let down too.(I would pay you if made one though

[McDouche]

I'm not sure how you would go about that. The mike placement would be an issue. The harmonica doesn't have the one big reverberation box like a geetar, so the bits closer to the mike would sound louder than those at the other end. The mike would also have to be out of direct airflow. I was considering jamming my tiny mp3 in one end and a tiny speaker in the other, but actually recording sound... could you have 3 or so mikes lined up along the black strip at the back, with a mp3-player-esque device to record without a cord sticking out...

[Damage, Inc.]

haha, that's what I was hoping for as well.

[Nuclear Wessels]

I like what you did but it hurts my heart to see a harmonica (even a cheap one) dismembered

[agis68]

i had to say exactly the same far more cause i play also harrmonica.

[gnomedriver]

Makes me blue too. I have dozens of dead harps that have died a natural death for a harmonica. Being played until the reeds are flat but even then I can't throw any of them away.

[uberchoob]

You can tune them!! It's really not hard. Just google it.

[McDouche]

The first one of these wasn't bad, since the plating was dinted, one of the notes was broken and the brass/copper plate things were corroding. The new one made me cringe (so shiny). My mum's a music teacher- she hasn't heard of this and with good reason.

[WTSerpent]

the prongs are reeds, and the reed plates are usually made of brass. Cool project! I usually carry a harmonica and a flash drive in my pocket. It'd be so much nicer just to carry a Gigamonica.

[uberchoob]

insert mic element? like a piezo guitar element, or a cheapy from ratshack maybe i'll try and make an instructable :)

[pineapplenewton]

it would be cool to find a small usb microphone and put it in there some how as to mike the harmonica

[Resident Expolsives Expert]

(removed by author or community request)

[McDouche]

made them. $3 for little grenades that you put caps in the end of and drop them to make them go bang from the reject shop (or any little kids shop, I guess. Cut / Pull off the metal bit the caps go in and its empty. I had the tiny flash drive in one (flash grenade) and the other one just stuck a screwdriver right through the other side and used a lotta gap filler >_>

[lemonie]

Hurray for tape! L