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PVC Instrument

last photo ←

Here is some stuff I can play on it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLO9u9ab_UM

This is a Blue-Man Group style instrument my dad and I built over spring break. It's made from PVC pipe and some wood, mainly got from restore (habitat for humanity). The longer pipes make make deeper sounds with lower pitches and the shorter ones have higher pitches. It's pretty basic. It was built for a science project, and I think it turned out fairly nice. Basic dimensions:

Height: 3.5 ft
Width: 4.5 ft
Depth: 3.5 ft

14 comments

Nov 2, 2011. 7:50 PM

hungyhipo 2 says:

Go green bay

Sep 3, 2011. 12:14 PMhooflepoof13 says:

hey gabe its aidan. this is so cool!

Sep 4, 2011. 4:21 AM

Poehls05 (author) says:

Thanks. Glad you checked it out.

Sep 7, 2011. 3:24 PMhooflepoof13 says:

hey r u going to enter the make it stick contest? i think i might

Sep 11, 2011. 5:55 AM

Poehls05 (author) says:

Yeah, I might enter my new assingment notebook thing. I'm not sure if I've shown you yet. It swivels. But its crazy some of the things people enter in these contests. An ipad would be cool though. You got any ideas so far?

Sep 7, 2011. 1:18 AMovan der beek says:

http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/1214951/bc1ad37a/spelen_op_pvc_pijp.html

nice

Aug 2, 2011. 5:47 PMRebeccaLee says:

This looks quite cool. Tbh your explanation makes it look more realistic for someone to make it :) If don't mind me asking, is it costly to make? I'm wanting to build one but I don't know if I can afford it. Good luck with it though :)

Aug 3, 2011. 2:32 PM

Poehls05 (author) says:

It can be fairly cheap to make, but that depends on where you get the supplies. If you got all of the pieces at say home depot (nothing against them), you could get a cost of over a couple hundred. I purchased my parts at mainly restore, which is sort of like a goodwill for home improvement. I did have to end up getting most of the elbows from the home depot, which costed $40 alone. Altogether it cost a little over $100, maybe $120. Hope that helps.

May 10, 2011. 7:25 PM

splazem says:

This is cool. So freakin' cool.

May 10, 2011. 4:42 PM

patriots8888 says:

Thats so cool! i just have to make this!

May 10, 2011. 9:46 AM

SHIFT! says:

This is awesome! Please post a step by step on this!

May 10, 2011. 2:46 PM

Poehls05 (author) says:

Thats a good idea. I made this page so that I could display it to my class. I didn't really document the process though, so it might be hard, but I could get the measurements for everything and explain the process. Looking for a contest to enter somthing like this into. Anyway, thanks for the comment. Happy making.

May 10, 2011. 1:09 PM

ynze says:

Totally fantastic! How did you determine the right length for the tubes? Just trial and error?

May 10, 2011. 2:42 PM

Poehls05 (author) says:

Well, on Nate True's website (google it) you can get an equation to get the pipe lengths. Mine wasn't exact, so I cut rough lengths and then used a chromatic tuner I borrowed from the guitar player from my church. There's also online tuners you could try, but I don't really trust them. Anyway, have you seen snubbyj yet? Pretty good, huh?
Thanks for checking it out. Have a great day and God bless.