Pocket Instruments!

I really enjoy band and I have a passion for creating things. I will invent and innovate any artworks, recipes, crafts, and many other things. And then I saw a picture of a miniature violin. I knew I had the necessary skills to recreate that, so I did. And I ended up constructing a drum and grand piano. I had a great time and I am satisfied with the finished product. It is a little rough, but hey! A lot of instruments are.

Step 1: Guitar Sketch

1. Guitar Sketch

Draw a rough sketch of the guitar shape you want. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but rather a rough sketch of what the finished product will be. You will be able to polish it up later with sandpaper (I use a Dremel tool, but they can be pricey) and other tools. Once you have the sketch, you can proceed to the next step.

Tip: Try not to get frustrated when making these instruments. It might take a few tries, but just keep in mind that slower is better in this situation.

Step 2: Guitar Rough Cut

2. Guitar Rough Cut

Once you have finished step one, you need to put the guitar in a clamp so it remains stiff and doesn’t move. Once you do this, cut the guitar down to a rough shape with a coping saw. Do NOT go along the pencil lines, but rather go a little outside them so the guitar doesn’t get any smaller for it is already pocket size. Slowly cut the guitar into a rough guitar shape for you will sand it down with sandpaper or a Dremel tool in the next step.

Step 3: Guitar Sanding

3. Guitar Sanding

When you have finished your guitar rough cut, you will start the sanding stage. This will make your guitar look smooth and good. You will get your Dremel tool (sandpaper would work, but it would take much much longer) and sand down the big chunks of wood still sticking out and keep sanding it down until you reach the pencil lines. Stop sanding AT the pencil line rather than go in them. Slow and steady will make it look much better. To make the body and head of the guitar thicker than the neck, use your Dremel tool and sand the bottom half of the neck down so it is thinner.

Step 4: Guitar Drilling

4. Guitar Drilling

What I did for this step was drill three holes in the guitar to fit the strings, but it is all a preference here. You can fit as many holes you want depending on the size of your guitar and drillbit. Anyway, Find a small drill bit that can fit three holes in the neck without merging into each other. If you can drill three holes comfortably and easily, then you are good. These are the holes where you will fit the guitar strings. For the strings, I used fishing wire.

Step 5: Guitar Bridge, Soundhole, and Painting

5. Guitar Bridge and Painting

To make the guitar bridge, find a small scrap piece of wood and sand it down so it fits and looks well at the bottom of the guitar. You will drill some more holes here to tire the string though. After the construction of the bridge, you will paint the whole guitar the desired color you like. Paint the bridge this same color also. After this you will need to find a light color of paint (this part is optional) and paint the front face of the guitar. This will add another layer of depth to your project. Find a circular tip about the same diameter as a pencil for a wood burner and make a circle in the center. This is your sound hole. You will then glue your bridge to the bottom of the body and drill three more holes under the bridge ONCE it is dry.

Step 6: Guitar Strings

6. Guitar Strings

And finally, the all important guitar strings. To add this mandatory feature, you will need fishing wire. Run the wire through the holes across from each other at the top and bottom of the guitar. Pull tight and tie a knot at the back of each severed end. Cut off any excess length with scissors. If you completed these last steps slowly and thoroughly than you should have a miniature guitar to rock this world.

Step 7: Drum Start

1. Drum Start

Find something long and cylinder. I used the handle of an old wooden broom because it matched those requirements. Cut it to a desired length or to the size of the drum you want. If you want one like mine, find a broom handle about 1 ½ centimeters in diameter. Cut off another cylinder a little longer than the diameter and draw a circle in the center leaving about half a fourth of a centimeter available. This will mark the rim of the drum. Sand down any rough areas using sandpaper. Use fine grain for a smoother finish.

Step 8:

2. Drum Rim

To construct the rim of the drum, you will need to get your Dremel tool and insert a ball bit. Use this to carve the inside of the circle down about a fourth of a centimeter to create the rim. The outer edge will not be sanded down so it will be higher than the center. This simulates a rim on a drum.

Step 9: Drum Staining Process

3. Drum Staining Process

I used a stain on the drum rather than a paint. This gives it a little different finish. You can use stain on the guitar or any other instrument, but I would use paint on all the others. To make a stain (I made a very light brownish orange) you need to pour some paint of choice into a small bowl. Make the amount of paint used thumbnail size. Then you need to add some water until about ⅔ of the paint i submerged. Use the handle of the paintbrush to stir until the water becomes a similar color to the paint used and there is no paint floating around. You will then apply this stain to the whole drum. While it is drying, make some more stain using a very light brown or any other color (this will be to stain the leather strips later).

Step 10: Drum Leather Staining and Gluing

4. Drum Leather Staining and Gluing

Buy a spool of thin white leather to dye. Once you do, wrap some around the drum and cut it so each strip fits around the drum and touches each other. Get these smaller strips and soak it into the new stain you made. Gently run it through a paper towel after it soaked for about 15 seconds so the stain can settle. This will dye the leather and get rid of any excess liquid settling on top of it. If the drum is dry from staining it, you can glue the leather straps at the top and bottom. Make sure the edge of the leather is flush with the top of the rim. Check the bottom to make sure that is also flush. Wait for everything to be COMPLETELY dry before proceeding on to the next step.

Step 11: Drum Wood Burning

5. Drum Wood Burning

This step might take some patience depending on how high of quality your wood burner is (mine isn’t the best, so it took a while). Anyway, once your wood burner is heated up, you can start the burning process by slowing etching ough lines vertically around the diameter of the drum. These lines don’t have to be perfect or flawlessly spaces, but rather rough and haggard looking to give the drum a more rustic wooden effect. Also you can hold your burner in place to make black dots, for these can be like the knots in usual wood. Finally, once you finish making your wooden looking pattern on the drum, you need to run the edge of the burner over the leather to give it a darker sheen. Be quick or the burner will melt right through the leather. Cut off another strip of leather about 2 inches long and do the same dye/burn process to it. Set it aside in a safe place, for that will later become the neck strap. Cut small pieces of leftover leather out so that they can fit in between the leather wrapped around the bottom and the top. Glue these to the side of the drum spaced apart evenly to give it a cool look. I used a pointed burning tip as seen.

Step 12: Drum Painting and Drumsticks

6. Drum Painting and Drumsticks

Get a toothpick and cut two 1 ¼ centimeter length twigs from the center. Do not cut the twigs from the part of the toothpick that starts to slant inward. Get your Dremel tool and smooth out one end of the toothpick so it is round. You can also do this with sandpaper. The next step can also be accomplished with sandpaper. Once you rounded off one end of the twigs, start sanded down a little bit about ¼ centimeter down from the rounded end. Keep sanding inward until you have a kind of neck that is thinner than the rest of the little stick. Make one more and these will be your drumsticks. Put a small dollop of glue in the center of one and lay the other on top so it looks like an X and set down to dry.Get white paint and paint the shallowed out inside of the circle. This will create the surface that you would bang on. Apply a few more coats of paint or until satisfied with finished product. Put a dollop of glue on the inside and place the drumsticks o top. This will give it a neat visual appeal. And, finally, you can proceed to the final step.

Step 13: Drum Finishing Details

7. Finishing Details

For the finishing details, you can do whatever you like to the drum to make it yours. You could glue on fake stones, add wire to wrap around, or even make a stand. I made a neck strap so it could hang around your neck. Well, if it was bigger. Anyway, if you still have the neck strap that you made earlier, you just put a dollop of glue on each side of the upper leather and glue it in place. You might have to hold on to it so it doesn’t slide around. After this step, you will have a drum added to your pocket band!

Step 14: Piano Cutting

1. Piano Cutting

Draw the shape of a grand piano from an aerial view twice onto wood that is about 1 ⅓ to 1 ½ centimeters thick. Using a saw or any other sort of cutting tool, cut out the piano shapes and glue them together so the flat side it flush. Each cutout doesn’t have to be perfect because you will sand them down later. On a thin piece of wood, cut out the same size shape of the other piano pieces. This thinner cutout will be the cover that stand up on the pole. Set it aside. Find some small dowels and cut them to about ⅔rds centimeters in length. Cut three. These will be your piano legs.

Step 15: Piano Sanding

2. Piano Sanding

Once the two thicker cutouts are glued together and dry, get a round sanding bit for the Dremel tool and sand away edges that are sticking out or are uneven. Soon, your piano will be smooth and good looking. Do the same to the cover cutout. Also, sand down the legs so they are smooth and flat.

Step 16: Piano Carving and Gouging

3. Piano Carving and Gouging

Mark a rectangle on the flat side of the grand piano that almost is as wide as the flat side, but don’t go far up. This is where your piano keys will be. If saying that helps, then you should get an idea of what I mean. If not, look at the pictures and you will see. Using a gouging tool, carve down the rectangle until it is deep and looks good. Hand sand the walls and rough edges so it look more refined. No you are going to gouge out the inside. To do this, you will need to mark how big it is going to be (look at pictures) and make more of how deep you want it. I just went until I thought it looked good. Just personal preference. Once again, hand sand any rough edges and smooth out the rim and wall. On the far right of the piano, drill a toothpick sized hole. You will then need to break a toothpick and round off each end with a Dremel tool or sandpaper. Insert the stick into the hole. It looks best if you drill the hole slightly slanted so the toothpick is slanted. This makes the leg where the cover rests upon.

Step 17: Piano Construction

4. Piano Construction

This step doesn’t take long. All you need to do is glue the three legs on the bottom in the appropriate spots (look at pictures) and make sure everything is sturdy. Sand down any rough spots and make sure the bottom of each leg is even with each other so it stands flat on a hard surface.

Step 18: Piano Painting

5. Piano Painting

To paint the piano, you need to get white and black paint only. You can use a clear stain,glaze, or other sort of thing to give it a glossy finish. I didn’t, but it would look more professional. Anyway, you need to paint the key place white and the inside white. Also, paint the inside walls white, but not the top. After that paint everything else black and don’t forget the cover and toothpick leg. A toothpick or really really thin paint brush works best for this next art. You will need to dip it in black paint and make black lines for each separate key and a black line in the center for the black key. You can also paint some black lines in the center where it is shallowed out to simulates strings and other mechanisms at work.

Step 19:

6. Grand Piano Finishes

For the finishes, you will need to glue the long flat edge of the cover to the matching side of the piano. Make sure the sides are flush, then let the other part rest on top of the toothpick to finish it. After this, you can go crazy. Maybe you want to add those foot petals so pianos have or make a chair to sit on. Heck, you can even make a music stand. Or even sheet music for the music stand! All I’m saying is that you can make your grand piano even grander in this step! Now you can make your band grand with this new addition.