I am reporting NEW AWESOME NOISE MACHINES -YEAY!
(Thanks to Dustin Morgan, Collin Schipper and DJ Underminer for the luthier wisdom!!)
This is called a “Blaster Beam”. It was invented by Craig Huxley in the late 70s. he used it on a bunch of movies including STAR TREK The Motion Picture and 10 Cloverfield Lane.
It produces a deep, Earthy, dark creepy tone.
They are aluminum bars 6-12 inches wide, and 12-20 feet long (!!!). They use regular guitar strings - usually 18 - 24 strings!!!
However, mine is only 6feet long and 5 inches wide with 11 strings.
Instead of using regular guitar strings, I have used 24-gauge piano wire (slightly thicker than coat hanger wire). They are Steinway strings…they sound AMAZING!
There are 2 types of wires/strings:
9x 24 gauge. These are tuned to A1 (55Hz, which is as low as your fridge’s humm)
2x copper wrapped 24 gauge. These are tuned to A0 (27.5Hz, which is an octave lower…and just inside your ear’s ability to hear it)
Because of the materials, the sound is very deep and rich!
Because of the tension of the wire I have had to “improvise” tuning pegs. The strings create over 500Kg in tension over the bar!
My tuning is made from industrial strength eye-bolts. The eye bolts are tightened to tune the piano wire…and it stays in tune surprisingly well!
The strings are connected to the other end by 1/4inch bolts.
There are 7 Microphones (pick-ups) built into it:
2 are guitar “Humbuckers” for the higher frequencies (perfect for Heavy Rock!!)
2 are Jazz Bass for the deep bass frequencies.
3 are small microphones. These will capture the ambient sound.
I will send you a recording once I have wired up all the microphones.
It sounds WONDERFUL! It’s deep and rich and sooo inspiring!
IIRC one of these about 15 feet long was used a lot in the Last Man Standing OST, mostly played slide with a wine bottle. I could be misremembering, though, it might have jsut been a single string.
Either way you can hear a lot of it on this track, at least:
UPDATE: BLASTER BEAM AUDIO TEST#1
Very special thanks to Dustan Morgan (Guitar Rehab), also Collin Schipper and DJ Underminer for their wisdom.
Testing the Pick-Ups and contacts mics. There are 2 more SoapBox picks coming from Dustan.
WATCH ON iNSTAGRAM:
fkin great! i love the sound of it and the physical interaction! congrats to you and the people who helped you! great stuff!
i have a project in mind which is similar in scale and involves an old bathtub
Very cool and interesting – love the granularity of the way the distortion affixes to elements of the wave. Are all of the pedals active at the same time? Percussion sounds are cool, too.
(I recently bought a beam from a guy who made it for me. He flips the c beam over and strings the inside of it.) Huge learning curve, but super-fun. Maybe we should have a beam thread here at lines.
Thank you!
Most of the pedals are active at the same time. I’m wanting to create MEGA-DISTORTION!!!
I’m streaming a live BEAM WORKSHOP this saturday (July 16) @ 9amPST/12pmEST/6pmGMT
Streamed on Angelspit’s Twitch: Twitch
I’ve started working on my own variation with instructions from @iceplanet9000 !
Also a 6’, 11 string, but based on some feedback and discussions…
Not including potentiometers; they were set/forget and I can mix elsewhere.
I have skipped the Humbucker Soapbox pickups, as they’re $129 each and I want to hear what it’s like with the other contact, Humbucker rail and Bass pickups
I am only using 12 and 24 gauge wires, no copper wrapping; concerned that the lower frequencies would be lost and too muddy. Downside is I won’t be able to scrape across the wrapping. This is the most likely thing I may change my mind on.
I’m using a wire wheel brush for cleanup and finishing and will seal it.
I will probably not put note names on there, but will definitely etch “fret” lines.
I put 5 washers under each bolt on the head / bridge to elevate it
Some sourcing notes…
Shop around for the aluminum, I ended up mail ordering from coremarkmetals.com which happened to have a sale that weekend.
You can get 1/4 bolts, washers and nuts by the pound from Tractor Supply, cost me $5 for 36 of each.
Getting the staples out of the cardboard tube with the aluminum SUCKED. I used a hammer on a one side of a pair of needle nose pliers to get underneath the buried staple, then pulled each out. The assembled height is too much to fit back in to re-use the tube
You’ll want a deep socket hex driver for tightening and adjusting nuts
I used a hacksaw for the string notches on the head / bridge
I used a drill press for the bolt holes in the smaller pieces, but even with a paper template I was uneven. I’d make a jig or use a tool to guide the placement for the future so they were more precise.
Shipping tube, next to some Angelspit original art:
