 |
| Front |
 |
| Back |
They were mock guitar necks to be used by a fifth grade class I was teaching at the time, since I only had access to one or two real guitars. The kids would practice on these and then use my real guitar to do assessments.
 |
| I don't remember what type of wood we used for the main piece, perhaps just a 2"x4." We rounded the edges on the back side to give the feel of a real guitar. |
 |
| The frets were inlaid pieces of popsicle sticks, and a thicker piece of wood for a bridge on either end. |
 |
| Bottom |
 |
| The strings were made from fishing line. |
 |
| We marked the frets with dots of Wite-Out. This being the proto-type, some of the frets aren't exactly rhe right width. Yeah, it bugs me a little, lol. |
 |
| At the top, we tied knots in the fishing line and threaded them through holes from the backside. |
 |
| Bottom |
 |
| The bottom end was fancier. We sanded down a rectangle so this part would be inlaid. We drilled three rows of holes so that we could thread the strings in and out to keep them more sturdily in place. We stapled them to the back using a staple gun. |
Great idea! I teach "guitar" using baritone ukes because the tuning is the same as the first 4 strings of a guitar, and the ukes are cheaper, smaller, and easier to store in the classroom. I've been planning to xerox fingering charts on card stock, so students can practice fingerings at home, but really wanted something more realistic. I was having that old argument with myself-- "How much time do I really want or need to spend on this, for how much benefit?" I think your mock necks, simplified to maybe the first four frets, are a great compromise. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm in my 12th year teaching music K-6, first in NY and now AZ. I teach World Music Drumming, using the school's tubanos, several djembes that I bought in desperation during my first year as a music teacher, and a few staved drums I built. Instead of recorder, I usually teach Revolutionary War era fife, and American Indian flute, using 30 flutes I made in consultation with two Iroquois flute makers back in NY. Over the years I've built a marimba band, including four contrabass instruments that go down an octave and a fifth below the Orff basses; also a Balinese gamelan angklung with a 4 note scale (GABD). (These are the instruments that Orff adapted as "metallophones".) I'm happy to share further information and details on any of these with anyone who's interested.
Thanks for sharing such a informative blog on Guitar Necks.
ReplyDelete