Finished! - In one week!

My finished Ale-o-phone or Foot operated Mendoza / Monkey stick makes all the right noises, now it's just a case of getting them to happen at the right times!

Aren't the bottle caps pretty! Some have pictures of British wildlife including a badger a bee, and a mouse. (Click on the photo to enlarge.) I need a lot more yet before they'll jingle loud enough so I'd better get to work! Burp! Once i get a bit better I'll post a video!

Ale-o-phone Successes!

IT WORKS!

Not kind of well but really well! Easy to control and sounds something like a real drum kit (to my ears anyway!) If there are any furry creatures living under my shed floor they must have a headache now!

The broom handle has been painted dark brown and the the bottle caps will be attached tomorrow.

There are one or two finishing touches to add but basically it's done!

Photos and video soon! Maybe even a song!

For now here is a lttle history of the original hand operated version:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagerphone

So I guess it could be called a mechanical mendoza too!

To keep with tradition with the monkey stick name I could have a toy monkey attached to the top of the hi hat rod so he bobs up and down. Maybe he could have his fingers stuck in his ears!

First Ale-O-Phone photo!

It's coming together far faster than I thought it would and all the design side is worked out, I just have to finnish it and fine tune it. My real concern is is it playable! I'm a little worried that the pedal won't have a natural bounce to it like a bass drum pedal has and will make it hard to keep in time. The only way to find out is to put it together and find out! I think it will look less like a stick leaning against a hi hat once the bottle caps are fitted...and no it won't make much noise standing on grass!

Real Drummers look away now!

The "Ale-o-phone" has got more complicated already as I now what to keep the hi hat working as well so starting from the mid point on the pedal pushing down it goes boom as the broom handle hits the stage (with a chink from the bottle tops) and by releasing it all the way up the hi hat opens and the top of the broom stick hits the top symbol which is now at the bottom and returning it back to the mid point you get a ca-chunk ! So for example operating the pedal in a down-down-down-release pattern rewards you with Boom-boom-boom-ca-chunk- all with one foot! This involves adjustable collars and springs I think I'd better draw this idea out and measure it all this time!

New project- The foot operated ale-o-phone.

New project

I thought i would like to add a little simple percussion to my music and the traditional folk instrument and indeed by product of the genre the beer cap encrusted broom handle shaker thingy seems to fit the bill but how to play it when playing the guitar?

When my daughter was about 12 she decided that she wanted to take up the drums and really did show a lot of early promise but thankfully for our sanity it went no further other than a friend(?) donating what was supposed to become the first installment of her first drum kit; a high hat with a rather rusty stand. This stand has languished in our shed for about 8 years and has surprisingly not got anymore rusty Anyhow I guess by now you might have put two and two together, yes it's the Foot operated Largerphone! Well it is called a lagerphone in Australia but as I'm from England and my beer bottle caps are from bottles of bitter maybe it should be a bitterphone or even a real ale-o-phone-ok not very catchy. But this Largerphone will hit the stage to make it stomp in true Seasick Steve style. So it will be half drum kit high hat stand half beer bottle cap shaky foot stompy thing, how folk rock is that?! Also (as if I've ever needed it) I have an excuse to buy beer! Photos to follow!

This chap seem to have the right idea:

http://www.carolynmark.com/People%20Places%20Things/album/slides/Sean%20Dallimore%20on%20the%20Boot%20Sticks.html