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Building resonators from scratch

mryan298 1 September 2015

Hey everyone,

I recently got my hands on a set of old 2.5-octave Jenco vibes for dirt cheap, but they need some serious work. They came with damaged cardboard resonators and I've been looking to swap them out with some aluminum or brass. I found aluminum tubing at Lowe's and Home Depot with similar diameter and wall thickness compared to some measurements I took off other vibe sets, but ounce-for-ounce this stuff is pretty heavy. Would any of you happen to know the alloys the companies commonly use in their resonators, or where I would be able to buy some? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Comments

Vince H Thu, 09/03/2015 - 17:36

You need to search for thin wall aluminum tubing. If you really want to do this, you should get a set of calipers and measure the thickness of one of the other vibe sets you've been looking at. But since this is a 2.5 octave Jenco--not really a special instrument--I really think you should go with cardboard mailing tubes. Even if you decide to do aluminum, I'd still build a set out of cardboard first so you could learn to do it right, tune them, makes stoppers, etc. Though some of the cardboard tubes have a closing cap/sleeve that is adjustable in length, which makes them good for tuning. Remember, you will probably screw up the first ones you make, which is why it is good to experiment with a cheap material. For the expense relative to sound quality on this instrument, I think sturdy cardboard mailing tubes are just fine.

Holger Kaufmann Tue, 08/20/2024 - 04:00

Experimenting, I found that empty PET-bottles (for sparkling lemonade) are very good sounding and light resonators. The only problem is the diameter of the bottleneck, so you could cut it off some inches from the top, take coppertin, bend an individual bottleneck and connect it with resin glue to the Polyethylen- bottle. It might look strange but the resonators would be extremely light. They might not fit one next to another, so you would have to position them zigzag, like the resonators of balaphones.

tonymiceli Sun, 08/25/2024 - 17:55

omg i love it when you guys talk about building your own resonators. all stuff I am incapable of doing. so i'm jealous!

there's a guy on here, barryk how has build is own resonators. I could give you his email if you email me.

It sounds like vince knows what he's doing so maybe you can get any support right here.
post a photo when you build them!

IndianaGlen Tue, 09/03/2024 - 21:55

The resonator inside diameter is about the same as the width of the bar. The glue for PVC sets really fast. I’ve never done it for resonators, but I’d sure look into it. They make caps and usually if you put them on dry you can get them back off. Sometimes you have to sand the tubes down if you want to easily be able to remove the caps. Thin walled aluminum tubing is NOT cheap.

Vince H Wed, 09/11/2024 - 18:22

The standard plumbing PVC available in big box hardware stores is quite heavy. Cheaper, though. But you'll pay a price in weight. There is thinner wall PVC tubing but I've yet to try it and it is harder to find. I have used cardboard mailing tubes a bit and they are light and really pretty good--not as good as aluminum, but OK. I have not yet tried putting an enamel finish on the inside of a cardboard tube; that might improve the reflective surface and therefore improve resonance.

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