Derek Dela Cruz

Zane Walas
Wesley Fink
Daniel Ford
Diego Gutierrez
STEM - 3/4
5-16-18

Musical Instrument Justification Document

Wind Instrument-Clarinet: ​

The wind instrument creates sound through vibration. The initial vibration that

causes noise to be created is by the user blowing into the instrument, which vibrates it.

The lip motion used is a buzzing kind, similar When blown, the waves will come out of

the first hole not covered. The more notes covered the lower the frequency and vice

versa. The instrument itself can play notes between the notes C4 and B4.

The clarinet that was built consists of a pipe, a funnel, and a mouthpiece. The

pipe has 8 seperate holes used to play various notes. The pipe is 33 centimeters

because it is ¼ the length of C4 wave. The funnel is used as an amplifier to increase the

volume of the instrument. The mouthpiece is just used to make it easier to blow into the

clarinet.

Note Length From Mouthpiece Frequency (Hz)

(cm)
 B 17.45 493.88

A 19.6 440

G 22 392

F 24.5 349.23

E 26 329.63

D 29.25 293.66

C 32.7 261.63

Chimes Instrument:​ Xylophone

A chime instrument works when an object strikes it. The collision creates
vibrations which become sound waves. The waves travel outside the chime and sound
a note proportional to the distance it travels. The sound can be amplified based on its
natural frequency. This is done by finding a balance between too much and too little
force. The quality of a chime making a loud and long sounds is resonance.

For this project, we designed a xylophone. We have a 15.7” x 17.7” wood board
suspended by two 2” x 4” planks of wood. There are 15 chimes suspended by a string
attached to 2 ½ in screws on either side. When hit, these chimes would resonate and
play their tuned note. The board was designed for 13 chimes so the other 2 chimes are
drilled onto the exposed parts of the 2” x 4” planks. We also had 3 strings across
horizontally under the chimes in order to suspend them even higher and reduce the
slack. The instrument has a chromatic range from B​3​ to C​#​5​/D​b​5​, totalling at 15 notes. We
based our measurements mostly on our C​5​ and C​4​. We found the C​4​ using the C​5​ and,
from there, calculated every other note with the C​4​.

Note Frequency (Hz) Chime Length (in)

B​3 246.94 Hz 13 in

C​4 261.63 Hz 12.75 in

C​#​4​/D​b​4 277.18 Hz 12.5 in

D​4 293.66 Hz 11.9 in

D​#​4​/E​b​4 311.13 Hz 11.5 in

E​4 329.63 Hz 11.1 in

F​4 349.23 Hz 10.8 in

F​#​4​/G​b​4 369.99 Hz 10.4 in

G​4 392 Hz 10.2 in

G​#​4​/A​b​4 415.3 Hz 9.8 in

A​4 440 Hz 9.6 in

A​#​4​/B​b​4 466.16 Hz 9.4 in

B​4 493.88 Hz 9.1 in

C​5 523.25 Hz 8.75 in

C​#​5​/D​b​5 554.37 Hz 8.6 in

String Instrument (Daniel and Diego):

How It’s Made:

We started off by opening up the guitar hero guitar and taking out the circuits. After
disposing of the circuits we cut access plastic out of the inside of the body. We then
removed the flicking part of the guitar and replaced it with a flat wood piece. We got to
work on drilling holes for the tuning knobs (these tuning knobs tighten the string to make
the string play different notes). Next we put wood in the body of the guitar for support
and drilled the bridge (piece of guitar that strings go through) into the body. We put the
strings through all 6 holes in this bridge and attached them to the tuning knobs. Finally,
we turned the knobs and tuned the guitar until it matched the standard tuning for a
professional guitar.

How It Works:
The instrument creates sound waves by vibrating a piece of metal wire. The pitch or
frequency is changed based on the wavelength which is directly proportional to the
string length. As you push on frets the wavelength gets smaller and therefore the
frequency gets higher. This is why the closer to the body of the guitar you press the
higher the pitch. The different strings are also different thicknesses and more or less
taught this also affects the pitch giving the instrument its open string tuning.

Note Length of fret to bridge(cm) Frequency (Hz)

C5 65.93 523.25

C#5 62.12 554.37

D5 58.74 587.33

D#5 56.93 622.25

E5 52.33 659.25

F5 49.39 698.46

F#5 46.3 739.99

 G5 44.01 783.99

G#5 41.0 830.61

A5 39.20 880

B5 34.93 987.77

String Instrument (Zane):

How it was made

To begin making my bass, I first planned all of the dimensions and lengths for the strings. I
used a 65 cm board of wood because that was the maximum string length I needed. I cut the
board into a diamond with a 14 inch neck. I cut a hole in the center of the diamond to eventually
release sound. I then added a block of wood to the end of the neck to act as the head of the
bass. I also added a plank of wood on the back of the neck to stop it from snapping. I then
attached tuners to the head of the quitar and put a saddle(piece of wood for strings to rest on) at
the bottom. I drilled two holes below the saddle to anchor my strings. I strung the strings through
to the tuners. I tightened the strings to be in tune. Lastly I secured a tin can to the back of the
hole to amplify the sound.

How it works

The strings on the bass are pulled taught enough that when they are plucked the strings
vibrate. The vibrations bounce the bass string back and forth. As the string bounces back and
forth it disturbs the surrounding molecules in the air and creates longitudinal waves. The
longitudinal waves are a series of compressions and rarefactions. The compressions are
created when the string pushes the molecules and they press together causing a chain reaction
of compulsions throughout the molecules. The rarefactions are created when the string pushes
away from the molecule, allowing the molecules to spread out thinner among more space. The
rarefaction is then pushed by a compression when the string comes back. The small string is
very quiet when it vibrates on its own. To amplify the string we have it securely attached to a
piece of wood mounted on a body. When the string vibrates, it vibrates the saddle (piece of
wood on the board) and the saddle matches the frequency that the string is vibrating at. The
saddle then vibrate the wood surface and pushes waves throughout it. These waves in the
wood create longitudinal waves of sound. Because the board of wood and the can attached to
the board have a much bigger surface area they create a lot more sound then the thin string.
Note Length of fret to Frequency (Hz)
saddle(cm)

C5 65.93 523.25

D5 58.74 587.33

E5 52.33 659.25

F5 49.39 698.46

G5 44.01 783.99

A5 39.20 880

B5 34.93 987.77