Musical PVC Pipes

Thirteen-year-old Jason Duckering showed off his PVC Pipe Instrument at last year’s Maker Faire Bay Area and as a guest during last summer’s Maker Camp, playing classic songs like Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” and Europe’s “The Final Countdown.” With 11 pipes tuned to notes in a C major scale, the instrument packs more than 80′ of 2″ diameter pipe in a 24″x40″ footprint, a configuration he planned out on graph paper. For the custom paddles he uses to strike the tops of the pipes, he experimented with scrap pieces of foam duct-taped to sticks and even flip-flops covered in socks, but he finally settled on foam rubber backed with Plexiglas for rigidity. Next up: an upgraded three-octave instrument.

Build your own PVC Instrument at makezine.com/projects/pvc-pipe-instrument