Each project contained in the book is self-contained, so if you don’t want to make an instrument out of a piezo speaker and slinky spring (this awesome 15-minute project is covered in the first chapter and is a perfect example of the book’s low‑fi ethos), you can skip ahead to something else without missing out. To be honest, though, if you don’t like the sound of making a musical instrument out of a slinky spring, there must be something wrong with you.
Other projects include building an amplifier, electronic kalimba (a type of African plucked idiophone, as shown on the book’s cover), a pickup for an electric stringed instrument, and a variety of sound effects.
There are also appendices covering electrical components, music theory and expanded versions of the circuits used in the book. These appendices are great reading on their own, even if you’re not going to follow the build projects, with the electronics section in particular a useful primer for anyone who wants to doesn’t know where to start. Yes, there’s technical knowledge in there, including formulae for calculating resistance and capacitance, but the context of musical tinkering means it makes far more sense than it would in a physics classroom.
Junkyard Jam Band is an easy-to-read, easy-to-follow guide to creating homemade musical instruments which assumes zero knowledge and is shot though with enthusiasm like the words in a stick of rock. It takes the reader from very simple making to active electronics, even building a whole synthesizer, with effortless style, and the publishers thoughtfully provide sound samples of the things you’re trying to build.
Don’t spend thousands chasing your perfect sound – build it yourself!
