Warning: This is a long one
Back story
Last summer my friend/unofficial co-producer, Pat and I were talking about putting a musical project together
(kind of an Ayreon style prog metal thing). We were trying to come up with a name
(the most important part) and throwing out Dune references
we're both big fans of the books when he said that if we name it after a Dune reference, I'll have to play balliset
(a fictional instrument played by one of the characters). When I reminded him that the balliset doesn't actually exist, he said 'so invent it'. Since I have yet to meet a creative challenge that I can resist, I started working on it the next day.
The initial design was pretty easy to come by, basically it was just a box with springs
(I was originally planning to make it acoustic), but I couldn't decide on the number of strings or the tuning. Last October, after thinking about how guitar and mandolin are tuned
(4ths and 5ths respectively) I decided to try 3rds. I retuned one of my guitars and it worked perfectly. I then spent the next month working on drawing of my creation never thinking that I would ever be able to actually make one. Last November, after I told my sister about the idea, she kicked my ass to start building it. I decided to make it electric because it would be much easier and we got to work. Now, 7 months and roughly $120 later I present
The Malonette
Here's a short recording that I did with it. Please bear in mind that I have no idea how to play it yet and it's just an inexpensive prototype.
http://johnhmaloney.com/malotest.mp3
I still can't believe it's done. LOL
