Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95729 in Books
• Published on: 1996-01-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 181 pages

Review
"Deals with the principles of acoustics and their relationship to instrument design in depth.. . .Recommended for most music collections." —Library Journal

About the Author
Bart Hopkin is a professional guitarist who has been the editor of Experimental Musical Instruments, the leading journal in its field, since 1985.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic-- deep yet accessible
This book is fantastic. It is definitely worth its cover price; the current markdown makes it essential.

This is a great introduction to instrument design-- both traditional and experimental. If you are interested in building musical instruments, composing for specialized instruments, or learning how instruments work, this is the book to get. It's packed with theory and practical advice, and best of all, it's very readable. I have learned and applied a lot from this, and I have yet to build an instrument from scratch.

I honestly think all musicians should own this book. Craftsmen who aren't (yet) musicians should, too.

This is also essential reading for music teachers; it may restore some of the fun that seems to be lacking in some music education programs.

Nothing else quite like it
Want to build new instruments? Grab this and a good intro acoustics textbook (I usually teach from Rossing) and you'll be in excellent shape.

Extremely useful and doable, even for a layperson
This book has very useful information on essentially all types of instruments, even keyboard-ish instruments. These instruments are definitely NOT little kiddy playthings - I wouldn't recommend getting it for your ten-year-old - but can be constructed even by those who don't have a plethora of equipment and supplies. Quite absorbing, especially for those who wish to make a wide variety of playable-quality instruments. Also, one can easily improvise. Very highly recommended!