Skip to main content

The Evolution of the Nickster

Many things that I have made go through an evolutionary process. Sometimes they are subtle changes but more often the final design has very little to do with the original concept. The Nickster was one of those projects that had a common thread from the beginning.


The 1st appearance 'circa 2008' shows a strong resemblance to the later versions. I had the right idea but I didn't aggressively follow through with it until 2014 (see The Nickster post 7/22/19). I used a bicycle rear mount support, heat shrink tubing, rubber grommets and nylon cord.

2014 the Nickster 1.0:
I wanted to use a semicircle of aluminum to fit in the space between the thumb and index/middle finger. I had hoped this would make the design intuitive to someone who has experience only with the 'glue clamp' designs. It wasn't intuitive to many students and it was  only playable for right handed players.

2015 the Nickster 2.0:
I continued to use the semicircle but I made a version for left handed players. I also angled the top downward to make it more stable when mounted on the music stand.

Late 2015 the Nickster 2.8:
The semicircle was too confusing for the players and the 'U' shape makes it's 1st appearance. This was also the 1st time that I used zip ties to hold the triangle. The top and bottom of the mount were parallel again which was a mistake.

2017 the Nickster 3.4:
The top was angled down again for stability but also it removed any rocking if the music stand was tilted upward. Felt or foam rubber was still used to isolate the Nickster from the stand. It was at this time that I started to use 2 part epoxy to connect the thumb/finger rest to the body of the mount. Before this I used a product that 'welded' aluminum to aluminum using a propane torch and occasionally pop rivets. I realized that I lacked the skills to produce a clean strong bead on the weld and the pop rivets added unnecessary weight.

2019 the Nickster 4.0 (see The Nickster post):
Silicon strips were used for sound isolation with the music stand. The angle between top and bottom of the mount was reversed to further address the rocking issue.


July 2019 the Nickster 4.1:



Part of a 'Sticky Hands' party favor was cut out and used for isolating the Nickster from the music stand. Not only did this remove any sympathetic sound when playing on the 'closed leg' but also the 'bottom leg' of a 6" triangle. Larger/heavier triangles still produced the unwanted vibrations when mounted and played on the 'bottom leg'. I also tried using a dipping plastic product to cover the entire mount. The jury is still out on this one.

Obviously the Nickster 4.1 needs refinement and will continue to evolve (ad infinitum?).  I am still on the quest for the elusive philosopher's stone of sound isolation for any triangle, even 18" triangles made from rebar (yes, I've made them and will describe the reasons for making them in a later post).







The polycarbonate Nickster

The Nickster Wall of Shame:
The Wooden Nickster











The Wooden Nickster:
It wasn't too difficult to cut out a wooden Nickster using a scroll saw but the result was a disaster. Wood transferred the vibrations through the music stand with even the thickest of  felt, rubber, silicon or sticky hands.

The Polycarbonate Nickster:
I was really excited about this material. It would not require the intense heat from propane, instead it could be easily bent using a heat gun. But I forgot about one of it's other qualities, it's flexible. When a triangle is mounted on a stand the polycarbonate sags and bounces. Multiple strikes on the triangle turned into a whack-a-mole kind of game.


































Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tambourine Shell Repair

A broken tambourine shell usually means that a new tambourine purchase is necessary. This can be exciting: I like getting new instruments, or sad: Any instrument that is damaged is a terrible thing. All tambourine shells can break, from my famous $14 variety to top of the line brands like Grover and Black Swamp. It's easy to replace a tambourine head but broken shells/missing pins and jingles usually means an early grave for the instrument. My early attempts at these repairs were stopgap measures until a new one was found. Wood or 'super' glue used on the shell turned out to be poor choices. It wasn't until last year that I really focused on shell repair. It happened during a Canyon Winds rehearsal when one of our tambourines exploded, pins and jingles were flying everywhere. Yep, it was the Resident Gorilla playing it. The shell had cracked between three sets of jingles near the head of the tambourine. We eventually replaced this with a Black Swamp tambourine but I s...
2 comments
Read more

The Amadinda

  The Amadinda is an African xylophone originally made from slabs of wood or even large sticks, with or without gourds for resonators. There was no reason for this project other than to see if I could make a simple mallet instrument. The box was made from plywood (which also acted as the resonators) and the bars were made from maple.  Since this was to be a true xylophone, the bars were all of equal width. Tuning was done by cutting the bars to different lengths and removing material from the bottom. Using a router I created a sort of 'stepped pyramid' instead of the traditional arc cut found on marimba or xylophone bars.  Cutting the underside is not only for tuning but it focuses the pitch and creates the characteristic overtones of the instrument. Since I wanted to play this with other 'Western' instruments, I chose to use a pentatonic scale of 2 2/5 octaves (C#,D#,F#,G#,A#,C#,D#,F#,G#,A#,C#,D#). Two people sit on either side of the instrument and strike the ends of ...
3 comments
Read more

The Practice Pad

The practice pad has long been a staple for the drummer. After a pair of sticks it usually was the next thing purchased. Or in the case for my brother and I, a DIY project by our father. It could be as simple as a square of linoleum nailed on a board to the double sided models that produce various amounts of rebound.  There are many reasons for using a practice pad. I'll start with the obvious: Practical: Compared to a real drum, they are cheap. They are fairly quiet, you can play them without annoying a sleeping parent or a neighbor in an adjoining apartment. They are portable, they can be taken on a family vacation where space is at a premium. Musical: Usually they provide more rebound than a drum head, which helps in developing single strokes but especially rolls. Articulation: The sound of each stroke is cleaner giving the player important feedback on the precision of their playing. Developing positional accuracy: Drawing a circle the size of a quarter on the pad provides a ...
2 comments
Read more