Home Improvement Advice from: Folk Singers

Matthew VanDyk

What are some ideas for making furniture or structure in the home out of musical instruments?

I'm thinking about strings, not about flutes and oboes. The upright bass top scroll thing would be interesting for the arms of a chair. This would be almost a tragedy to destroy an instrument but it's like another way of getting to know it but I think of my guitar, awh man I could cut it up. An old roommate threw my old guitar down; it could be a half guitar mounted on a mirror; not protruding or half a guitar sticking out from the wall as art.

What do you think is the best wood for acoustic guitars?

They say maple and mahogany but I think it's in how the instrument is played. It definitely can't be laminate and the front and back need to be solid bodies; not split.

I'm thinking of making a home recording studio. What materials should I work with?

Sound diversifiers. When you're in a square room and everything sounds muddy because all the sounds are just bouncing back and forth; if you had a diffuser the sound would be more complete. An attic room with sloped ceilings, not metal objects that would break up the sound wave.

If you were lost out in the woods what tool would you hope to have with you?

A machete, maybe a bow and arrow. But with a knife I can hack together some shelter, cut down trees. If a bear comes at me I can hit it in the jugular.

What's the best place for acoustics you've performed in?

A stairwell when I lived in Arizona. It was the back side of a bar. The sound was warm and balanced and beautiful. It was something about the way the stairs and stair well were shaped. It felt like I was singing in my own ears. Sound is waves. When it comes back to you in a fuller spectrum it's a better sound.

I'd like to make an outdoor stage. What materials should I use?

Anything that won't fall through if you have a lot of people on it. Use joists that are deep enough to support the projected amount of weight.

What remodeling have you done in your home?

I took out part of a wall between the kitchen and dining room. I cut it out, supported it and put a butcher block style counter in the middle with bar stools.

Ashley Contompasis

What ideas do you have for making furniture or structures in the home out of musical instruments?

A table out of a drum set with weird shapes; not circle, maybe an x shape. Put the bass in the middle, some snares and a piece of thick glass on top as the surface. It would be completely irregular.

I'm thinking of making a home recording studio. What materials should I use?

You definitely need some egg cratey foam and you need a narrow sauna-like room. The floors should be hard wood.

If you were lost out in the woods what tool would you hope to have with you?

A swiss army knife so I can make anything and eat anything.

What's the best venue for acoustics you've performed in?

The Smell in L.A. It was narrow with really high ceilings - very intimate.

What home remodeling have you done in your home?

An apartment in LA I had high ceilings and put large wooden beams 1/3 of the way down to lower it. I used 2x4's and stained them cherry red. To give it and old circus like look I hung velvet and draped it in and out of the beams.

Greg DeLuis

What are some ideas for making furniture or structures in the home out of musical instruments?

A pots and pans rack made out of old brass instruments. You would have to do some soldering and brazing.

What do you think is the best wood for acoustic guitars?

For the top: some sort of fir or spruce that's been grown cold; this makes it stronger and lighter. Also aged and dried as possible. For the back use a South American rose wood. For the neck the best wood is a Spanish cedar or Honduran mahogany. The wider the grain the warmer.

I'm thinking of making a home recording studio; what materials should I work with?

Definitely some sort of foam to line every surface. Carpeting, firm and rigid squeak free furniture, free standing walls to divide the players' spaces.

If you were lost out in the woods what tool would you hope to have with you?

A machete to chop and kill things.

What's the best venue for acoustics you've performed in?

The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls; a museum residence. It's an interior courtyard that rich people designed in the 1920's.

Have you done any remodeling in your home?

Yes, I built a loft and bed in a small apartment. I put a drafting table underneath for drawing and a bed above. I used your basic pine wood. I also made cabinet space for supplies.