In the end we forsook Max/MSP in favour of a more straightforward approach, running our instrument through some plug-ins in Logic Pro. With vibrato, reverb, and multiple pitch-shifted delays, we’ve managed to give this “bass” an eerie, almost Hammond organ-like sound, giving it a much more complex character than its rudimentary appearance would suggest.

With the tuning peg attached, we can finally play about with this instrument, which has turned out to be a sort of cigar box bass, sans cigar box. So a plank bass. Despite its looks we can get a decent sound from it when we pump it through an overdrive medal with a contact mic.

After figuring out how to go about actually making the thing, we measured and cut down two pieces of wood to become the fingerboard, before nailing the fingerboard onto the body of the instrument. With this done, we nailed a bracket at each end of the fingerboard to serve as a bridge and a nut.

All that remains now is to attach the tuning peg.

After several days of keeping an eye out for anything that might be usable, we’ve managed to get together the materials for what could be a simple stringed instrument. Some wooden planks and brackets found in a skip, and a bass string and tuning peg one of us had lying around.

Today we have been tossing ideas around to get the ball rolling. While nothing is set in stone as of yet, the two of us have agreed on using found objects to create an instrument, and then run it through Max/MSP, or some plug-ins in Logic Pro in order to get a more complex sound.