How To make a Noise Guitar?
 

So far my music writing has been divided into two areas. Firstly the music I have written for my band. Indie-Pop music (simular to bands like the Pixies and Pavement) and the more experimental stuff I done on my own (atonal Soundscape pieces that experiment with feedback and tention, kinda like Glenn Branca with concrete elements thrown in). However more and more I find these experimental ideas bleeding into my 'band' music. Feedback is being used more and more for atmosheric effect, songs are stretching out and starting to come away from the traditional song structure i've always used. So im trying to create a new guitar. Anyway back to the main point.

I'm about to construct (or deconstruct) my first 'noise' guitar. I have few interesting ideas, just wanted to ask if any of you guys have picked up any ideas or tips of your own thay you wouldn't mind sharing.

Guitar is too cliche`. Buy some electronics, a mixer, some pedals, and a contact mic.

I've used mics and pedals loads of times before. The Guitar is good for creating a good solid base to the music. Then I genunely build the electronic elements around that.

Solid base? I thought you were interested in noise.

Not noise like someone like Merzbow would do. I'm using electronic feedback as compositional tool, kinda like Branca's early stuff.

Obey Merzbow.

Yeah I kinda like Merzbow. It depends what mood im in. I find his music lacks dynamics sometimes. Which is one of the key components of 'Noise'

Find some really cheap old microphonic pickups and add them into any decent guitar. Give them an on/off switch. Use your normal pickups, but then use the cheap pickups to do feedback melodies over your arpeggios and stuff.

So you want to make a guitar that makes horrible feedback, or some weird kind of prepared string monstrosity?

For building a new guitar, though, ebay is a haven for old pickups and nasty project guitars. I looked around for you, and heres some cool stuff:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OLD-JAPANESE-PICK-UPS-AND-PANEL-GUITAR-PROJECT_W0QQitemZ190099527322QQcategoryZ2384QQrdZ1 QQcmdZViewItem
Old japanese pickups with switchers and whatnot

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Project-Guitar-Body-Maple-Cap-RG-Frank-Gambale-Style_W0QQitemZ200097427138QQcategoryZ52473QQrdZ1Q QcmdZViewItem
Brand new unpainted body. Weird shape. It has a weird cavity space though you'd have to make more room in there to put your own pickups in.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/F3NDER-Strat-Style-Guitar-Neck-22-Frets-Brand-New_W0QQitemZ190099462152QQcategoryZ42455QQrdZ1QQc mdZViewItem
Nice guitar neck, ish.

If you did it right you'd save a bundle. Gotta do some research too though.

Im not so much building it from scratch but screwing with an old one ive had lying around.

Well then just go install some horrible pickups. The cheapest possible.

they are pretty horrible now lol

there are not really noise guitars as such. just get a guitar and make a noise with it.

Im just really thinking of moderations I can do to make more interesting sounds

Pretty much

aaaaaaaaaah shutthefuckup



do this too though.

I attached a sympathetic sitar bridge to a guitarish contraption I once made. That aint not quite the noise though. Too beautiful.

I'm gonna put together a simple little distortion circuit and stick it in my old yamaha pacifica, it'll sound pretty harsh. I want to create a grisly, raw, filthy sound.
After I make this, I want to make or raise some kind of santanic theremin and use it to tear threw the overdriven noise of the yamaha. Together, I want to sculpture the fiery walls of hell.

Sounds cool, do you have any pictures of this?
Where did you pick up the sitar bridge?

Pre-sitar bridge. The strings on the bottom (over the speaker) now go over the sitar bridge.
There's an excellent company here in Austin Texas that sells all sorts of wonderful musical gadgets from India. http://www.buckinghammusic.com/index.html
They ship international too.



I have since retired this guitar, by the way. I can assure you that I was very very drunk when this monstrosity was conceived.

If someone says something is cliche it obviously isn't.

How cool is that, shame you lost it in such a way.
What kind of sound did you achieve with the sympathetic bridge you put on, did it dampen and muffle the sound?

I keep one of my guitars completely free from strings!

It's a horribly cheap Squire Stratocaster thats been bashed around far too much over the years! The pick-ups were pretty shit to start off with but I think I've fucked em up even more now. Early attempts at Tom Morello style toggle switching have completley buggered the shitty little pickup selector, so much so that just shaking the guitar randomly changes the pick-up selected. With each pickup giving off a different tone and to some extent style (ie one is just a consistent drone, one crackles a lot and jumps around from pitch to pitch and one gives off the really harsh as fuck squeal) of feedback, I just lean against my equally as shitty Fender practise amp (with a hole smashed through the front of course) with the gain and volume up full blast and rattle the guitar around a bit.

Raking various mettalic objects over the pickups (coins work especially well) gives off some HORRIBLE grinding sounds. But really, just experiment and see what works best!

Ive also removed the back plate so I can get to the springs and some of the electronics in the back of the body and ram drumsticks and stuff in there.

But yeah, just experiment and see what happens. Thats the best way...

Oh and pedals (I particularly like phasers) and electronics work well but I prefer guitar noise best as its more interesting trying to work out how various sounds were made with the most basic of equipment in my eyes.

Hope that helps a bit

It been done before but perhaps i'd suggest starting out with "prepared guitar"... for a long time i was doing it but then i got tired of it. There are/were a number of guitarists who specifically have used "prepared techniques" in the improv scene that are well known, Kevin Drumm, Fred Frith, Jean-Marc Montera, Masayuki Takayanagi, and most notably Keith Rowe of AMM:







Items to use to attack the guitars strings, neck, body, pickups and whatnot:

lacks dynamics? check out the rita: http://iheartnoise.com/sounds.htm

I've found out recently that wah is a great noise tool. You can control feedback really well with it.

Throw in a tremolo and chorus after it and you're set.

I personally like to lean the guitar against the amp and tweak pedals for extended noise stuff.

-Buy random copy
-Fuck up grounding & electronics
-Fuck up pickups

Basically, just give your guitar to King_buzzo for a week or two.

Make noise with a Trombone. Or a Triangle.

You'd just get it back after that time as normal with a retired, "Can't be bothered."

Stick a fan on there.

Listen.

Ha, My jazzmaster is in perfect shape. I fucked up my other 2 strat copies and they are noise making machines now.


Hahaha. I am lazy afterall

Have a gander at this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solmania

try rubbing things on it. creams and stuff.

i would love that!

Buy yourself a pair of ear plugs.

I made a "feedback loop" with a:
Bass-Amp-Overdrive Pedal-Delay Pedal at my friends the other day and now im slightly deaf in one ear.


See you all at No Fun Fest 2008.
cunts.

Anyways, I dont think there is such a thing as a noise guitar, its all about amplification. Turn up loud and even an ESP will sound like a noise guitar.

yay for solmania !

This threads makes me want to go and create some lush pop melodies.