Musical instruments don’t have to be expensive
and difficult to play. This Bottle Marimba is
made of pressurized plastic bottles that make a
surprisingly pure, bell-like chime when struck,
akin to the sound of a hang drum, and you can
tune it to whatever scale you like. It can be built
easily entirely from recycled materials and can
be played by anyone. It’s also a perfect project to
build with kids under supervision, encouraging
creativity both in building with recycled materials
and improvising music.
MAKE YOUR MARIMBA
Before you start, you might like to watch my very
short assembly video at youtu.be/koIC_MAB3MU.
But it’s a very easy build!
1. Drill a hole in each bottle cap slightly smaller
than the diameter of the bicycle valves you’re
using (Figure
A
).
2. Push the bicycle valve through the cap from
the bottom, so that the inlet protrudes through
the top. Ensure that there’s an airtight seal
between the valve and the hole. You may
consider deburring the edge of the hole and
adding some glue, although I found that a push
fit works just fine (Figure
B
).
3.
Screw the cap tightly onto the bottle (Figure
C
).
(Figure
A
).
4. Slowly pressurize the bottle with the bicycle
pump while regularly tapping on the side of
the bottle with a chopstick to produce a tone
(Figure
D
). Higher pressure produces higher
pitches. Release pressure to lower the pitch.
Tune the bottle to your desired pitch — some
recommendations are included on page 63. Be
careful not to over-pressurize!
5. Wrap tape around the bottle caps to get a tight
fit into the mounting holes later. I found that
AIR BOTTLE
MARIMBA
61
make.co
Adobe Stock-Neo
TIME REQUIRED:
1–2 Hours
DIFFICULTY:
Easy
COST:
$0–$10
MATERIALS
» Plastic Coca-Cola bottles, labels removed
(8) 600ml/20oz bottles are a good size to get
started.
» Bicycle tire valves, cut from old inner tubes
(8) or car tire valves if you’re buying them new,
e.g. TR414 tubeless valves
» Chopsticks
» Tape
» Scrap wooden plank, e.g. 1×4
» Yarn (optional)
TOOLS
» Drill and drill bits
» Hole saw, 30mm or 1 ⁄"
» Bicycle pump
» Tuner There are many free tuner phone apps
available.
A
B
C
D
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