MORE THAN A HOBBY
Making instruments a true passion for some Central Florida enthusiasts
displays and a spider tying it all together.
It can be expensive and the desire can be spurred for many reasons, but for some Central Floridians, making one’s own instruments rises above the level of hobby into a true passion.
Dan Reaves did his first build nine years ago. “I was sitting around the house one day and I got bored,” said the Kissimmee resident. “And I said, ‘I wonder if I could build web of coaxial cables paintings. something.’ That’s how that all got started.”
Working under the name Trotsky’s Watercooler, Reaves doesn’t make traditional synthesizers or keyboards. His instruments can be blocks of wood with nails or the metal arms of lamps attached to an amplifier. “I’m pretty rudimentary,” he said. “I just like to throw contact mics on things.”
Reaves, 47, also plays his gadgets with local
punk band Moonmen From Mars. “They just kind of let me be me,” he said. “But people really like it.”
Reaves’ latest creation: amplified canvasses — percussive electronic instruments made out of his art. Painting was a hobby he picked up three years ago. “I wanted a way to incorporate two things that I love,” he said. “It’s just a lot of builds I’ve done. Attached some contact mics, added a couple springs and things to give it a reverberation and run it through a bunch of effects.”
The instruments Oviedo-resident Ronald Sword makes are more traditional, and yet coming across anything like his inventory would be extremely rare. “We are the
only company that will give you any fretting on a guitar,” he says of his business, Sword Guitars.
Sword, 33, and his partner Patrick Horgan make what are known as microtonal guitars. The ideas here get into the very technical mathematics of music (Sword has written volumes on possible scales), but essentially the extra frets create additional scales with which musicians can experiment.
Making guitars meant learning an entirely new skill: woodworking. “That was the learning curve, was figuring out the tools,” he said. “You go from being a musician who’s just playing guitar … I didn’t know how to use tools.”
Pendleton, 41, who started building synthesizers in his 20s, notes the process has gotten remarkably easier as the technology
has improved.
“There’s a huge amount out there because it’s gotten so popular as far as kits go,” he said. “When I started, you had to find schematics to old synthesizers and piece them out and wire them up painfully.”
These days, Pendleton can send off blueprints for motherboards he designs and get them back printed and ready for microchips.
Visuals have a different meaning for the different makers. While Reaves is literally turning paintings into sound, Pendleton was concerned with audience reaction.
“About 15 years ago, everyone was going toward bringing out a laptop and keyboard and using that for their show,” he said. “Everyone said I was the most boring person in the band to watch because I looked
like I was concentrating on a spreadsheet. So I wanted to make something with a lot of flashing lights.”
For Sword, the aesthetics are also about function. A bizarrely shaped guitar that he refers to as the “alien guitar” has a series of tiny frets running like short veins along the neck. “This one’s pure math,” he said. “I put a node for each note and then I connect the dots … So that’s a purely tuned, just intonation guitar.”
With all of these instruments, improvisation is a major part of playing. Pendleton, who plays with the electronic outfit Moloko Plus, performs by connecting different cables, turning knobs and flipping switches, all of which have precise effects. “There’s a tendency with this type of equipment to do more live, noodling and stuff,” he said.
“There’s been times when it’s just been therapy,” said Reaves about his live performances, “when you get up there and you just let everything go. I’ve played angry sets. I’ve played happy sets. Emotions play a big part because it’s very visceral.”
Sword and Horgan’s metal band Last Sacrament recorded an album and toured in 2014. Digging into his instruments is something of an adventure. “Each of these moments of symmetry have their own universe of emotion to be explored still,” he said. “A lot of them haven’t been explored.”