Pickup for Spoons

[Matt]

Hi everyone, I'm new around here, found the forum through the Sound on Sound forum, and am really interested in getting into some of the projects on here (probably the Green Pre at some stage).

I would like to know if anyone has ever made some sort of pick-up for Spoons (i.e. playing 2 spoons musically on your knee or whatever, probably not the 'coolest' instrument, haha). My uncle has always played them, and seems to end up on stage playing them every chance he gets.

Is there any way to amplify a pair of spoons other than using a microphone? I thought there may be some way of making a magnetic pickup for them, but not sure how it'd work with there being no real vibrating part.

Has anyone got an idea, or know if it's been done before? (I did a search, and found nothing, as I expected)

Thanks for any help
Matt

 

[adamasd]

A magnetic pickup will not get you what you want, it will only pickup the vibration of a ferros metal. It will not pickup up the impact sound, which is the sound you are looking to amplify. A piezo may work, but will probably also pickup up alot of handling noise, and will mostly pickup up the sound of the spoons themself and not the sound they make on the leg. A mic really seems like the way to go.

adam

 

[Mbira]

You just need to build a nice isolation box that he can stand in on stage and the mic inside the box.
:razz:

 

[PRR]

> pick-up for Spoons

Hmmmm.

Oh well. Pickup probably has to be acoustic; any contact pickup would be a radical new sound and possibly less musical than the sound he gets now.

About the only improvement I see is to get the mike off a fixed vocal-gooseneck or other ad-hoc rig and onto his hand where the distance is as close as possible and consistent as he switches from one knee to the other etc.

Here's a good-quality omni mike. The tie-clip would be painful on the hand; you want to rig some thumb-ring affair. The output is compatable with general PA mikes: unplug the singer's SM-58, plug her cable into this.

He's still not going to solo with The Who unless he grows big wrists and a brass knee.

 

[bcarso]

[quote author="PRR"]
He's still not going to solo with The Who unless he grows big wrists and a brass knee.[/quote]

But if the Lovin' Spoonful were to reincarnate as an "acoustic" band maybe they could work him into the act.

 

[Matt]

He even has these rings that flash different colours, he'd be an asset to any band I'm sure!

The tie clip mic is probably the best option, will pass the info on.

Thanks everyone.

 

[pucho812]

Don't forget the obvious of using a SM57 :thumb:

 

[skipwave]

I got flack for wanting a pickup for my dad's banjo. I can't believe how easy Matt got off. :razz:

Funny that we end up with similar solutions. The little omni mike is the friend of marginalized instruments everywhere. And cheapskates, too. :green:

 

[CJ]

The banjo makes everything sound happy.

Imagine lyrics set to banjo music, like "My wife up and died and the dog did too"
Wouldn't work.
The banjo can brighten up everything. Except maybe Richard Nixon.

Imagine if Nixon played the banjo.

"I came here to talk politics, but first, how bout a little Foggy Mountain Breakdown?"

dang dang ding ding dang dang ding ding....

(steve martin rip)

Spoons used on Train I Ride by El?

 

[skipwave]

Just look at the banjo tuning song.

"My Dog Has Flees" each word corresponding to a note. That's not a good thing, but set to the banjo scale it sounds positively cheerful.


Sorry for the off topic..... what were we talking about.... juice-harp, jug, saw? Sounds like a hoe-down to me. :grin: