First, a little about the why, then onto the what.
For most of my life (31 years and counting) I have lived with other people - siblings and parents growing up, foster care as a teen, then 10 years of military. I have almost always (30 or so years of my life) lived with a roommate of some sort.
This weekend I moved into my very own place - a 2 bedroom apartment - and it's kind of a big deal to me. I know, some of you guys have been living "on your own" for your whole lives, but for me this is kind of new, uncharted territory. That being said, I have decided to decorate the place with music, in some way or shape.
I'm gonna do my own Kokopelli statue, in quilted curly maple. I have a bunch of posters (Beatles, John Mayer, gonna try to find a Mastodon and/or Porcupine Tree) for the "office/computer/music" room, and I've got some other ideas floating around - Apollo, Freya, etc.
What I really want to do is have woodworkers and luthiers from Talkbass to make me some notes, that I can put on a staff and hang above the entrance to the kitchen.
This will be a large piece of work, using one of my favorite arpeggios, one I use for dexterity and warming up.
So here's what I need:
15 quarter notes, one per builder - made of wood (whatever type the "builder" desires) 2 of those notes will need to be sharps, with the # attached to them - metal wire, continuous wood, whatever the builder thinks looks right.
The notes must be 2" in diameter across the "body" of the note, and 5 inches tall from the bottom of the body to the top of the stem. The stem should be about a quarter- to half-inch wide, but I'll leave that to the builder as well.
They do NOT have to be perfectly round (as in the picture above) - oblong shapes, even unusual shapes, but preferably keeping with the "traditional" shapes of notes. 1/2" to 3/4" thick, at the builder's discretion. The differences will add a nice touch, I think. Anything thinner than 1/2" may make it difficult to mount them the way I want to.
The notes can be flagged (up to the builder) - I like flags, but they need to be more of the vertical style, as opposed to the more horizontal ones. The sharps can be done any way the builder chooses (make sure to say that you're doing one of the sharps in this thread or via PM) as long as they're more or less sized the way they are in the drawing above, and attached to the note.
They must be finished in a way that shows the grain, in any color - bursts are preferred (on "normal" woods), stains and whatnot are okay, just no solid opaque colors. I love LPB and CAR as much as anyone, but not for this project.
They can be made from more than one piece of wood - Wenge and yellowheart, for example - with or without veneers.
They must have a roundover of some sort - front
and back - for notes this small, anything bigger than 1/8" is probably too much, but I'll leave that to the "builder" as well. You can completely round over the front if you want, as long as the back of the note proper has a flat area.
On the back side of the note, on the "stem", I want the builder's name - engrave it, carve it, paint it, even Sharpie is fine - as long as it's under the finish, so it won't fade or accidentally be wiped off.
I'll also need someone to make the clef - I really want this to be exotic-looking, so let me know what you're thinking of and I'll decide what really speaks to me. I'll pay $50 for the right clef. It will need to be 8 inches tall, and proportionate. It will also have to have the two dots attached to it - again, wire and/or tasteful extension of the wood is okay.
I'll worry about mounting them - I'm having a staff made of 1/4" round metal bars that I'm going to have powdercoated black.
Now, as far as payment goes - I'm not asking for these for free - I know anyone who is skilled enough to do this will charge for their work - but I ask only that the price be reasonable. I'm willing to pay
$25 each, but I can't buy them all in one shot. I'd like to spend far less on this project - at $25 each + $50 for the clef, and then the staff, we're looking at probably $500 for the piece. If you're feeling generous, or just want to be a part of this project, that would be greatly appreciated.
I'd like to have this done in the next month or so, sooner (depending on schedules and finish curing times) if possible.
Pictures and credit will of course be posted here for everyone's enjoyment.
Since I just moved in, I don't have cable or internet yet, so I'm only on TB at work. That means from 6am to ~2pm EST, but I am fortunate that my job allows me to spend time on the computer. In any case, if you PM me after 2, you won't hear back from me till the next day.
Anybody want to take on this challenge?
Post here and/or PM me!
