Expanding Hands Music LLC 2023
Hand-Crafted Tools To Stretch Your Sound
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Lockett's Zinger
The Zinger came from many of my experiments making instruments and beaters to work on film sound tracks. I had been using regular bows for years but suddenly had the idea of the wound wire strung instead of horse hair. Soon I was banging together inappropriate prototypes when I suddenly came across the ideal method to get the tension, the guitar head.
I made quite a few prototypes but they never lasted that long. The wood would split or the string would wear through and come loose. It was frustrating having to keep going back to the drawing board to find solutions. That is no longer required now Kevin Andrews (Expanding Hands Music) is involved. It's really exciting to see how he has taken the core idea and with his expertise in Bow construction, has put together an undefeatable stalwart Zinger. All the features of the instrument are now really sturdy and we even have a special rubber tip so you can play cymbals and drums without damaging the device. Top stuff!
Pete
The Zinger came from many of my experiments making instruments and beaters to work on film sound tracks. I had been using regular bows for years but suddenly had the idea of the wound wire strung instead of horse hair. Soon I was banging together inappropriate prototypes when I suddenly came across the ideal method to get the tension, the guitar head.
I made quite a few prototypes but they never lasted that long. The wood would split or the string would wear through and come loose. It was frustrating having to keep going back to the drawing board to find solutions. That is no longer required now Kevin Andrews (Expanding Hands Music) is involved. It's really exciting to see how he has taken the core idea and with his expertise in Bow construction, has put together an undefeatable stalwart Zinger. All the features of the instrument are now really sturdy and we even have a special rubber tip so you can play cymbals and drums without damaging the device. Top stuff!
Pete
The Lockett Zinger is crafted from American poplar wood and fitted with a wound guitar string instead of horse hair. Poplar wood can vary in color from a very bright and consistent blond color to dark brown or blond with green streaks. Poplar is a strong but lightweight and resonate wood.
The basic shape is laser cut from 1/2" thick poplar with a laser engraved logo. After the laser cutting, the shape is hand filed, sanded, drilled, glued, and finished in the shop at Expanding Hands Music. After these steps the forward tip is dipped several times in a tuff rubber type material to also allow the tip to serve as a mallet. (Don't hit too hard with it.)
The string is fed through a steel reinforced hole in the black rubber tip end on on through the hole in the locking guitar tuning machine head.
The basic shape is laser cut from 1/2" thick poplar with a laser engraved logo. After the laser cutting, the shape is hand filed, sanded, drilled, glued, and finished in the shop at Expanding Hands Music. After these steps the forward tip is dipped several times in a tuff rubber type material to also allow the tip to serve as a mallet. (Don't hit too hard with it.)
The string is fed through a steel reinforced hole in the black rubber tip end on on through the hole in the locking guitar tuning machine head.
The Lockett Zinger is a non-traditional bow designed for bowing the edge of cymbals.
Pete’s tips:
Make sure the zinger is tuned fairly tight. The exact tension is up to you. It is possible to tighten it too much and break it, so use reasonable judgment. After a certain point of tightness the tone of making it tighter won't change the zinging sound of the cymbal.
Hold the Zinger with the guitar head in your palm. Your fingers can sit inside in the cut outs.
The Zinger is most effective on metallic percussion, particularly cymbals. Try holding the cup of the cymbal from above and then 'Zing' with a fast downwards motion on the edge of the cymbal. Different pitches are available depending on the speed of the motion. If you scrape upwards and downwards very slowly, you can create an eerie drone like sound, perfect for horror movies!
The far end of the Zinger is coated with a strong rubber material which makes it possible to play cymbals, drums and other percussion by hitting as one might with a mallet. Soft to gentle would be advisable, too hard and it could damage the poor fellow!
It’s a good idea to loosen the tension when the Zinger is not in use.
Besides cymbals, explore and see what else 'Zings'.
Make sure the zinger is tuned fairly tight. The exact tension is up to you. It is possible to tighten it too much and break it, so use reasonable judgment. After a certain point of tightness the tone of making it tighter won't change the zinging sound of the cymbal.
Hold the Zinger with the guitar head in your palm. Your fingers can sit inside in the cut outs.
The Zinger is most effective on metallic percussion, particularly cymbals. Try holding the cup of the cymbal from above and then 'Zing' with a fast downwards motion on the edge of the cymbal. Different pitches are available depending on the speed of the motion. If you scrape upwards and downwards very slowly, you can create an eerie drone like sound, perfect for horror movies!
The far end of the Zinger is coated with a strong rubber material which makes it possible to play cymbals, drums and other percussion by hitting as one might with a mallet. Soft to gentle would be advisable, too hard and it could damage the poor fellow!
It’s a good idea to loosen the tension when the Zinger is not in use.
Besides cymbals, explore and see what else 'Zings'.
***ATTENTION***
It is possible to tighten the string too much and break the whole bow, so use reasonable judgment when tensioning the string. After a certain point of string tightness, the tone won't change the zinging sound of the cymbal.
It is possible to tighten the string too much and break the whole bow, so use reasonable judgment when tensioning the string. After a certain point of string tightness, the tone won't change the zinging sound of the cymbal.
*** ATTENTION***
During Pete's many years using his original Zinger on countless recordings and film scores he has never damaged a cymbal with it. That being said, and as with all things there is always a small chance of damage if some reasonable degree of care is not taken in its use.
Repeated use of the Zinger in the exact same place on a cymbal's edge (especially a thin cymbal) could over time wear a tiny groove or dip into it. If you use your Zinger in changing locations on the cymbal's edge this potential damage should be easy to avoid. It is actually difficult to keep the Zinger in the exact same spot.
The user is responsible for proper use of the Zinger.
During Pete's many years using his original Zinger on countless recordings and film scores he has never damaged a cymbal with it. That being said, and as with all things there is always a small chance of damage if some reasonable degree of care is not taken in its use.
Repeated use of the Zinger in the exact same place on a cymbal's edge (especially a thin cymbal) could over time wear a tiny groove or dip into it. If you use your Zinger in changing locations on the cymbal's edge this potential damage should be easy to avoid. It is actually difficult to keep the Zinger in the exact same spot.
The user is responsible for proper use of the Zinger.
The "Lockett Zinger"
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