A
dental floss guitar is a simple construct that anyone can make, if they're willing to expend a little
effort. It can produce melodious sounds in the same range of
pitch as a
guitar, and often more. In this lesson, we'll be making and using an
acoustic-electric.
A dental floss guitar is constructed using the same basic principle as a guitar -- a hollow body with a sound hole on top, with strings across it. Dental floss has a fine range of tensions at which it will maintain structural integrity, so we will use larger tuning pegs. Drill holes in the top of the neck (with whatever material you're using; even cardboard will do), and insert the cylinder. Hook the gear from a tuning peg into the gear on the cylinder. If you have less-than-ideal materials, you can glue more plastic onto the peg, for fine control.
Thread your strings across the body, and tune them carefully to pitch. In order to harness the acoustic-electric sound, you can attach a small microphone (like a condenser) to the body, and plug it into a low-power amp. Voila!
Variations include the 12-string dental floss guitar, the electric dental floss guitar, and the fully acoustic dental floss guitar. (I haven't quite figured out that last one yet.)