Ocarina airway the width of a popsicle stick
Ocarina airway the width of a popsicle stick
#anythingbutmetric
Was reading how to make a wooden #ocarina out of curiosity and boredom, and I think the airway should be 1 cm? Seen popsicle sticks vary from 1 to 3 cm so far, including from a specific brand with varying widths in a same stick, and I don't see how more space would fit the mouthpiece.
Still, every other measure so far used a standardized unit, usually in inches and the sort, so the "Popsicle stick" unit caught me by surprise. e.e"
Sauce of the article:
https://www.instructables.com/How-To-Make-A-Wooden-Ocarina/
8 replies
Loosey goosey instructions like that lead me to think it's not that important. And he gives you measurements, 7/16ths thick one drill bit below an 1/8th (I guess a mm), and a popsicle stick is about a 1/2" wide. Don't over think it. Put away your micrometer. I'm sure the whole thing becomes "fiddle with it till it sounds good".
7/16 is about 4/8, not 1/8.
🧐
Lol! You're not wrong! Oops!
Fucking 7/16. Totally normal way to measure stuff right people. Yeah just gimme that 17/32 drill bit please.
Statements dreamt up by the utterly deranged
I was rebuilding an old rollercoaster, and i had to buy a bunch of weird things. My favorite was the 33/64 Forstner bit. It lets the carriage bolts sit juuuust right, but if you screw it up theres no wiggle room.
For the record, the reason they say that is because many ocarina makers just use a popsicle stick to make the airway of their ocarinas. The exact width of the airway is actually less relevant than the thinness of the airway, as well as its connection to the fipple (the sound window). No need to make precise measurements with fancy instruments when a popsicle stick works just fine.
Source: was an ocarina collector for many years, am generally familiar with how clay ocarinas are made
What actually is a popsicle?
[Edit] I looked it up. It's the American word for Ice Lolly (or an Ice Block or Ice Pole in the antipodes)
So they mean Ice Lolly Sticks, and I guess the common flat ones with rounded ends, rather than the round ones or the ones sort of shaped like a double-ended spoon.
Sure everyone knows what popsicle sticks are, you can by them at any crafts store. But few remember the popsicle itself, the extinct species of flightless bird from whose leg bones popsicle sticks were traditionally carved. Today the sticks are usually made of wood instead.