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Logan Mohr & Margaret Royena String Tone Industrial Design, 2014
String Tone was designed and built by Logan Mohr and Margaret Royena in collaboration with Co-Creators at Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School. String Tone takes into consideration the interests of our Co-Creators Arlo and Ethan. Arlo is interested in electronics and wants to be an electrician. Ethan has fun tying knots, weaving, and making things with his hands. Both students enjoy looking at detailed exploded view illustrations and complex visualizations of mechanical systems. We developed a system that the students can engage with mentally and physically by embedding their interests into the design. The design of the interface creates an interdependent relationship between those who use it. When stretching the strings on, you must pass it through the mesh to someone else on the opposite side so that they can loop it onto one of the pegs.
Once the strings are looped onto the pegs, they are amplified by a series of contact microphones affixed to the interior of the notched bridge. When plucked each strings vibration is amplified by the microphones and speakers into a musical tone. By playing and creating music with String Tone, students can develop an understanding of the way sounds change when you modify a strings length and tension. The final design allows for the construction and deconstruction of a system, and utilizes a fabric mapping system that indicates the layout of different components. We also wanted to have transparency in the final design so that the students could visualize the way in which the instrument works. We accomplished this by covering the back of the speaker boxes with clear acrylic panels, which provide visibility of the electrical components.