I got a bit of work done this week on the solar guitar. I breadboarded up a 1381 solar engine to drive a pager motor. I cut a guitar pick down to size and epoxied it to the head of the pager motor. After realizing that even a thin guitar pick was bit too stiff for this application, I added a tab of electrical tape to the end of the pick to make a more flexible "picking" surface. The motor doesn't have much kick and the pick alone would sometimes get stuck on the string. The picture at right shows the results.
Also, here is a short video of the motor in action, actually picking a string.
I also had a bit of a revalation about how to possibly introduce a melodic component. I have always been thinking in terms of fretting notes, but then it dawned on my that harmonics might be an easier way to accomplish it. Fretting would require some significant pressure on the string which I am not sure a solar engine could accomodate. Harmonics would only requre moderate pressure on a suspended string. I will have to do some experimenting with that.
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