meqanun

The meqanun is a 12 string, electroacoustic, robotic zither. The body is made from maple and padouk woods. Strings are plucked by 12 servo motors controlled by a custom USB-MIDI controller built on the Teensy microcontroller platform.

The meqanun was built after several experiments playing electric guitars using servos. The most convenient place to mount servos on a guitar body is the same location a player would pluck them. Unfortunately, this places the servos in close proximity to the pickups which then amplify the electromagnetic noise generated when the servos move. This issue was mitigated by building an instrument where the servos and pickups could be located at opposing ends of the instrument body.