GLAM Labs project based at the Pitt Rivers Museum.

2019 GLAM Labs round

For more information, please visit the project webpage: https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/plastic-fantastic or contact innovation@it.ox.ac.uk .

ABSTRACT

We often have requests at the Pitt Rivers from members of originating communities to play historic and culturally important instruments in the Pitt Rivers collection.  They are not in playable condition, and so an alternative might be to make a 3D printed replica.  It would be important for the replica to be as similar to the original as possible, including weight, feel and sound.  We recognise that there are many intangible aspects around playing an original instrument, but we hope that an accurate replica might be an acceptable alternative to playing a fragile original. While many people have made 3D replicas of instruments, there has been very little work done on comparing the sound of the original instrument with that of a replica.