made a thing

Soooo, I've been banging away on this crazy thing (first with tools, then with fingers and mallets) since last February when I first sketched the design.

Someone gave me access to one of these insane stainless steel table bases (hidden here by the table top that I fabricated) which had been chucked into a dumpster in Bellevue as flawed by some furniture/decor company that didn’t want to pay to ship them back to Europe for a refund.

The Jam Table is 5 feet in diameter and 34 inches off the floor, designed for four musicians.

Clockwise from bottom are a xylophone, percussion rack (with a kick drum built into the table base), propane-tank tongue drum, and - god help me - I scratch-built a standup bass into the table.

On Saturday, I debuted it at SEACompression (Seattle's post-Burning Man party) and people seemed to have a good time plinking, banging, and drumming on it together.

Only one small casualty - a little fish-shaped woodblock on the perch rack needs to be reglued), and one good lesson learned - It either wants amplification or placement in a quiet room so you can hear the bass properly. We were sited next to a dubstep sound system, which kinda swallowed half the sound.

I'll also be modifying the bass neck to add a torsion cable to counteract the string tension and - I fervently hope - reduce the tuning/futzing time to something less than 1 hour.

And I might *just* be in talks with a certain beloved local radio station to get it sited in or near its Gathering Space. Details if and as they develop.

Full build log with photos and videos here: https://www.xylovan.com/jam-table/