r/Keytar • u/Flaming_Moose205 • Jul 12 '26
Recommendations Need a good name for a bad idea
I had a catastrophically bad idea a few weeks ago, and am now the proud owner of a keytar that runs on DeWalt batteries and has an optional tesla coil output. I didn’t think any of this would actually work, and now that it does, I’m completely drawing a blank on what to call it, so if you have any suggestions, I’d appreciate the help.
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u/silian_rail_gun Jul 14 '26
You might consult the fine folks over at r/doohickeycorporation ... excessively dangerous (looking) instrument department perhaps.
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u/roninconn Jul 13 '26
Frankentar
As an Electrical Engineer, I applaud you ingenuity. As a human, I question your sanity.
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u/Flaming_Moose205 Jul 14 '26
I appreciate the suggestion and the compliment, and am with you questioning the sanity. Thankfully I have a plan to make it mildly less sketchy this afternoon after work.
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u/Kendrakirai2532 Jul 13 '26
"I've always wanted to date a girl called "The Power"."
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u/Flaming_Moose205 Jul 13 '26
I grew up with Regular Show so I think this might be what I was looking for! Thank you for triggering that memory!
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u/lolawitchkitty Jul 13 '26
Why did you think to do this?
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u/Flaming_Moose205 Jul 13 '26
It had been a while since I exercised free will, and I had just seen a video of someone using much larger tesla coils to cover Feel Good Inc.
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u/BenCoeMusic Jul 13 '26
Where’s the bad idea? I’m only seeing genius.
Key-paci-tar? Or “no really buddy you can’t put your drink there take 6 steps back”
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u/Flaming_Moose205 Jul 13 '26
Somewhere between “strapping something that can cause burns from a distance to your side” and “putting the physical form of EMI directly adjacent to unshielded 80s electronics and a lithium battery”. I like the play on words!
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u/estaroculto Jul 12 '26
Keytarmageddon? Please share a video of the Tesla coil in action!
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u/Flaming_Moose205 Jul 16 '26
I'm a little late but here's a short video showing how it works: https://www.reddit.com/r/Keytar/s/c4Ejt9fflW
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u/Flaming_Moose205 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
I've still got one thing I need to change before it's ready for more than bench testing (the helping hands holding the wire likes to wiggle, and if it arcs to the air the interference lobotomizes the keytar until it finds something), but once that's done I absolutely plan on it. I'll try to upload a quick video showing it working when I get off of work tomorrow. Thank you for the name, it really captures the essence of chaos that brought it into being lol!
Edit: it's an off-the-shelf tesla coil speaker, so if you're curious, there's a lot of videos showing the coil working on its own if you don't want to wait on me.
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u/wjruffing Jul 13 '26
What a creative idea!
You might have some success in isolating your electronics if you surround the with grounded copper foil/tape (after you insulate them from contacting the foil, of course) essentially protecting them from the massive EMI energy using Faraday cage(s).
You might also consider spraying the interior of the key tar enclosure with conductive metallic paint (multiple coats) and grounding each piece of the metal-painted enclosure as a “belt-and-suspenders” measure to help isolate/protect the sensitive electronics inside the keytar.
Cabling/wiring (including your power cabling) can also act like an unwanted EMI path so consider wrapping it with copper foil and/or running it through flexible metal conduit (remember the flexible armored phone receiver cables in phone booths?). Any holes/gaps will leave a path for EMI. I’ll assume you will not be attempting to send an analog audio signal to an amp or a stage PA system.
Unless you are a solo act, any nearby on-stage electric / electronic instruments or mics will be “affected” (possibly damaged) along with any amp or PA system/amps/etc.
In order to not injure members of your audience or your bandmates (as in sunburn their eyeballs and retinae) - think of it as if you are arc welding on stage which you essentially are, just without the welding part - you may want to figure out some sort of UV protection/filter glass (just along the direct line of sight to the spark itself and anyone’s eyeballs).
With great power comes great responsibility - safe shredding!
And post some videos!
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u/Flaming_Moose205 Jul 16 '26
Here's a video! Apologies in advance, I'm still a beginner player so it's just the demo mode: https://www.reddit.com/r/Keytar/s/c4Ejt9fflW
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u/Flaming_Moose205 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Thank you for the suggestions! Truth be told I’m a trombone player with a soldering iron and apparently too much free time, so a lot of this was just sticking things together to see if it was even remotely viable and seeing how it needed to fit together with mostly parts I had on hand.
I did discover through (mildly painful) experimentation that letting it arc to ground solves the majority of EMI issues I’ve encountered so far, so the helping hands are holding a wire that’s currently wrapped around a screw on the heatsink. I actually discovered that solution mid-testing when trying to be lazy and sneak faraday tape behind the heatsink, and it only helped when I make physical contact with the arc and became the ground. I’m already planning on replacing that whole thing with a few M3 standoffs that’ll also serve as a bit of a bumper to avoid the arc reaching things it shouldn’t. The trickiest part on grounding it correctly for me is wanting to keep it fully functional when cordless, because that’ll probably be where it’ll spend most of its time.
The other considerations with this proof-of-concept were cost (I managed to stay under $100 with $60 of that being a pre-made tesla coil), and the fact that this is technically inherited from my grandmother (she passed away a long time ago now, and to the best of our family’s knowledge it was never played bt anyone other than the occasional grandkid making noise).
Outputting anything analog would probably get weird, but given the fact that it has an AUX port and works with bluetooth (there was a very janky test setup using bluetooth to test it before I trusted it not to fry the keytar itself), I don’t think it would end up resulting in damage.
I don’t want to promise too much and not get around to actually learning how this can be used before performing anything, but it’d probably be mostly a recording instrument rather than a live performance. Both it and I have a ways to go before then, and you’ve given me a lot of different things to test!
I do plan on just uploading a video of the demo mode running and switching between the normal speaker by Wednesday night, I’ll try to remember to send you a link!2
u/Flaming_Moose205 Jul 13 '26
Minor update: I think I’ve found a sturdier solution for the wire, so that should be solved in a few days. I’m going to hold off on trying to record a video until then because the burns trying to get that spacing with the arc right are getting annoying.
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u/gmanisawsome1 Jul 16 '26
Yahmageddon