My father showed me how to solder when I was young. The first thing I remember him fixing was my Star Wars X-Wing fighter. The wires that connected its sound effects chip to the AA batteries had come loose. He re-soldered them and brought the ship back to life. He fixed other toys too.
Now, when I solder, I think of him.
I love that connection. I have a soldering iron and a small set of electrical tools — things I think he’d enjoy. Most of my soldering has been basic electronics: a customised doorbell, speakers wired to a Raspberry Pi, or little kits my son and I build together.
Early this year I bought a broken Buddha Machine was made by the band FM3 on eBay. The listing said it didn’t work anymore. The seller added that something inside rattled when you shook it.
FM3's Buddha Machines are small music boxes. Each plays a handful of ambient tracks, looping endlessly through a tinny speaker or a headphone jack. They're the band's variant of similar devices that Buddhists use during meditation or prayer. FM3's versions use their own music, plus pieces that they've made with artists like Philip Glass -- he's also a Buddhist -- and Throbbing Gristle. Each version has its own sound palette and physical quirk. Many are now out of print, hard to find.
The Buddha Machines are sometimes hard to find. Many are out of production and sold out, and a site like eBay is the place to find them.
So when I saw this broken one Buddha Machine 2, I took a chance. Maybe I could open it up, I figured, re-solder a wire or two, and bring it back.
Sure enough, I opened it up, found a disconnected wire, re-soldered it and put the machine back together. Very satisfying.
