The International System of Units (SI), more commonly referred to as the metric system, is the alternative set of units that we have available for some of our plans. Let those creative juices flow freely! Dont use too much pressure while wielding the sandpaper. On some tongue drums, the tone the tongues produce is varied by making each one a different length and width. I am referring to the the two pieces labeled (e) in the Wood Magazine plans. For the mentioned amount of money, you will already be able to get your hands on some good quality wood. Thoughts? Ps: working with bouncy balls is one of the many ways that you can construct a wooden tongue drum, so dont feel restricted by this example. It will also provide extra protection and a better grip for your drums. Then, you need to use the wood glue to stick the bouncy balls to the top of the wooden dowels. I play a number of instruments and Ive recently got into building guitars. The tone is varied by removing material from the back face of the toe or heel of each tongue. these are actually very cool thanks for making the video. This will also increase the overall aesthetic factor of your wooden tongue drum. Now follows a step-by-step guide on crafting your own wooden tongue drum. Is the Guitar a String or Percussion Instrument, Understand Steel Types for Handpans: Nitrided, Stainless & Ember, Do Kalimbas Have Sharps and Flats? If you have any trouble with fulfilling this task, it may be helpful to draw the pattern onto a piece of paper first before you actually transfer the drawn pattern to the wooden board. Carry on with the sanding until every imperfection and bump is gone and the surface is perfectly even. This needs to be done for aesthetic reasons, but ultimately, it will also help with the tuning of your wooden tongue drum. The same price goes for the rubber feet for the bottom of your wooden drum. Or maybe you just want to find your own creative outlet and you think crafting your own wooden musical instruments is the way to achieve that? This is not a hard task at all. The United States Customary System of Units (USCS or USC), more commonly referred to as the English or Imperial system, is the standard set of units for our plans. Seventh step: Use the sandpaper to make all the edges of the box more smooth and to keep your wooden boards together. Ok, yeah, you have to make sure your printer setting is set to Actual Size, instead of Fit to Page or some other option. First step: assemble the acquired six wooden boards to put together the rectangle box for the wooden tongue drum. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Simply click the links and you will be taken to my Ultimate Tongue Drum Tuning Length Calculator. Hopefully you got lucky and you will require minimal tuning. Above in my blog post, I put links to all of my templates, documents, sites that I gathered and created. It comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes so there really is a very varied assortment. Specifically, theres always the option of renting them for a certain amount of time. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I will be building a tongue drum, following these plans for sure. Paperstone is a countertop material made from many thin layers of paper bonded together with, I believe, some kind of plastic resin. Starting with the basis for your wooden tongue drum, its important to know that you can buy the wood you need for about 30$ to 50$, depending on the type of wood that you choose according to your own aesthetic preferences. The wooden tongue drum (synonym: slit drum) is a very authentic, qualitative wooden musical instrument that is originated from Africa, Polynesia, and Mexico. Again, before actually drilling the holes, use your black marker to sketch the outline for where the holes should be on the wooden board. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Popularity in both solo and group meditation is growing and the affordability of Tongue Drum makes it a perfect accompaniment for meditative sessions. iSA Webs may also in the future participate in other affiliate programs including Masterclass. Not sure, make one like that and let us know! Tongue drums exist in many forms such as in the form of steel, but this article will teach you to construct a drum in the wooden form to further enhance the feeling of authenticity. 30mm), 2 Small bouncy balls (with a diameter of ca. With a little bit of research on existing bargains, you probably can get the materials you need for less money or you can pay even more money if you want to further increase the quality of your wooden musical instrument, its your own choice! In that case, dont forget to use your black marker and your ruler to determine the outline for your wooden boards, because that will make the job a lot easier. The best thing about this experience is that you can construct your own wooden musical instrument right from the comfort of your own home and just in the particular way you like it! It's a lot harder to mill than most woods I've used. Thus, accuracy is essential! Pick up the drill and use it to make two little holes in the middle of the wooden board. First trace or layout your tongue design on the top piece of your box and drill some holes so you can start the cuts with your jigsaw. No thanks, I'm not interested in the Woodsmith Plans Affiliate Program, 9 printable (digital) pages of step-by-step instructions, Over 45 full-color photos and illustrations and exploded views. And because it's so heavy I think I'd want to try using thinner stuff to start so I don't wind up with too heavy a finished product. This site is owned and operated by iSA Webs. I'm in Seattle and it's made not so far from me so I kind of expect everyone to know what it is when it's probably not so common in New Hampshire or Florida. Why not? I have seen some builds with and most without. The brand of the wood glue doesnt matter, as long as it works efficiently. [Solved!] Lastly, you need to purchase some kind of wood glue and thats a product that you also dont need to pay more than 10$ for. They are quick and easy to build, fun to play, and they are only as complicated as you want to make them. My goals were to make these drums less mysterious and to answer all the questions that were preventing people from getting into the shop and making that first cut. Steel Tongue Drum vs Handpan A Comparison, Steel Tongue Drum Guide | (History, Scales, Price, Makers), 6 Tongue Drums Uses (Meditation, Yoga & Self Help), Best Percussion Instruments For Kids [That you can play too], 7 Types of Kalimba (Inc Sansula, Electro & Array Mbira). With those types, you cant really go wrong and thus you are recommended to use them. Look up the tongue pattern that you need for your wooden tongue drum. But what are the best percussion instrument for kids Tambourines Shakers Xylophone Tongue Drums Bongos Throughout this guide, I will explore the different scenarios and considerations, Read More Best Percussion Instruments For Kids [That you can play too]Continue. If youre still worried about the firmness of your wooden tongue drum, you can always add nails and screws to further secure that all the wooden pieces stay together. Each rubber feet must go into a corner of the box. For example, plywood is a little bit cheaper than mahogany or cedar. Note that this is a different board than the one that you used to saw a circle into. Try building a simple box just using butt joints Or if you want a more professional look try making a miter box with splines. And will go on to explain, why this instrument is so good, how long it will last, and why it is better than some alternatives. Why a Tongue Drum is a GREAT IDEA for your kids AND YOU! Plan the notes you want, and look up the frequency for each note here. Fourth step: Grab the sandpaper and use it to smooth out the pattern on the wood. You can download the additional shop drawings that you purchased using the link in this box. Hi Benjamin - I just googled it and found some info. Note: After your purchase, you will receive an email containing a PDF attachment of your purchased plan, as well as instructions for logging in to download the plan and access any other associated files and videos, which will all be located on this page. I've taken skinny pieces, less than 1/8" thick, left over from ripping it, and tried to snap them in half before throwing them in the trash and it takes amazing force to break them. Then, pick up your hand saw and follow the outline of your marker to saw the needed circle. Shop drawings are not available for every plan. On this design, I opted for form over function and made the tongues symmetrical in appearance. Click for Metric (mm), Click for Imperial (Inch). This will help you determine if you need to raise or lower the pitch. After you attach the bottom I recommend putting some rubber feet on the drum as this really can improve the sound. You are offered a lot of freedom when it comes to choosing what specific type of wooden boards you want for your wooden tongue drum so just choose what appeals to your own personal style the most. First, you need to make a hole in each bouncy ball and the holes need to have the same width as the wooden dowels. or "Where is a plan for the tongues?" Be sure to double-check the plan before building. There is a very big assortment of types of wood in the wood market, but if you dont know which type to choose, there are some types of wood that you automatically should look out for. Apply pressure on the sandpaper with your hand and go back and forth over the surface of the wooden box a couple of times. If you are unable to find exact wooden boards with the above-mentioned dimensions, you can purchase big planks of wood and trim to the required dimensions. With a little bit of calculating work, the grand total for your handcrafted wooden tongue drum thus comes on a price of 55$ to 85$, depending on how much money you personally want to spend. However, keep in mind that if you dont already have access to your needed tools, you will have to spend more money to obtain them from DIY-stores or salesmen online. Again, let dry for at least a day to guarantee optimal security and to prevent the balls and the dowels from falling apart. If you plan to add curves or changes of width try to adjust the length accordingly so that you stay close to your desired frequency (some fine tuning will still be required). Ease of play and usually sturdy build is important, especially for pre-school-age children. ), Content 2016 Steve Carmichael, The Carmichael Workshop, All Rights Reserved. If you need to raise the frequency remove material from the tip of each tongue. If you can hold up a piece by the corner, you could knock on it to see if it has any ring to it. Since you are an affiliate, you can use this url to link people to this page and get credited for it: If you want to use an image thumbnail link, you can copy and paste something like this into the source code of your page: Woodsmith Plans provides hundreds of high-quality, shop-tested plans for makers of all skill levels to build projects for their home, workshop, or give as gifts. We are doing a research project On tongue drums and noneone can find anything. Follow these steps all the way until you reach the tenth and final step and you will be able to play music on a wooden instrument that you will have made entirely from scratch. You can basically get those everywhere since theres no particular kind of wood theyre supposed to consist of. Remember if you glue on the bottom there is no turning back. After gluing the rubber feet on the bottom of the wooden box, you must again remove the excess wood glue and make sure to let it rest for at least one day to make sure the rubber feet dont come loose. Once you have all your notes picked out use the following formula to calculate the length of each tongue: If you need some help figuring out this formula dont worry! Making A Tongue Drum Musical! However, this does not impact our recommendations.). If you need to lower the frequency remove material from the base of each tongue. It uses inches and feet for measurement. Carefulness is truly a must, everything must fit perfectly and all the ends must add up! the holes should be next to each other with about 20mm distance between them. You have lots of options here but there are a couple of things to remember when building a box for a tongue drum: Need help thinking outside the box? Next up, there are the wooden dowels that are needed to create the hand-made drum sticks. Sixth step: Gather your wood glue and use it to glue the six boards together until youve constructed a solid wooden box. With a just a few small pieces of wood, you can make an attractive and useful trivet. Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment. A well-crafted instrument is not cheap to buy but you can attempt to make one yourself at a fraction of the price. Fifth step: Look at the two shorter wooden boards and choose one of them for this step, it doesnt matter which one. This will also help you determine the dimensions for the top of your box (the part you will cut the tongues into). the width of the holes have to be the same width as that of the wooden dowels, so they should have a diameter of ca. (LogOut/ Now it is time to take a listen to those tongues and see how close you are to your desired notes (frequencies). Its a good video and easy to follow. Hi - The tongues on the wavy pattern range from 3 inches to 7.5 inches in half inch increments. If you build one, please contact me and let me knowI'd love to hear about it! Once you have figured out how many tongues you need and their approximate lengths you can start designing the rest of your box. The best Tongue Drum for meditation will be portable and tuned to a harmonic scale, able to be, Read More 6 Tongue Drums Uses (Meditation, Yoga & Self Help)Continue, The percussion family is the traditional musical destination when selecting the first instrument for a child. When determining the length of each tongue remember that you will get the most accurate results with the length calculator if you cut your slits just to the edge of your inner most end piece. First write down the frequency of each tongue before tuning. What you use often depends on the size, given tongue drums can, Read More Learn to Play Tongue Drum (5 Easy Steps)Continue, The Tongue Drum is a popular musical instrument used in some forms of meditation. The patterns didn't print full size so I've cut them nicely but about 3/4" too short. Help us spread the word about Woodsmith Plans & earn money at the same time. Now that you have your top glued down to your box you can use a drill and a jigsaw to cut out your tongues. The techniques that go into making this drum are similar to those youd use for building a small box. (Search for Bar Length Calculators and Scales using a search engine. I don't know what Paperstone is. All of the information that you need to build our plans can be found in the standard plan. Or you could just buy some Mallets from the Glockenspiel mallet guide. Third step: Pick up the wooden board that will be the top side of the wooden music box. Wonder if cutting a sound hole in the bottom to allow resonance would make it louder? Continue this motion until there isnt any unevenness left and everything is silky smooth. You can save a lot of money this way, but the amount of money that you will ultimately spend depends on whether you already have access to the needed tools, namely the saw, wood chisel, and the drill. However, dimensions and other elements of the plan may vary between the metric and standard versions. I stumbled across the youtube link of building tongue drums. With a little knowledge and skill, it is possible for anyone to make a wooden tongue drum. For your drum build with tongues on both sides, did you have glue blocks to thicken the ends? You can achieve that by buying the wood in specialty stores or from privet salesmen. I haven't actually made the wavy one, so one tip I received from someone is to alternate the tongues between large and small so no two similar length tongues are next to each otherapparently the notes would be close to each other and interfere with each other. Warning: Your first tongue drum is not going to sound like a $500 pro produced instrument, but you will learn so much and hopefully have enough fun to try and try again until you perfect the process. Check out our Editors recommendations for project supplies and hardware. Second step: Choose one of the four long wooden boards for this task, it doesnt matter which one. Remember to double the thickness of your end pieces and ensure you design a box that can be built without the bottom on so you can have access for tuning.
ac=wP+KFa!nfs 9lLje,W#(;`%I! The practical use of these holes must therefore not be underestimated. I've been grabbing used boxes that seemed to have some resonance as is.. in hopes of one day, maybe, stepping over the precipice to make a tongue drum. Very dense stuff and heavy. Ninth step: Now its time to make the drum sticks that are eventually used to generate the sound by banging them against your wooden tongue drum. Also can you give the notes they each should play??Thanks? If you are planning to build a large drum (8 or more tongues) I recommend using 5/8 to 3/4 thick wood for your tongues. Dont rush the process because that will increase the chance of failure and having to start all over again. The second needed item, sandpaper is really cheap and easy to find in general, if you dont already own it. The best part is that you dont even need to pay more than a maximum of 5$ for them. (LogOut/ That way, you can make your wooden tongue drum really stand out from other wooden drums and truly make it your own. No matter what type of wood you use, or whether you tune it or not, you will end up with a nice fun-to-play drum. With that, youre fully ready to go and hopefully, you will become a true, authentic and self-made musician. You can find them in toy stores for kids or even in big supermarket chains. Again, use your black marker first to make sure that the dimensions are correct. Make sure the shape truly resembles the shape of a circle, because this is very important for the quality of the sound that your wooden tongue drum will eventually produce. Whatever your personal reasons are, it doesnt matter, you have come to the right place for your musical DIY-project! The wood chisel is the most prominent tool that you need to fulfill this task, but you can also use a carving knife if youre more comfortable with that. the reason for this is that the holes will be used to store your wooden drum sticks when youre not using them. All are adequate for constructing wooden musical instruments. You can already buy some for about 2 to 4$ at the most. That leaves some space for mistakes so it may help to ease your mind if needed to be. I know that they sound best if you can make the box a solid sound chamber, like a hollowed out log. Once you have a rough idea in mind plan out the tuning of your drum. Once you are happy with the tuning you can glue or screw (in case you need to fine tune) the bottom on to your drum. The details give this shelf its distinctive look and offer some interesting woodworking. What is a wooden tongue drum? This is the one you probably want if you are in the United States, and it is the one we have traditionally offered on this website. Thanks! This guide will run through the benefits of buying a Tongue drum for the kids. 3/8" is pretty thin. Remove the excess wood glue and then, make sure to let the wood glue dry for at least a day to make sure everything is solid and secure. The wooden tongue drum is a musical instrument that often gets overlooked, which is a shame because they have a rich history and is capable of producing a very deep and beautiful sound when the instrument is being used in the right manner. iSA Webs is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Or have you just not found the wooden tongue drum yet that matches your specific preferences completely? Next time I'll alternate sizes as well. 300mm and a diameter of ca. There are a lot of possibilities here and you have a lot of freedom to create something that genuinely matches your preferences. Interesting! You can use the calculated lengths to help layout a pattern for your drum. Use your black marker and your ruler to draw a circle with a diameter of ca. 30mm. That way the bouncy balls and the wooden dowels will fit perfectly in each other. Change). Now that you personally handcrafted your wooden tongue drum, its time to talk about one of the greatest advantages of constructing your own musical instruments, namely all the costs you avoid by making the wooden tongue drum yourself. You can do it at your own pace. Eighth step: Assemble the four rubber feet and use the wood glue to stick the rubber feet to the bottom of your self-made wooden box. You can make one or all four in a weekend. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. After that, the drum mallets will instantly be ready to use. (L>aK(C6OfM3f@?0cf_Q:~/yw7<`dgw. Smooth edges are easy on the eyes after all. If you want to try other materials for the top part of the mallets, you should let your creative mind run wild if it can have the same desired outcome. First, use your marker to draw the pattern onto the wooden board and once youre finished, you can start carving the pattern into the wooden board. Theyve been a part of many cultures for thousands of years. Thanks for the Youtube video - how to make and tune! (The Easy Answer), 4 Wooden boards (dimension: 450mm x 130mm x 20mm), 2 Wooden boards (dimension: 90mm x 130mm x 20mm), 2 Wooden dowels(length of ca. This quartet of small projects is sure to please the cook in your life. Even better would be if you have relatives or friends that are in the possession of these kinds of tools and are willing to lend them to you for the time that you need to create your personal wooden tongue drum. Thanks again; wonderful, informative video. These plans are provided by our business partner, Australian Woodsmith, and are based on the original Woodsmith plan. For example, wood types like. This is the one you probably want if you are outside the United States. know I want to make one or a couple. I've been wanting to build a tongue drum for a while now, but I kept putting it off because I knew I would get totally immersed in the music theory details of these little wooden boxeswith slits cut in the top. Theme images by. Good quality wooden tongue drums easily cost several hundred dollars when you buy them online or at specialized music stores. Sandpaper isnt a scarce good, so you can basically find it wherever you go and in each and every DIY-store. While gathering information about these drums, I noticed a lot of comments in woodworking forum threads like "I would build one but I don't know how to tune it." They are also not very expensive seeing as the cost price ranges from 5$ tot 10$ at the most. Sounds like a cool experiment. :). These come with additional shop diagrams that we drew when creating the prototypes. Wondering if anyone has any idea it it's resonant enough that it could be used to make a tongue drum, just the top, the sound board? If all has gone to plan you should have a box without a bottom and some beautiful tongues cut into the top. Thats a big contrast pertaining to the overall current retail prices. However, if you want even more granular detail to make your job easier, you should consider our premium plans. (LogOut/ I'll extend them. Check out part 2 of my tongue drum video tutorial series below: Determine the size of your drum and thickness of the wood you will be using. The Design Process I Kinda Wanna Learn, How to Make and Tune a Tongue Drum Part 1 of 3 I Kinda Wanna Learn, Orient the grain on your end pieces in the vertical direction (might help with sustain idk I read that somewhere). Kalimba Playing Tips Thumb Nails Required or Not? There are many possibilities, this is just one idea! 70mm). Better safe than sorry, so just wait it out! You can buy them online, but its better to see and feel the wood in person. The difference with this project is that you get to play with it when youre done. The Muslady 5.5 Inch Mini 8-Tone, Read More Why a Tongue Drum is a GREAT IDEA for your kids AND YOU!Continue, Its not a war, just a comparison between the handpan instrument and the similar but at the same time very different steel tongue drum. The bottom line is that you need to be very careful while executing this step, or it may be so that you will have to start all over. I don't know the notes until after I make one, then I just tune to the closest notes wherever they fall. For example, you could use wool or other kinds of fabrics and shape it in the form of little balls and then glue them onto the wooden dowels. Use thinner wood for smaller drums. I hope this video encourages you to get into the shop and make one of these drums. I like using tung oil for a natural finish. However if you need to adjust this can be done relatively easily. This step is very important because the pattern will eventually be responsible for the tuning of your wooden tongue drum and thus its responsible for the sound that your handcrafted instrument will generate. It uses millimeters, centimeters, and meters for measurement. Also, I think there is a mix of page sizes 11x14 and 11x17 in the PDF since I had access to a large printer. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The only requirement is a certain level of quality. Good luck! Get to work and start crafting your own wooden tongue drum. Read this article to gain insight into how you can make your own personal tongue drum and your own mallets. Are you interested in playing the wooden tongue drum, but do the high retail prices hold you back from purchasing one online or in a music store? I have some scraps of 3/8" Paperstone countertop material, nearly 18 sq ft. Been thinking for quite some time it would be nice to use some of it for some fun, unusual project. The long boards will be used as the sides of the percussion box and the shorter boards will be the ends of the percussion box. Optional Tenth step: You can decorate your wooden drum to match your personal style by painting it, by adding color to it, by writing stuff on it, by adding certain ornaments to it, etc. In specialized music stores, its possible that the price for the rubber feet will be a little bit higher, but if you keep searching, youll easily find cheaper ones. Next on the list are the bouncy balls. 1/2" cherry has sounded best for me so far. Frankly, those kinds of tools arent cheap, but the good news is that you are not absolutely required to purchase them. Steel tongue drums can be played by both hands or mallets. On the template with wavy look, I think it's the 5th one, how long should the tongues be? Once you have done that, you can start tuning your wooden tongue drum to be able to get that beautiful, authentic sound youre really hoping for. Your video with comparison of various materials eliminated any nervousness I had. Finding this article, you may have zero knowledge of what either instrument, is does, or can do, and want to know more, or perhaps you already know a little and want, Read More Steel Tongue Drum vs Handpan A ComparisonContinue, The title of this article is Tongue Drums, so you may be searching for either wooden or steel tongue drum information. Voila, With the end of the article, you have reached the end of this guide! You could even use dovetails or finger joints. (We may receive commission when you use our affiliate links. After everything is assembled you can sand and finish everything as desired. Two out of every three people searching the internet are looking for Steel Tongue drum info, so whilst I will cover both, this article is for Steel Tongue Drums, click here for Wooden Tongue, Read More Steel Tongue Drum Guide | (History, Scales, Price, Makers)Continue, This guide will provide some easy steps, hints, tips, and tricks to playing your new steel tongue drum, and getting most from your new instrument How to Play Steel Tongue Drum? I'm drawing out a pattern now to see what kind of noise comes out. I saw. Instead, use a prudent, light touch, because the wood will be particularly vulnerable after the carving is done.