Didgeridoo Bau mit Schablonen

Didgeridoo making with templates

Geteilter Rohling ...

There are two possibilities to start a didgeridoo making project.
First: A good raw log is there and with the "test A Doo" you can test the possibilities of the log.
Second: The "test A Doo" was adjusted for the personal preferences and you search for a suitable raw-log.
I show the second method here, it means the inner form is already fixed.

The wood should be as hard and heavy as possible. Good properties for that have timber of fruits, beech, oak, maple etc.
In my example I use a relatively fresh beech branch, which I found in the nearby park. During tree curing-work of the gardeners you always find some useful pieces. In order to prevent cracking of the wood, I leave the bark and seal the ends fully with water resistant wood glue. Then it is stored weather-protected in the shed.
Hainbuchen-Rohling
Fresh raw-log with bark.

The treatment

First the external form is roughly formed out. I make sure that not too much material is removed - finally still clearance for the later fine work is needed. I leave the length longer (on both sides at least 3 cm more than planned). So it makes the fine-tuning easier.
Grob bearbeiteter Didgeridoo-Rohling, Seitenansicht

Grob bearbeiteter Didgeridoo-Rohling, Seitenansicht

Grob bearbeiteter Didgeridoo-Rohling, Aufsicht

Roughly worked and sealed external form.

The fresh wood is now sealed completely with water resistant wood glue.
Then you have to saw the log apart. I use a Japanese handsaw with fine teeth - thus the work precedes relatively easy and the cut becomes nearly as clean as with a belt saw. After cutting apart one have to seal again.

Cleanly sawed log.

Now comes the important work, which has to carry out very precise. With the help of the templates and a drawn centimetre scale the hollowing work can be controlled. With the hand or machine tools I work especially exact at the points, for which I have the templates. The parts in between I work out smooth.

Sealing is necessary again and again - in the end under addition of earth pigments.

When the halves are worked out precisely, they are dowelled carefully. This
reliably avoids cracks in the area of the gluing joint.
Each Instrument demands individual procedure; thin-walled instruments, for
example, can not be dowelled.

... the halves are then put together.

If you have worked clean the halves can be joined properly. Before final gluing together the contact surface is cleaned. Then wood glue is applied. Dripping off glue is removed inside and outside.

Freshly glued raw Didgeridoo with hose clamps.

Now hose clamps are used - a large assortment of all possible diameters is very helpful. Thus the freshly glued halves are put under pressure with the hose clamps. If you have used fresh wood for 1-2 weeks the clamps have be screw tight two times a day. That is important, because only so the drying wood will be held under control.

Now no hectic - with tuning the desired sound will be worked out.

After 2 weeks I remove the hose clamps for a short time, to start the first Tuning. Because I left the instrument for safety's reasons too long (to deep), I have to shorten it, to reach to the basic pitch and trumpet like planned before. Here the following rough rule is very helpful:

Shortening at the mouthpiece= more increased basic pitch and lightly increased trumpet-pitch, shortening in the bellend= more increased trumpet-pitch and lightly increased basic-pitch.

After the adjustment of basic-pitch and trumpet-pitch I reduce the wall thickness of the new didgeridoo, in order to adapt the natural frequencies of the wooden body, as far as possible to the overtone row of the air column. That is the point, at which a accurate audible capability is important (... or a FFT analysis software - S. Tuning chapter).
Didgeridoos with thick wall-thickness predominantly sounding in the high frequency range and emphasize therefore also rather the higher natural frequencies of the wood body - with traditional Yirdakis often.
Thin wall-thickness sounds at deeper frequencies and favour a softer, melody sound - in our stressed society the more popular variant. If I am nearly satisfied with the tuning, I put on the hose clamps again, so that the Didgeidoo keeps his form during the last drying periode.

Now you have to wait some weeks!

The wood can now dry through under the pressure of the hose clamps, which lasts because of the reduced wall thickness not a long time. Since fresh wood shrinks even more with the drying-process, the clamps have to be controlled and retightened if possible, twice a day. Finally they can be removed, if they cannot be screwed more tight several days.
Next step is fine-sanding to remove the marks of the hose-clamps and a last precise tuning with help of the FFT-Software. The final length is adjusted and a mouthpiece is glued on. Therefore I use usually the thick-walled cocnuts, an excellent material for this purpose.
Now the didgeridoo has to be sealed with water-resistant PVA glue, additional with hard-oil (linseed-oil with resin) against climatic fluctuations and the saliva of the player. Also natural lacquers on balsamic-turpentine and resin base can be used. Important is a hard, water resistant surface.

Finished! Now playing starts!

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