African Tongue drum

[Adam Pinson]

Hand played Tongue drum..... 40cm x 10cm Pine & Teak .. All made from cr@p found at the dump.
Sounds a little like water drops when being played.

 

[Sandyn]

I love it. I want to make one!! I love stuff like that. It looks like the base is a bowl with the top board screwed to the top. Are the tongues just random lengths/shapes??

 

[Orraloon]

Being a musical instrument the size/length of the tongues will dictate the note. There are templates on line and likely some final tuning to get it playing right. Looks like a nice project for a rainy day.
Regards
John

 

[Adam Pinson]

I love it. I want to make one!! I love stuff like that. It looks like the base is a bowl with the top board screwed to the top. Are the tongues just random lengths/shapes??

The screws were just temp fixings whilst I turned it, the top is glued on and the screw holes filled with toothpicks and glue, cheers

 

[Adam Pinson]

Being a musical instrument the size/length of the tongues will dictate the note. There are templates on line and likely some final tuning to get it playing right. Looks like a nice project for a rainy day.
Regards
John

Indeed there are templates, this one I kind of made up as I was going along though, general rule, longer equals lower

 

[Sandyn]

Being a musical instrument the size/length of the tongues will dictate the note. There are templates on line and likely some final tuning to get it playing right

I could never learn to play that in my lifetime (or any musical instrument) . As long as it makes a nice noise, I'll be happy

 

[gregmcateer]

Indeed there are templates, this one I kind of made up as I was going along though, general rule, longer equals lower

I love that, too.
Adam, can we have a little video so we can hear it?

 

[Richard_C]

Being a musical instrument the size/length of the tongues will dictate the note

Shape includes any thinning underneath.. Something like a Marimba relies on the keys being shaped much like a shallow single arch bridge and that is how they are tuned. You need to double the length of a tuned key for every octave, so a 5 octave marimba would be huge and unplayable if you couldn't cheat.

Anyway, after the tongue drum how about a ballaphon, sounds like a gourd idea....

 

[pe2dave]

Youtube video