Japanese Okdeo daiko

[jorgoz]

I just finished roping my latest drum. It's an okedo daiko-style drum. The shell is a sipo mahogany stave shell, stained with aniline dye and finished with shellac. The heads are cow, sewn around metal rings. Total size is about 82 cm in diameter and 78 cm's high.

Added some reinforment rings on the inside.

Big drum roll...

Finished drum :

For size comparison i took a picture with a maple side table i made.

Pictures are rather big, but smaller ones don't do the drum justice :wink:

 

[Blister]

Bang on old chap :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[Mcluma]

Excellent work

 

[como]

Hi Jorgoz, that looks great, I've been interested in making a drum for sometime, I'd love to try and make some bongo drums

How does it sound?

Is that 550 that you are using to lash it?


Thanks for sharing

Cheers Mark

 

[CHJ]

George, is the final tensioning achieved with the waist binding?
Never having had any experience with drums I wonder if the tone alters significantly with humidity when using natural skins.

 

[promhandicam]

Never having had any experience with drums I wonder if the tone alters significantly with humidity when using natural skins.

When I lived in Zaire (as was), the traditional drums, similar to a djembe but about 4' tall were tensioned by placing the open end close to a fire presumably so that the heat could drive out any moisture from the skin. However unlike the fantastic example George has made these were all carved from a solid piece of wood and only had a skin at one end. Talking of djembe, this is Simon, who made a custom djembe for my son when we were in Togo. Simon is the inspiration behind a group called Amlima - we were guests of honour at this concert in Lomé.

 

[jorgoz]

Como, don't know what size 550 is, i used 1mm dyneema kite line. 't was a hassle to sew, takes about a day per head. The skin varies from 1.5 to 2mm and poking the needle through is hard work. I use 2 needles, one for poking holes and one for sewing. I know there are special sewing tools for punching holes, but haven't found any near me.

The sound. At the moment i'm working on the overtones, i've reduced them a fair bit already, but needs a bit more. I'm using tape to experiment with this. Around the inside perimeter of the head is a banding of electrical tape, but this is as i said experimental. For the final 'overtone banding' i'll probably use hide glue. Many daiko's are finished with a painted rim on the heads, a i presume this is more than just estetics. Also what i did was make horizontal grooves inside the shell, about 12, so the sound can contract and expand. But it's difficult to get an overal good tone, as the heads move with temperature change. When tensioned more hard, overtones increase drasticly. But when all is good, it sounds really nice, makes a hole room tremble and goes right to your heart or belly But the drum is new and skins have a breaking in period, so lots of drumming to be done.

I've read the shape of the bearing edges affect tone a lot too. I've made mine on a 45° angle, but i'll try a rounded one on my next one, that should also reduce overtones i think.

The lateral tensioning is to allow for greater flexibility in tuning, and also makes it look really cool 8). The majority of the tension is achieved with the vertical ropes.

At the moment i'm working on a segmented nagado taiko, the most traditional of taikos, shaped like a wine barrel. I'd like to make one out of a single block of wood, but these kind of dimensions are not very easy to find.

I'm working on a stand for it, which is almost finished, which completes the picture even more, pictures when finished.

 

[jorgoz]

I finally had time to finish the stand, to many other projects going on at the moment (of which are 2 kayaks)

The stand is made from red alder, pegged mortise and tenons and slipjoints. I can take it apart by removing the little dowels you see sticking out.

 

[como]

The stand looks great, I love the oriental features you've given it.

Is it just for display purposes, or do you beat the drum whilst it's mounted on the stand?

 

[jorgoz]

It's intended for playing the drum on.

 

[Chems]

Very nice, is the design of the stand specific to keep the sound of the drum the same or does it not matter? Never seen alder, looks quite like beech but nicer.

 

[jorgoz]

Doesn't do anything for the sound, though when a stand would put the drumhead close to the ground the drum would sound flat.

Red alder is often called poor man's cherry. It has similar flecks as beech but is a bit more red, like cherry. It's also softer and lighter in weight than beech.

 

[Chems]

Its really nice, all thats lacking is a few WIP shots of you making it!

 

[Benchwayze]

Bang on old chap :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Beat that! :mrgreen:

Looks quite impressive. Do these drums come even bigger? I suppose they do. I saw one in an ad on the telly once, but what it was in connection with I dunno!

Nice work, and yes WIP pics would have been good!
John

 

[jorgoz]

I understand about the WIP picies, but i didn't have a camera went i built the shell. Normally i'm going to make a second one, if the customer is satisfied with this one, then i'll try to make a wip thread.

And yes they definitely do come bigger, as big as a cowhide will permit. The really big ones are frequently used for a competition in Saitama/Japan, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZjwQH-Udik and yes, that is a girl playing. The best players can do about a 15 minute full on session. This is topsport. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbD7TaOG2nQ&feature=related, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veTnLnkW-oY&NR=1

Obviously the clips don't do the sound justice, if you've ever been to a taiko concert you'll know what i mean.

 

[Fika]

Hi there,
We made two okedo daiko barrels from reclaimed floor boards...they look beautiful but have very different tones. I am not an expert at all on tones and overtones, how do I go about recognising what is a good tone for an okedo? Are the ropes meant to be tied loosely or tight? And should they be anywhere near as boomy as the nagado? Any advice welcome
Fika

 

[Gary Morris]

Beautiful craftmanship, I like the way the drum is tied.

Gary