How To Make  
     

Didgeridoo is made of a hollow wood and to manufacture it can be very simple or extremely complecated depending on the material used and on the way of carving the wood. The common materials used are various: bamboo and plastic, metal and clay, eucalyptus or any other type of wood. It must be pointed out that originally it was a wooden instrument actually made of eucalyptus. aborigines use trunks or branches hollowed by termites (termited) found in the bush, they just add a mouthpiece made of bee wax and decorate the instrument with paintings and carvings; of course these didgeridoos are the best in sound and carving, since termites hollow only "soft" eucalyptus wood leaving untouched the hardest part. So if you have an Australian termite colony and a good piece of eucalyptus you are ready to make yourselves your "original" didgeridoo:-) Instead, as far as "human" carving is concerned, some use big and long drills but only in case of a stragiht wooden piece, or some practice a less normal method, much slower but likely more effective: take an incandescent iron bar and press it in the wood until perforating it all along its length. Anyway, the most common method to proceed still remains the longitudinal cut of the branch and the following carving of the two inner parts that consequently will be reassembled by means of an expansion glue. As far as the bamboo is concerned, it is all much simpler as this wood is already naturally hollowed; even in this case one can make a longitudinal cut or break inner membranes near the knots beating strongly with a metal bar. The chipest method, producing low-quality didgeridoos (but good enough to start playing), consists of taking a plastic (or metal) hose and supply it with a mouth-piece. When using natural materials, it is very important the wood be well seasoned before carving it.

DIMENSIONS

Length determins didgeridoo basical note, it can go from 80 cm. up to 2.5 mt. with a diameter of 2-8 cm. While diameter cannot vary a lot, length can theorically be short or enormous; please note that beyond a certain length the breath needed and the infrasonic note will be enemies to sound listening, instead a too much short didgeridoo can produce the classical raspberry noise.



Longitudinal Cut
By Andrea Ferroni


I wrote this short essay to help those who might have problems in building their own didjeridoo. Any suggestion in welcome. Just write to me at: andrea.didje@libero.it

The tools I suggest you to buy if you want to undertake the feat of building a didjeridoo are:

- Leather gloves
- Paper mask
- Goggles (indispensable if you are going to use electric tools)
- 16mm chisel with curved profile
- Wooden hammer
- 7 or 8 grips or clamps
- Sandpaper
- Vinyl glue
- A small brush
- A work bench. Even a sturdy table fixed to the ground or to the wall will do.
- A tree branch

Before starting to work on the wood, it is necessary to know what precautions must be taken in order to avoid trouble.

It is strongly advisable to use the paper mask. Cutting wood with electric tools and using sandpaper produces dust. The consequence of inhaling dust might be serious pulmonary diseases. Anyway, even if you think the air is clean, breathe only with your nose, in order to "clean up" the air you inhale. Using leather gloves will protect your hands from slivers and cuts. Anyway, those who have woodworking experience might choose to do without the gloves.

Choosing the right branch is extremely important. Depending on what tree they come from, branches differ greatly in terms of shape, weight, workability and aesthetics. As a rule, the harder the wood the better the sound quality of your didjeridoo, but too hard a wood will be difficult to work.

Phase one: seasoning the wood. This phase of the work is time­consuming and boring, but it's really important. It's useless to start working on the branch when it's still green: the glue won't catch on, and the wood will crack.
The seasoning's duration may change according to the kind of wood.. With a light wood (willow, poplar, lime tree) I have no problem with a 8/9 months seasoning. With a hard wood (cherry tree, ash, oak) you should wait. Also, removing the bark from the branch may speed up the seasoning process. But I suggest not to remove the bark. Too fast a seasoning might cause the wood to crack.
At the end of the seasoning process, you can remove the bark. To save time, you may use an already­seasoned branch. You can find them on riversides.

Phase two: cutting the branch. To cut the wood lenghtwise in two halves you must use a belt saw. I didn't insert this tool in the above­mentioned list because it is quite expensive. If you don't have (or you can't afford) a belt saw you may apply to a sawmill or a DIY shop to cut your branch. After cutting the branch draw on the flat of each half the section you want your didjeridoo to have.

This is the most important part of the whole work. You'll probably need to experiment a lot before finding the section that will give your didjeridoo the desired timbre. In any case, I suggest you to avoid too sudden a change of section like ==0=====<: in this point a pressure decrease in the air column might take occur, thus causing the didjeridoo to be very hard to play.
With a few trials (and maybe errors) it is possible to achieve didjeridoos with different sounds, suitable for a 'traditional' or a 'contemporary' style.

La fase successiva è la lavorazione vera e propria, non abbiate fretta, si rischia di rendere vano tutto il lavoro fatto. Prendendoci la mano si riuscirà ad essere un pò più veloci. Quindi colpo dopo colpo con la sgorbia si scava il legno tenendo la sezione dell'incavo il più circolare possibile. Prestate molta attenzione nel rifinire l'imbocco, eviterete cosi di utilizzare eccessivamente la cera. Spesso infatti la cera è sconveniente dato che l'interno dell'imboccatura rimane troppo arrotondata frenando il naturale movimento delle labbra.

Phase three: carving. Hollow out the wood with the chisel, taking particular care in making a section as circular as possible. I suggest you to take particular care in making the mouthpiece, so that you'll be able to do without or use very little beeswax. More often than not, too much beeswax hampers the natural movement of the lips. Then, liberally spread the vinyl glue with the little brush. Now you can join the two parts and fasten them with the grips. Don't press too hard, now the wood is thin and it might change its shape from O to (). Wait for more than 24 hours in summer and over 36 hours in winter. If you don't wait as right you must stick it again. Then remove the grips and test the sound of your didjeridoo.

Now you only have to finish off the mouthpiece and decorate your instrument. I suggest you to use water based paint. Usually this kind of paint is used for toys, and it has many advantages: it doesn't have a strong smell, and it dries quickly.

And now: good vibrations!!