DIY Dan Bau Primitive Instrument Construction w/ Music from the Series The Oracle of Lost Sagas

This is Vietnamese Monochord (Đàn bầu)

[@citrusn]

Hi, I know this video is old, but do you happen to have more instructions on the construction of your version of the dan bau? Did you have to connect it to an amplifier, or was it able to produce a loud sound acoustically? I'm asking because I will be constructing one for a school project. Thank you.

[@JosephLayden]

It isn't loud but can be heard adequately. I put a piazzo contact pickup on it to record for a song for an audiobook. I believe it would be a lot louder if you used a large piece of bamboo for the resonator instead of the block of routed wood I used. I hope to make a better one soon.

[@citrusn]

@@JosephLayden Thank you for responding- so how does the string connect to the stick and the base? With my research, I haven’t found a lot on nonelectric dan baus, so I was hoping you could provide me with some information if you didn’t mind of course. How does the half shell coconut shape connect to the rod also, and where does the sound come from? Thanks again.

[@JosephLayden]

@@citrusn I drilled a hole through the coconut half and the bamboo handle, small enough that the electric B guitar string can go through but not the base ring. It's attached to the base with a guitar tuner. You have to use a luthier's drill tool to get the tuning peg hole to taper...there are cheap ones on ebay for around 20 bucks. The sound resonates the wood and therefore the cavity in the base via the tuning peg.