Making a Xylophone

This Xylophone was made for my 6 week year old Son Sebastian Shaw. The materials used were Walnut, Cherry and Rosewood.
www.JshawFurniture.com
Building Resources
1. Resonator Pins
www.musiciansfriend.com/acces...
2. Xylophone Directions
www.makingmusicfun.net/htm/f_...

[@mechasartre3694]

For viewers, if you suspend the tone bars using rubber grommets then you’ll get a long sustained note instead of the staccato tone.

[@monodzukurijiji159]

How nice! Thank you for sharing the details of how to make a xylophone.

[@ninoadp100]

Just had a dream on my B-day of someone playing a homemade xylophone shaped like a ----. It sounded and looked beautiful...guess I'll have to tackle this some day. This must have been the furthest thing from my mind...

[@JShawFurniture]

Sounds like you’re going need some carving chisels

[@APerchOfPillows]

Sweet video! And thank you for the links!!

[@relaxmusicplease]

Amazing 🤩 I want to know what did you put inside of the box we didn't got that part btw it's sounding Joyful

[@JShawFurniture]

Thanks for the comment. It was a piece of 1/4” plywood to to divide the resonator to increase the volume.

[@victrolalacasa992]

Hi Jessie - I cannot find your website - hoping that you can help as I want this to be a project with my college music students - thanks - enjoyed your video so much

[@randyfolsom]

Looks nice. What kind of wood did you use for the bars?

[@JShawFurniture]

Thanks Randy, the bars are rosewood

[@danielstring]

great videos and links! i was wondering, if i wanted to make lower pitched notes (like 1 octave down) , how can i find the lengths of the each bar?

[@JShawFurniture]

That’s a good question Daniel, though I don’t have a great answer. I’d suggest going to a Guitar Center or another music store that has xylophones. Find the octave you want and take the keys dimensions from that xylophone. Good luck!

[@aprilalkins9026]

Hey Daniel So for making any marimbas or xylophone bars your going to want to carve arches on the underside of your bars preferably with a coarse grit sanding belt on a belt sander. Just get yourself a good tuning app or chromatic guitar tuner, and make sure to take off small amounts at a time until you reach the desired note. Padauk and purpleheart make good and desirable tonewoods for this purpose, and are less expensive and easier to get ahold of than rosewoods. I've made two padauk marimbas so far and a purpleheart xylo, and they all sound great just remember that when tuning in cold temps your notes are going to go flat when the instrument is brought into a warm room, so if tuning at or near 32F make sure to tune 15-25 cents sharp to allow wiggle room for warmer acclimatization. So carving arches in the bottom of the bars brings down the note in pitch, so to make the pitch come up one must sand some material off a least desirable end perhaps the one that faces the inside of the instrument as it won't be seen. And sand on an slight angle upward toward the end of the bar but not cutting through the area where your nodal holes will be later on, of which there will be two. If you would like to talk more on this add me on FB at Levi Turnbull Kind regards

[@marshmallowfluff7730]

are all of the notes on this xylophone in tune, even without the coves cut out?

[@JShawFurniture]

Yes, all the keys are in tune. That’s why I did not cut the coves out. If you cut the coves they will need to be tuned.

[@eli5504]

What kind of finish did you use for the bars? Thank you😁

[@JShawFurniture]

For this one, I sprayed on conversion varnish. Lacquer or polyurethane are also good options as they are similar in look and durability.

[@federicorosato5381]

How did you calculate the exact leinght for the correct tuning of the sticks?

[@JShawFurniture]

You can see the key notes for this xylophone in the blog post below. If you want it in a different octave the easiest way is to go to a local music store and check out their xylophones.

[@richardayella2342]

How did you attach the bars? Thank you

[@JShawFurniture]

With rubber xylophone pins. You can get them from music stores like Guitar Center.

[@clovissilva5484]

The best

[@JShawFurniture]

Thanks 🙏

[@lindsaylaw1825]

What kind of wood do you use for the notes?

[@JShawFurniture]

The keys are Rosewood.

[@jerkoardalic]

Does the type of wood matter alot cuz im making one for my preschool group nad i dont really have alot of wood on stock

[@JShawFurniture]

The wood does matter a lot to for the keys. The Denser the wood the better the sound. Ash is a good option xylophone keys.

[@jerkoardalic]

@@JShawFurniture Thank you sir.

[@Gamer-zb7ex]

@@JShawFurniturehow’s oak

[@madmaxbike3446]

I teach you how to tuned the bars to musical notes if you want ?

[@JShawFurniture]

I did a couple test notes and without a tuner couldn’t get them back to the right key. That’s why this one didn’t have the coves cut out.

[@annarohde1062]

Hello, yes please, I need to make a xylophone, could you please show us how to tune the notes?

[@user-gj4nz6sj3q]

What makes voice?

[@JShawFurniture]

The vibration of the wood resonates in the box to make the noise

[@UndercoverRat]

Hi ! Do you think pine would work?

[@JShawFurniture]

Denser woods resonate better so I don’t think Pine will produce a great sound. If you’re looking for a commonly sourced wood try Ash.

[@UndercoverRat]

@@JShawFurniture Thank you!

[@jaimepacheco680]

@@UndercoverRat me gustaría tener las medidas

[@UndercoverRat]

@@jaimepacheco680 55 x 23 x 9

[@argi0774]

Thanks for first demonstrating the sound. After hearing that, I'm out

[@guillermomrltz]

This is not in tune!!! Beautiful yes, good job yes, but is not tuned!!! I’m musician, the xylophone is not in tune, you play real E when you suppose to be playing C. (That could be ok, because you create a xylophone en E) but then when you play the low notes (E G G E D G E in your suppose “C”) it’s out of tune. The xylophone it self is not tuned, in the low register sound soo weird

[@JShawFurniture]

The coves on the back of the keys were never cut. I had coved some test pieces, but with the basic tuner I had it couldn’t differentiate the keys. There are professional tuners specific for key instruments but it was too expensive. This xylophone was a gift for my 1 week old son who’s now 4. He hasn’t complained about it but maybe if he ever does I’ll revisit the project.

[@guillermomrltz]

@@JShawFurniture I know it’s a hard work the tunning, sorry about my comment. I just wrote it because I read somewhere in the comments that it was tuned. God job!! 👌🏼