Wooden Tongue Drum Construction Basics

In this video I walk you through the basics of constructing a wooden tongue drum. The layout is up to you, it helps to have some understanding of scale and chord construction to get a really musical drum but there is plenty of easy to find info on that. At the moment I’ve been using a Jigsaw to cut the design in the top, a scroll saw is great but the kerf of the blades I’ve found available is too narrow. You need a little less than 1/16” and that’s what most jigsaw blades will leave. Basic woodworking skills are necessary to construct the box. And clamps, you need lots of clamps.

[@cheeseheadfiddle]

Very generous and thoughtful video. I’ve always loved these instruments. Great work.

[@woshafer]

Thanks for sharing your trial and error findings. I paid for plans back in 2015 and the guy I bought it from showed all the tricks. You are 95% the way there. The only thing you're not doing in the addition he did to the middle. He glues and additional piece 3" wide x 5/8 directly in the middle before cutting the tongues. gives the big ones extra mass and a better ring. Working on a bass unit right now myself. Got a extra tricks for tuning the inside sides if you ever want to compare notes.😀

[@mdburnem]

@woshafer, can you share where you bought the plans from?

[@jeffmartin52]

I did not go over installing the bottom after tuning is complete. I use a 1/4”/6mm bottom. My view is that the bottom of a tongue drum is performing the same task as the top of an acoustic guitar. Think of the tongues as the strings, they create vibration and the only thing below them that will vibrate like an acoustic guitar top is the bottom, so to amplify that vibration a thinner bottom will move more than a thick one. I have not experimented with a thinner bottom, mainly because by the time you’ve done all the rest I don’t want to chance making a mistake. A thinner than 6mm bottom might give you more volume but it also might make it sound muddy. As it it there is plenty of volume with 6”D x 8”W x 18”L box. In a living room with other acoustic instruments it will have no problem being heard. If anyone has experimented with bottom thickness I would love to hear your results.

[@santurisan]

Thanks for sharing!

[@johnmartin9090]

Thanks for sharing

[@amsluis]

Have you ever experimented with tuning partials / overtones?

[@ericrebarchik4453]

Where you located? I'm in Alabama...just wondering

[@rmbelieve]

What is the length of each tongue when you make your first cuts?

[@desmundmonteagudo8859]

p͎r͎o͎m͎o͎s͎m͎