Tongue Drum

[Gecko]

Another Tongue Drum made for the Shoreline Childrens Center auction. This one is made from Western Big Leaf Maple and Padauk. Dimensions are 6" x 12" x 6". Finished with a coat of drying oil, three coats of satin Lacquer, rubbed out to 600 grit and buffed out with Carnauba. This one is not tuned but still sounds great.

[boodrow]

Never seen one of those before. Looks great for the craftsmanship and finish.
Boodrow

[fredbelknap]

Like Boodrow I never seen one of those. Is it a real musical instrument or a kids toy? How would you go about tuning it? Looks like you put a lot into it, nice job.

[Stretch]

That's very cool Rick and the finish looks great. I have also never seen a tongue drum before. You learn something new every day I guess.

[Ruffnek]

Add me to the "never heard of it before" list but I must say it's very attractive. You did a great job on the construction and finish. The woods compliment each other well, too.

[maverick31]

man as purty as that is I would be scarred to play it. I remember seeing something like that in music class but I never knew what is was called or what it did. oh and charity projects are always cool to do too.

[rrich]

Dumb me.

From the title I was wondering how you would play a drum with a tongue.

[fredbelknap]

Jun 1, 2010 22:28:46 GMT -6 rrich said:

Dumb me.

From the title I was wondering how you would play a drum with a tongue.

Drumstick/duct tape ;D ;D

[Leo Voisine]

That is pretty awesome.

So - how would you go about tuning it?

[Gecko]

Hey all. Sorry for slow response. Real life and all.
This was a project in a Wood magazine. Actually really simple to make. Almost to simple. I do not like making them to much but it seems people really like them. So much so that I started selling at $125 and then raised it to $150, then to $175 and people kept buying them. ( You can buy a tuned one from a master for $200 on up) And there is always a teacher at the school who got out bid the year before who requests one from my wife in a round about way. I can't blame them though. They sound really cool....for about 10 minutes. But you can't complain to the person playing them as sooner or later, when you walk by it, you have to play with it as well. Then again, we just play with them, not do actual songs.
As far as tuning it is really as simple as either adjusting the tongue length or cutting some material out from under the tongue. Problem is that when it is glued up, the sound changes and then you can't get to the tongue bottom. Although, when chatting one night, the idea was presented to me to screw the bottom on allowing access. I am going to try that on the next one.
Two things I have learned over the course of the six or seven I have made. One is Padauk or Rosewood are the best sounding woods to use. I tried Babinga once and while pretty, the sound just wasn't there. Also, use plywood for the bottom. I really really makes a difference in the sound.

[law]

Thanks for introducing me to the " Tongue Drum ".

Never saw one before.

Nice job on wood selection.

Larry