Making a bodhran

[auld argonian]

As to a fresh hide, in these parts we have several butchers that specialize in both lamb and goat for the Greek, Middle Eastern and Jamaican connessieurs.

That's the advantage of living in a big melting-pot city!

Should be someone around you doing the same thing and who can accommodate you.

And I hate to bring this up but I have seen a company that makes bodhrans using greyhound (yep...the dogs, not the buses) skin. Obviously, not an option but kind of a yicky sidebar.

Best

AA

[Galician]

This might not be applicable for most cases of locally-produced hides, but here in NYC we have had a very serious experience recently regarding artists using animal hides.

A musician originally from Africa imported a bunch of hides from there for use with his instruments. Apparently they contained the anthrax virus. He got seriously sick and his entire apartment building had to be disinfected.

After the death of several people in the Northeast, as a result of the anthrax-bearing letter attack following 9/11, we tend to take this virus far more seriously.

[berserkbishop]

Me thinks there are plenty of goats in the U.S. No need to import hides and get anthrax. Though. . . a hippo bodhran could be cool . . . back on topic! I can by rawhide from my local leather supply shop but it is my impression that is is supposed to be a fresh hide that is allowed to dry while stretched over the hoop. Is that the feeling everyone else is getting?

[auld argonian]

I think that, like many of these projects, you do the best you can on the first one and see how it goes...there's always room to improve on successive ones if it feels like you're doing well and you like doing it. Do the best that you can with the materials that you can get your hands on...you'll probably be surprised at the results and encouraged to keep on taking it to the next level.

just do.

Best

AA

[berserkbishop]

I think that, like many of these projects, you do the best you can on the first one and see how it goes...there's always room to improve on successive ones if it feels like you're doing well and you like doing it. Do the best that you can with the materials that you can get your hands on...you'll probably be surprised at the results and encouraged to keep on taking it to the next level.

just do.

Best

AA

Alright thats the kick in the butt I needed to get going on this project. I am going to go pick up some thin raw hide. . . .find a wooden hoop somewhere, (I hope not to have to order it) and stretch the drenched skin over the hoop and secure it with some of those furniture tacks. Lace it up and create a beater of some sort. Theres the plan. . . . ONWARD!

Bishop

[Alan H]

I've made a bodhran... Here's what I did.

Materials:

*1 piece of 24 inch x 24 inch, 1 inch plywood
*16, 2-inch long #8 wood screws
*slow-setting two part epoxy....you could try substituting another really high quality wood glue, like resourcinol. The epoxy will cost a lot...more than a budget-priced bodhran will! The resourcinol will only cost a few dollars. I used epoxy, just cause I had it around. You could also try carpenters glue, which is basically super-duper white glue. I would NOT use Elmers glu-all, white glue.
* A long strapping clamp..like this...http://www.amazon.com/Bessey-VAS23-V...2815827&sr=1-1
* roll of wax paper...just plain old wax paper
* drill....an electric one is faster, but you can build this drum using a hand drill
*hammer
*screwdriver to fit the screws you bought
* natural goatskin head
*6-8 small C-clamps
*package of furniture tacks....you'll need at least 50
*optional...small package of copper brads, small heads is best but medium is OK, don't get ones with really big heads

I decided it would be an 18-inch drum. So I cut myself a 24 inch square of 1-inch plywood, and I used a tape to draw a perfect 18-inch diameter circle on it. I then cut eight 4 x 4 squares out of 1x lumber, not plywood. I drilled the plywood so that I could screw the 4 x 4 squared edge-on to the plywood. The squares stick up from the plywood, they don't lie flat on it. They were set up so that the outer edges of the squares were right on the outer edge of the cirlce I'd drawn. These squares serve as a mold for laying up the thin plywood stips that will be the drums body.

OK, so now I went down to the local cheapo lumber place and bought myself some 1/8 inch plywood door skins. They're 3 feet by 7 feet. This will cost you about $8, and you'll need only one. I cut three, 4 inch wide strips, lengthwise from the doorskins, on my table saw. Those are going to turn into the body of the drum. If you want a beefy drun, cut 4 strips. I also carefully cut two more 3/4 inch wide strips, also full lenth. These will support the extra load inside the drum, later.

Now, do a little bit of math. You learned this in sophomore level gemoetry in high school, now you're actually going to use that class in real life. What is the circumference of a circle that's 18 inches in diameter? That is how long your first 4-inch wide section of door-skin is going to be.

Now, the other two pieces are going to be a little bit bigger, since you are going to laminate them on top of the first piece, so the radius is going to be 1/4 of an inch bigger for each one. Do the math! I heartily suggest making each piece 1/8 of an inch too big for starters, and then sanding it down for the perfect fit.

OK, so set up your mold which is the 1 inch plywood and the 4 x 4 squares.
Dry fit the first 4 inch piece around the mold. When the fit is perfect, if you want, you can use a few copper brads to hold the strip in place on the mold. Use the MINIMUM number of brads you can get away with. Make sure that the ends of the strip meet each other over one of the mold.

VERY IMPORTANT DETAIL....when you have the dry fit just perfect, but before you put the stip on with the brads, cover all parts of the mold where you might get any glue, with wax paper. You DON'T want to glue your drum to the mold!!! one layer is fine. Be sure put some wax paper on the 4x4 pieces. Use some tape to hold the wax paper on while you get the first strip down there.

Get a friend to help, here if you haven't used the copper brads, 'cause the first strip is going to jump all over the place!...Now dry-fit the second and third strips around the first. make sure that you move the joints around the drum, don't pile two or more of the end-joints of any one strip anywhere near the end-joints of another strip. Make everything fit just perfectly. When the fit is perfect, disassemble and mix up your glue.

Don't make a foul, runny mess of glue everywhere, but don't be skimpy, either. You want a good, smooth connection between the flat pieces of plywood that you are laminating here. Epoxy will fill some gaps, so you can be a little bit more sloppy with epoxy. Resourcinol, which is water-based, will not fill gaps, so be generous with teh stuff. Paint a thin coat on both faces of each plywood strip. Fit the strips on there, laminating them up, and when everything is copasetic, put a layer of wax paper around the whole thing. This is a lot to do for two hands, so having a friend help would be good. Maybe the two of you can make a drum for them, later.

OK when all the strips are in place and the wax paper is there, use the strap clamp to squeeze it down and hold everything in place. You don't have to cinch the strap down outrageouosly tight, but be firm. When everything is set up....walk away for eight to twelve hours.

OK, now you come back the next day, and remove the drum from the mold. You do this by unscrewing the 4 x 4 pieces from the plywood and lifting the drum body and the 4 x 4 pieces of the big square of 1 inch plywood. Pry the 4 x 4 pieces of wood off of the circular drum body and use a file to smooth off the jagged points of the copper brads, if you used them. You don't want to cut your hand, later.

HEY, you've got the body of your drum! Clean up the glue drips with a file and sandpaper.

OK, now you're going to use your glue of choice to take those 3/4 inch strips of doorskin that you cut, and laminate them into the inside of the drum body, right up at the edge where the head is going to go. These strips add some more strength where the real tension of the drum head will be, and also give a bit more material for the tack that will hold the drum head, to bite into. You're w whiz at lamination, now so cut your 3/4 inch strips to fit just inside the drum, and glue them in place. use the C-clamps to hold them in there while the glue dries.

After it's dry, come back and pull off the C clamps.

PUTTING ON THE HEAD, NEXT POST

[Alan H]

OK I bought a natural, but not "fresh" goatskin head. The one I got had been de-haired, which I recommend, but if you REALLY want a shaved drumhead, you can do it. It's not very authentic, but you CAN do it.

Mine was de-haired.

OK, so cut the skin roughly to shape. Be generous, You'll be mad if you cut it too small! Now, soak the goatskin in warm water for about a minute. That will loosen the head significantly so that you can tack it onto the drum. Work quuickly, now!

Pull one edge of the skin over the edge of the drum and drive one furniture tack in place at the rim to lock it in there. Go about a half an inch to each side of that first tack, and drive in two more tacks. Now you have three tacks, sorta close together, anchoring the skin on one side of the drum.

Move diametrically opposite to where you were for the first three tacks and pull the drumhead tight. Don't be IronMan, here, you're not trying to make it utterly rigid, the drumhead will shrink as it dries out. Just pull it firmly tight. Drive in three tacks, exactlyu opposite to the first three. OK, OK, it's a quarter of an inch off...big whoop.

At t his point you might need to re-dampen the drumhead.... you don't want it to start drying out and shrinking. Don't SOAK it, you already did that...just dampen it if you feel that it's shrinking.

OK, your next three tacks the thrid set of three tacks) go in at 90 degrees 'round the circle from where your first three tacks went in....and your fourth set of three tacks go in diametrically opposite from where the third set went in.

So now you have a circle of drum body with the skin tacked on a four points...North South East West, on the compass, right? Your next step is to put tacks in at Northwest-Southeast...and Northeast-Southwest. When that's done you've got tacks in at eight places, evenly distributed around the drumhead. You do it this way to even out tension on the head.

Now take a pair of needlenose pliars (you'll need them to grip the drumhead as the tacks get closer together. And start putting in tacks one-two at a time, working your way around the drum....two go in here, then two go in opposite...two go in here and then two go in opposite, until you've circled the drum head with at least 50 tacks and 75-80 is better. When this is all done, trim the excess goatskin off with scissors and put the drum down for 4-6 hours to dry the skin.

come back, and mate, you've got yourself a hand drum!

If you want you can use a dowel-crosspiece (I did) to brace the back of the drum. You can make this out of 1-inch hardwood dowel from the hardware store. Glue it in place, either a single piece or a pair of crossed pieces. Lash the cross together with some leather thong for a cool look. Finsh your drum body with a little bit of oil or varnish, or even paint if you want, taking great care not to get any on the drumhead.

Basic beaters can be made from more of the same hardwood dowel that you used for the crosspieces.

I made a drum just like this and used it for eight years. I left it at a gig about 3-4 years ago, and howled when I realized that I'd left it...it was gone. Someday I'll make another one.

[Alan H]

Someday I'll write up how to make a tubano....a poor mans djembe, or even a small pair of bongos for a kids project from a concrete setting sonotube, available in diameters up to 36 inches.... laminated doorskins, a goatskin head and furniture tacks.

I had one, and gave it away to a friend, but it sounded pretty darned good for the whole $20 it cost to make. It was pretty heavy, though.

sonotubes, smaller sizes are available at your local hardware store. They're concrete forms...

http://www.concreteacc.com/sonotube.asp

http://sonotube.com/

[pipesndrumsnun]

Very cool project!!

[berserkbishop]

Thanks to all especially Alan H for the welcome, lengthy tutorial. I live in a small apartment and all projects are limited to the kitchen floor so I dont know if I will realistically be able to make my own hoop. I am hoping that I can pick up something suitable premade somewhere.