How to Make a Two-by-Four Xylophone

The xylophone is a percussion instrument. If the bars are made of metal instead of wood, the instrument is called a metallophone. If they are made of rocks, you call it a lithophone. If they're made of bone, it's a bone-ophone.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Foam Pipe Insulation
• Measuring Tapes
• Old Drawer Chests
• 2-by-4 Boards
• Wide Rubber Bands
• 2 Small Ball-peen Hammers
• Handsaws
• Sandpaper
• Foam Pipe Insulation
• Sandpaper
• 1/2-inch thin wood dowels

1. Choose a 7- to 8-foot-long two-by-four.

2. Cut off a 3-foot piece. This will be the low end of the xylophone.

3. Saw progressively shorter pieces at 2-inch intervals.

4. Sand the wood to prevent splinters.

5. Slide foam pipe insulation along the inside edges of a discarded drawer.

6. Lay the pieces of two-by-four across the drawer to form a sounding box.

7. Cut two 1/2-inch dowels to about 12 inches long.

8. Wrap the ends of the dowels with wide rubber bands to make soft mallets.

9. Use small ball-peen hammers for hard mallets.

Tips & Warnings

• Try different types of wood, which will produce different sounds.
• Driftwood makes for a great-looking instrument.

[dz6667]

on 6/22/2007 This is very generic and doesn't take in varying factors. The quality of the wood, such as density and consistency (consistent density throughout), contribute to sound quality. Environmental issues will also affect the wood if care is not taken to minimize this. Basically, it is possible to have a short bar to have the same tone as a longer bar. The author made no mention of getting correct tone quality from each bar. The definitions of the instruments are generic as well. The Marimba is another type of instrument made of wood (it's tone is 1 octave lower than a xylophone). A vibraphone has metal bars as do glockenspiels.