How to Build a Tongue Drum

A tongue drum is a percussion instrument for use in recording or in a drum circle. The box is made of a soft maple and the top from a hard wood. It is played with a mallet on the sound fingers on top of the drum, providing a deep rich sound.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Maple wood
• Padauk wood
• Jigsaw
• Glue

1. Cut a piece of soft maple for the bottom of the drum to 24 by 8 inches. Three-quarter inch wood is perfect for the bottom and sides. You can get the wood at a lumber yard. It may even have scraps this size.

2. Cut two pieces of soft maple for the long sides to 24 by 8 inches and two small pieces of soft maple for the short sides to 8 by 6 inches. The height of the drum will be 6 inches so that it may be held with little effort while playing.

3. Glue the sides together to form an open box, making sure that the inside corners are 90-degree angles.

4. Glue the completed open box top the bottom piece of soft maple to complete the 3/4 box for the drum. You want to make sure there are no gaps and if there are, use epoxy to close them.

5. Cut a piece of padauk wood to 24 by 8 inches for the top of the tongue drum. Make sure the padauk is at least 1/2 inch thick.

6. Use a jigsaw to cut varying length slots parallel to the long side of the wood. Drill a pilot hole for the jigsaw blade before cutting the slots. Place different sized slots on the same row, as each set of same-sized slots will become sound "fingers" of various pitches. Two slots of the same length should be completed by adding a perpendicular slot located at one end of the slots. You can place a 9" set of slots and a 5" set on the same row. An 8" and 6" set on the next row and the 7" slot on its own. The length of the slots will determine the pitch of the "finger."

References

• Tongue Drum Making