Any didj players out there ?

[pumbaa]

Ihave been learning for a while now and wondered if any of you play . I have 2 didjeridoos , one is a nice euculyptus one and the other is a uk one but doesn't toot quite right ! I have not got the heart to try and fix it , think i may ruin it
Basicly there is a loose bit that vibrates as you play , and it ruins the sound !
Has anybody made their own from wood ?If so how did you do it and did it work ?
It would be cool to be able to knock one up whilst sat round a fire but ot sure how to make one without spliting the wood !
Any ideas ?

Cheers
Pumbaa

 

[mattange]

Used to play a bit, but over time have played less and less.
Many good evening had sitting round the fire playing into the small hours.

 

[Goose]

Have you tried sticking it down with beeswax, or making on using bamboo?

 

[leon-1]

I understand that Gary gives lessons to those who are tone deaf and are wearing ear defenders

 

[grahoom]

i can get good sounds out of one, but cant do circular breathing.

i am more of a kalimba / mbira player.

 

[Biddlesby]

I haven't played for a while, and I'm certainly no expert. I'm kind of on the verge of circular breathing - I can do it but only with lots of breaths and not for very long.

I carved one from some wood (forgotten what it was), made a bamboo one and (cheated) bought one.

Simply chop the wood lengthways in half, carve out each section and glue them back together is what I did. Bamboo, of course, was much easier. A pot of melted beeswax, dip it in and turn it around, wait for it to solidify, dip it in...etc..

 

[Swampy Matt]

I'm a failed player with 1 bamboo didj and no useful advise regarding the playing/making/repairing of them.

However a few years ago when i was on my weekend bushcraft course with survivalschool.co.uk, at Escot Park in Devon, there was a Didj festival on at the park at the same time, called 'Didjin' Devon'.

Most of us on the course popped over to the festival site (there were no more than around 200 people at the festival) on the last night to take a look. It was cool, lots of people just sat around chillin out to the earie drone of the didj.

If your into the didj, its gotta be worth checking out - I believe it takes place in August - and you never know, you might bump into some bushcrafters while your their.

 

[Biddlesby]

Sounds great - these expert players can produce some amazing sounds. I once heard somebody playing the didge but with digital effects, which was cool.

Also, rub linseed in on if you've just made one.

 

[match]

I've helped a guy make one from beechwood - took a long fariyl straight green branch, then sawed it vertically down the middle - then a lot of wood carving to hollow each half out. Then you glue the two halves back together and dry it out - very very slowly and evenly else the drying can pull and split the wood or the glueing - tying the two halves together after glueing can reduce this.

After a few months, you have a working didgeridoo!

 

[pumbaa]

I've helped a guy make one from beechwood - took a long fariyl straight green branch, then sawed it vertically down the middle - then a lot of wood carving to hollow each half out. Then you glue the two halves back together and dry it out - very very slowly and evenly else the drying can pull and split the wood or the glueing - tying the two halves together after glueing can reduce this.

What glue did you use ? tried this once before and it all went a bit pear shaped !
Cheers
Pumbaa

 

[match]

It was glued with some kind of super-strength wood glue - probably a resin glue of some kind (I was mostly involved in the carving, but only got told about the steps after that).

I also remember being told that in some cases it is better to dry the pieces separately and then glue them, as this reduces the risk of them splitting, BUT it does increase the risk that their shapes will change slightly and thus not glue back together