instructables

Snake Didgeridoo

by Toms Workshop

Finally finished exams and have managed to write up I've entered this instructable into the Epilog
this instructable! Challenge. If you like it, please vote.
If I was lucky enough to win a prize I'd use it to
Here we have a 'folded up' didgeridoo. It works out at help develop a business making electric violins
about 1.4 meters long. It makes it easier to travel and other instruments.
around with. Thanks :)

I ran into something similar on YouTube.

//www.youtube.com/embed/VBjizrQZhT0

Snake Didgeridoo: Page 1

Step 1: Design and Research

You'll need an idea of the size, the shape and some 40 x 25cm. This worked out at about 141 cm long. I
idea of what wood you might want to use. decided that about 7 cm would be suitable width.

Firstly, I started by finding as many pictures as I After this I managed to get hold of some wood. The
could. Also, in looking for some pics I ran into a darker was Walnut from a local joiners and the light
website where there sizes of the instrument, and a bit was Pine which I picked up at the local DIY store.
more info on how others had made them. This is the The Pine was 3.5 cm thick by about 5 cm wide. This
link to Yoram Sivan's website. allowed the two halves to be made separately and
then glued together.
Also, this instructable by dimdiode proved to be very
useful for a methodology for constructing the didge.

So, after searching around I drew my own design.

The template is as above. The Didge was going to be

3 2

2
1

1. This allows the didge to be carved in two halves and then glued 1. 40 cm x 25 cm
together. This gives the appearance of a solid wooden didge. Total length 141 cm
2. This end needs to be hollowed out and left open. 2. Guide hole
3. The mouth piece needs to be left closed until the final stages 3. Guide hole

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Step 2: Gluing the Wood

Ok, so having sourced the wood it needed to be glued into a shape that could be shaped into two halves of the
Didge.

To do this you'll need:

Wood glue (PVA served me well enough)
2 large clamps (Sash clamps)
Food wrap (cling film)
Several straight planks
Something heavy

What you need to do:

1. Lay the wood you're gonna glue in the clamp.
2. At the points where the wood will come into contact with the clamp heads place one of the straight
planks. (first picture above). This will make sure that your clamping will remain square and will stop
the clamp heads damaging the wood.
3. Set your clamps to the right length to allow for your wood body.
4. Remove the wood and truing planks.
5. Wrap the clamp body with food wrap. This will stop the wood gluing to the clamps.
6. Wrap the truing clamps too and place them back in the clamp.
7. Section by section glue and place the wood body parts in the clamp. Make sure you don't glue the
body wood to the truing planks.
8. Tighten the clamps slightly, just to hold the wood in place.
9. Place you're heavy item on top of the wood. Make sure you protect the top surface of the body with
a couple of wrapped planks of wood. Alternatively, you could clamp it down.
10. Carry on tightening the big clamps until no more glue squeezes out of the gaps. This is just a rough
guide, do it to what feels right.
11. Leave for 24 hours and remove.
12. Repeat for the second side.

Guide holes.

You'll need:
M5 threaded rod (or something similar)
M5 nuts
Large flat washers

Cool. Now we need to put some guide holes in. (They'll need to be slightly larger than the the diameter of you're
bolts/threaded rod.)
1. Clamp both sides together so that they are both as perfectly lined up as you can get them.
2. Using your template locate the 3 points where you'll need to drill the guide holes. Mark them up.
3. Drill the holes. If you have access to a pillar drill I'd recommend using it. If not a hand drill will be
fine.

Snake Didgeridoo: Page 4

 1
1

1. Clamping holes 1. Truing plank

2. Clamping holes

1. Sash clamp

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Step 3: Routing

Alright, so having glued the wood, we need to start cutting out the inside of the two halves. The quickest way to do
this is with a router. However, drilling and using a chisel could work just as well.

To do this you'll need:

Router + router bits.
G clamps

What you need to do:

Do not cut out the mouth piece! This needs to be left closed so the pressure test can be done!

1. Draw round your template onto the face of the wood.

2. Clamp the wood to a desk/table.

3. Chose a straight bit and attach to the router.

4. Begin to steadily create contours of the inside shape of the didge.

5. Steadily increase the depth of the contours until you reach the desired depth. (you want to leave
a thickness of around 8 mm between the inner and outer surfaces)

6. Repeat with other half.

WARNING: Routing flings out lost of small bits of wood and dust.

Ensure you wear a dust mask and eye protection.

1. Contours of inner surface

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Step 4: Sanding

Now we need to smooth out the contours to create a flowing inner surface.

To do this you'll need:

Electric drill
Sanding flap wheel
G clamps

What you need to do:

1. Once again, make sure the wood is clamped to a desk/table.
2. Use the sanding flap wheel to smooth out the contours. make sure you don't make the walls too
thin! you want to have a minimum thickness of 5mm.

WARNING: This stage creates a lot of dust.

Ensure you wear a dust mask and eye protection.

1. Sanding flap wheel 1. Side 1

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 1

1. Side 2

Step 5: Cut It Out

Having sanded smooth the inside of both halves of the didge, it needs to be cut out.

To do this you'll need:

Fret saw (either electric or hand)

What you need to do:

1. Cut around the outside of the half hollowed section. Do this for one half first! Make sure you leave
a minimum wall thickness of 5mm.
2. Using the threaded rod, align both halves using the aligning holes.
3. Draw round the first cut half onto the second piece.
4. Cut out the second piece.
5. Check outer wall shape using the aligning rods. (pic 3)

WARNING: The blade can snap and bits of wood can flick out.

Ensure you wear eye protection.

Snake Didgeridoo: Page 8

 2
1

1. 5 mm wall thickness 1. Draw round first side

2. Use the threaded rod to line up the two halves

1. Cut round second part

Step 6: Check the Fit

This is just a simple stage to check that both halves on the surface of a table. This helps make sure that
have good contact. As the picture shows, look along the surface is properly level.
the inner contact surface of the two halves. If it is not
properly aligned then both surfaces need to be Try to reduce the amount of light seen through the
sanded slightly. gap. Don't worry about reducing it all the way
because it will be glued and clamped.
The easiest way to do this is to put a sanding sheet

Snake Didgeridoo: Page 9

Step 7: Clamp and Glue

Having ensured that the two inner surfaces mate properly, the two halves need to be glued and clamped.

To do this you'll need:

Two threaded rods with washers and nuts.
Clamps
Wood glue (PVA served me well enough)

What you need to do:

1. Firstly glue both of the mating surfaces. Ensure there is plenty of glue on both surfaces.
2. Using the threaded rods align both halves.
3. Put the washers against each outer face and tighten the two halves using the nuts. This makes sure
that the surfaces in the centre are clamped tightly together.
4. Using the other clamps ensure all the other surfaces are tightly fixed.
5. Leave to dry for a minimum of 24 hours.

Snake Didgeridoo: Page 10

 1

1. Use large washers to spread the load so that it does not split the wood

Step 8: Pressure Test

To make sure that the glue has properly sealed the didge top up the glue on the inside of the didge.
inside of the digde blow into the opening. See if there
are any points where dust is expelled from the glue WARNING: You may look like a fool doing this!
seam. Any puffs of dust indicate a break in the seal. Ensure no one takes a photo!

If you notice any places where air is leaking from the

Snake Didgeridoo: Page 11

1

1. Ha Ha... Fool!

Step 9: Shape

Ok so, final shaping stages!

To do this you'll need:

Chisel
Rasp
Drill
Sandpaper
G Clamps

What you need to do:

1. Shape the outer edges first.
2. The alignment holes need to be made larger using a bigger diameter drill bit. Be careful not to break
the wall of the didge.
3. Use chisels, etc. to shape the inside curves.
4. Finish the outer surface with sandpaper.
Snake Didgeridoo: Page 12
 1

1. Leave this section closed!

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Step 10: Drill Out the Mouth Piece

Pretty simple stage. Get hold of a spade drill bit and drill out the mouthpiece. I used a 35mm spade bit.

To finish it, round it off with sandpaper.

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Step 11: Finishing - Varnishing and Polishing

To finish up the surface needs to be varnished and polished.

To do this you'll need:

Fine sandpaper (250 & 400 grit)
French polish
Varnish

What you need to do:

(this is not necessarily the correct order, but it's the way I made this one)

1. To get the weathered look I first gave the didge a coat of French polish.
2. Then sand the surface down so that the polish only remains in the corners and scrapes.
3. Apply several coats of clear wood varnish, leaving plenty of time between coats to allow drying.
4. Between each coat, lightly sand to remove any defects.
5. Finally apply several coats of French polish to give a shiny surface finish.

Job done!

If you have any question feel free to message me.

Snake Didgeridoo: Page 15

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This is AMAZING!!! I'll have to give this a shot :D

If you could manage to put up an electric didge instructable that would be awesome! I have been
looking for one of those for forever!
Hey,
Dunno if you've seen this one:

//www.youtube.com/embed/TxZbGPe8yXE

Probably not quite what you're looking for but still awesome!
Hey mate looks great, my only concerns are with your internal dimensions it looks like a pretty big
bore. How's the back pressure? Also pine seems pretty soft for a Didge? And vids of you playing
it?
Hey,
Really sorry for not replying to everyone. Things have been very hectic this year for me and I
haven't been keeping up with Instructables as much as I'd have liked, sorry.
The bore isn't too bad, gets some really nice resonance. Same with the back pressure, it's a little
harder to get it reverberating than a normal didge but it's just a slightly different style of playing.
True, the pine really wasn't the best wood to use. I'd have much rather got hold of some nice hard
wood but monies prevented that at the time :( Hoping to have a go at making another soon using
some decent hard wood :)
Hopefully get a vid up soon! Looks like I''l have time to put one together now :)
Thanks for the instructable, it inspired me to try it
So i made one from Amaranth (purple wood), Pine, Tigerwood, Acacia.
Has become more edgy than I wanted, but it works.
Now I have to learn circular breathing only ...^^
greetings from Germany :)

Hey!
Greetings from the UK! Wow, that's awesome, nice one :) Glad my Instructable was useful. I love
the combination of woods you have used. The lizard is quality, I was thinking of having a go at
wood burning a similar pattern into mine... think you might have inspired me! :)
Nice to hear from you.
So much work!! Nice job.

I have never heard of a snake didgeridoo before. It looks great! Any chance, that we can hear how
yours sounds?
I'll try and get a video up this evening. I have been meaning to for a while, watch this space :)

Dude, awesome idea. Did it end up sounding good?

Thanks very much, It sounds pretty good. Quite different to the normal didgeridoo I have. I'll try and
get a video up this evening.

Snake Didgeridoo: Page 18

great

This method could be used to make a lovely set of hifi speakers as well!

They would be pretty epic! let me know if you plan to have a go, I'd be interested in seeing the
finished result.
With this innovation dare I say the didgery doo will become common place in marching bands! You
got my vote!
Thanks very much :)

Nice! Thank you!

Beautiful job Tom! I also own a didge and have looked into making a nice one but have always
been turned off by materials and my bad tools. Good job doing it
Cheers!
Hope you get a chance to have a go at making one. It was really good fun!
Love it tom.

Thanks!

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