I have a rawhide former drum head sitting nearby - I used to build drums like those in that video, but I couldn't sell them, so I stopped making them. But hearing them played reminds me why I used to do such things.
Mamady:
I called him "Mon petit frere" as he is a month younger than I am.
I used to make djembes, but once again, I just barely managed to sell what I made. I started with a neighbor's maple log pictured below on the lower right:
Then I turned a djembe with its shape based on the thrust nozzle of a Saturn V rocket:
It is loud, but not Saturn V loud.
Today I finished a red cedar (Juniperus Virginiana) robox:
But wait, there is more:
19 comments:
Sixty, I burst out laughing when I saw your new Robox. He's close to being darn cute--but that means I have to admit that my cuteness meter dinged.
Thank you, MamaM. I had an idea, sawed and planed most all of the ERC I could find lying around the place, spent way too much time trying to figure out how to put the pieces together in a way that worked for me, and I guess what I am trying to say is that after working and thinking about that thing for so long I am too close to it - I have no idea how it be received by others. So thank you for the positive feed back.
Next week - silver maple, away!
Do you call this robox "The Flasher"?
Aw, it's too late!
Is Ray still alive?? Yeaaahhhh, he is! Seventy-nine years old.
In the days when the only entertainment aboard our van was me reading aloud or whatever we had to put in the tape player, Ray's was one of the cassettes we listened to over and over, until we could do some of the parts from memory, with Mississippi Squirrel Revival as a favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K16fG1sDagU
Love the third photo “Stihl Life With Log”
That drum is gorgeous. And that's a mighty fine trench coat Robox is wearing, mmmm...cedar.
I am going to Stihl that joke, ChicklitBotSky.
Waterproof, deborah!
So many musical instruments, so little time. I'd like to try to learn to play a hang drum, but good ones run into the thousands and there are ridiculous waiting lists from the best manufacturers. The biggest problem is not being a hipster douchebag. I'd look even more stupid than those losers playing one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk3BvNLeNgw
Another instrument that cost prohibitive is the hurdy gurdy. Wild instrument, but good ones are pricey. Too much money to indulge a whim. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypuaJLHK_LQ Things get wild after the 2:00 mark, when he uses a looper and lets it rip.
While this Robox is open to showing off what he's got to sell, I trust him to close the deal--he's got a great head atop a fine set of shoulders!
Wonderful work.
Great whittling.
Great looking and must smell great. How apropos the Saturn V reference... good job!
Yes, I was going to put in a cedar fence, but now I might have to downgrade. I have basement leakage issues that entail digging down to the foundation on at least one side, possibly two.
Have you had a lot of rain there, deborah?
Yes, it was a rather long, cold rainy spring. Summer came late, even for NE Ohio. We've had some beautiful days recently, pleasant and breezy. It's trying to rain today.
I like the rocket drum. Did you also make the top and tie all those strings together? It would seem that's a profession in itself.
Heading a drum is an interesting skill set. I took the drum and the rings and the rope over to a drum building seminar. I soaked the goat skin, draped it over the top of the drum, installed the rings, tied on all the ropes, and tensioned it. I have built wooden tools to facilitate the weaving of the ropes and I have a puller that allows me to apply more tension than is possible by hand power alone.
There is a rope that is wrapped around the base that you weave in and out of the verticals to tension the head the correct amount, creating a diamond pattern. That one got tight and produced a good note with just a few rows of diamonds. After it dried for a while I worked with a guy from West Africa to shave the fur off the goat hide using a razor blade. The trick is to get all the fur off without nicking the skin.
So this guy, a character from Guinea or Mali or some place, had drunk all the booze in the house the night before, he was chain smoking Marlboros, and was shirtless and sweating like a hog in the summer heat and humidity. Ere long he was completely covered with goat fur - you can't make up this stuff. I pulled up my shirt to show him my hairy belly (mine is all attached) and said "See, we are twins!". I am glad that he found that amusing.
I knew it. There's no way you would make a drum like that without building it to perfection, and going to whatever lengths necessary to learn how to do it. Thanks for sharing the methods of a master, including getting a laugh out of an African drum maker who needed a drink. He sounds like the sort of fellow who would know how to use all kinds of sharp tools and knives.
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