How to Make a Tongue Drum (or Log or Slit Drum)

Making a tongue drum is something that
had been on my list for quite a while.

I knew it was going to
be quite a challenge

so I decided to eliminate as
many variables as possible

so that the margin for
error would be smaller.

I began researching intensively
and watched all the videos

I could find on people making these drums

watched videos of drums that
are out there for sale

searched for woods, joinery, design
and all that stuff.

Eventually, what I decided to make
was a copy of a Shlagwerk log drum.

It took me a while to go
further in each step

because the last thing I wanted to end up
with was a horrible sounding instrument

and call it a failure or
remaking parts of the process

so I tried to be cautious
and think 100 times

before cutting into actual
material and so on.

If you do a bit of research
you will find that

most tongue drums have
padauk or wangi wood tops

and that's because these woods
are more musical than others.

I don't know much about this

but all I can say is that they vibrate
and reverberate in specific ways

that allow for better, fuller and
easier to achieve notes.

It's probably due to their density
and hardness but not just that.

So I started by preparing the wangi
and after close observation

of the Shlagwerk drum I noticed that
the top is not a single piece.

It's made out of 4 strips,
so that's what I did.

I also did it because my timber
was a bit twisted

and this way I could obtain a flat board

without as much wood removal.

Here you can hear
the difference in the sound

when the pieces are being
held in different spots.

For the box sides I used three-quarter
inch Baltic birch plywood

and routed rabbets on the bottom
and sides on the router table.

You’ll want to use high quality materials
and not cheap plywood

as it may affect the sound in the end.

I planed it carefully removing a
very small amount on each pass

until the board was 14 mm
or a little over half an inch.

I also made a groove in the
middle of one of the largest faces

to inlay a strip of wangi.

There are many ways of cutting the keys

but since I had made the template
on the computer

I sent a file over to the X-carve and
had it carving the lines

with a 1/16 straight bit.

You can also use a jigsaw or scroll saw
and create other shapes for the keys.

Steve Carmichael has a great video
on how to make a tongue drum

and he uses a jigsaw.

Since wangi is very splintery wood
I made a second pass

with a V-bed to get a smoother
look and feel.

I made the top edges level
and glued the top

using two pieces of wood
with a slight arc

on them that will act as bow clamps.

These are great for when
you have a small number

of clamps and need to make
pressure along the entire edge

using just one clamp on each end.

I flush trimmed the box and
rounded over all the edges.

After all, this is a musical instrument

and your hands will be all over the place

so it's nice to make it
round and comfortable.

I was still not getting good results
so I sat back and did more research

and I found a video from KR2 wood

explaining his process for tuning his drum

and how adding more mass to the box sides

would bring the keys to
a better tone and vibration.

So, I found some hard maple scraps

and glued them super
tight into both sides.

Always make sure that
your glue ups are perfect

because a bad glue joint
will mess with the final sound.

I should have made the walls
thicker from the beginning

and that way I could start
fresh on the tuning

but I kept going and it
eventually worked fine.

So, here I am hitting the keys and

writing down which note I was getting.

Then went back and forth
removing material

until the desired note was achieved.

You can change about two tones

so, let's say you are getting a C
and you want to go up to an E

then it should work

but if you're getting a C and you
want to go up to a G or down to a G

it's going to be super hard
or even impossible.

That's why the size of
the keys also matters

and a bigger tongue is
never going to go up

to match a super small tongue.

To tune it up you have to remove
material from the tip of the tongue

and if you want to go down you remove
material from the back of the tongue

where it meets the rest of the board.

What I noticed is that removing
material on a perpendicular line

is much more effective
than drilling larger holes.

Just be careful not to drill
all the way through

or even make part of the tongue
too thin and fragile.

After I was satisfied with the tuning
I screwed the bottom with lots of screws

to make sure it was fully closed

and the pressure was even
along the entire edge.

I finished off with three coats
of water-based varnish.

Finally, I stuck on four foam pads that
are typically used on drum kit cymbals.

The tongue drum is done and
I think it sounds pretty good

for a first handmade instrument.

If you have any questions feel free
to drop it on the Patreon post

where you can find a PDF with more
details about this build

and a free template.

A big shout out to
Rockler and Inventables

and all my Patreon supporters

and go get your hands dirty.