Make 3: PVC Didgeridoo

     I've been a musician all my life. I remember singing in church as young as 3, and have been playing piano, guitar, and various other instruments for a long time. I won't say that I play anything with great skill or expertise, but I enjoy making music, and always have. Once, many years ago, my first major in college was Vocal Performance, and I sang in various operas and musicals during that time.

     While that's been some time, I continue to enjoy making music. Over the years, I have taught myself to play, or at least make some noises with, a variety of instruments. One of my favorites is the didgeridoo. I purchased my first one back in the '90s, at a music store in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. It was made of PVC, and I loved it. I've purchased others throughout the years, and have a couple made of bamboo and agave. I also have a traditional eucalyptus didgeridoo that was given to me by a friend from Australia. It's a lovely thing, but I have always found the tone and timbre of my original PVC didgeridoo to be my favorite. So, that is what I am making this week: a PVC didgeridoo, Alaskan style.

     For those of you who don't know, the didgeridoo is one of the oldest instruments in the world. The Aboriginal people of Australia have been playing it for thousands of years. It is a drone instrument, and has a haunting, ancient sound. Actually, to call the didgeridoo a drone instrument is a little bit misleading, since one of the things that makes it so unique is the amazing ability to make a variety of sounds with the instrument. Very similar instruments from the Bronze Age have been discovered in Ireland, and produce similar drone effects. In fact, it is not unusual to find the didgeridoo paired with the other, more famous Celtic drone instrument, the bagpipes. One of my favorite bands, The Wicked Tinkers, incorporate the didgeridoo, the ancient Irish bronze horn, and the Highland bagpipes, creating a style of music they call Tribal Celtic.
     But back to my much less traditional, much more modern version of the didgeridoo. PVC is probably the most easily attainable material for someone who wants to make a didgeridoo. I picked up everything I needed to make two didgeridoos at Home Depot for around fifteen dollars. I looked up a variety of instructions on instructables.com, wikihow.com, and various other sites around the web. My make doesn't follow any one set of instructions, but is a combination of several ideas, with a special Alaskan addition.
     My materials to make one didgeridoo were:

• approx. 5 feet of 1.5 inch diameter PVC pipe

• 1 female-female 1.5 inch coupler
• 1 1.5 inch to 1 inch bushing

• a lump of beeswax ( I forgot to take a picture before I used it, so use your imagination)
• duct tape! (The secret Alaskan ingredient)

     Assembly is fairly easy. You attach to coupler to the pipe, attache the bushing to the coupler, and, if one were super lazy, you could stop right there. I chose to prettify my didgeridoo by wrapping it first with black duct tape, then adding stripes of tie-dye patterned duct tape. I then molded a mouthpiece with the beeswax (the only traditional part of this didgeridoo) for a better seal when playing. Here's the finished product, and a close-up of the beeswax mouthpiece:

     Now, I will be the first to admit that this is not the world's best didgeridoo. It is by no means going to produce the same sounds as a traditional didgeridoo. But, it was fun to make, fun to play, and, if I do say so, looks kinda cool!