# Drum-making



## Tikoo Tuba

I hollow out maple log-sections with a chisel , and the skin from a cow bison is my preference for drum-heads . The biggest drum I made has been~ 32'' wide , 20'' deep . I sold it , and the man said it would become a Buddhist temple drum high on a mountain .

Such drums may have up to 5 tones .

For gifts and trade - I like to make little deer drums .


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## Guest

Pix or it didn't happen.


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## Tikoo Tuba

Well , ok today I made a pix of a drum in a Korean-style Opera . And there's a quartet of flutes I have made , and a bird puppet , and also a washtub cello . I don't believe the woman singing has realized the bird of wonder has just arrived . I am sitting with the flutists . There is a traditional painted screen on set .

The sketch is in my public album .

https://www.talkclassical.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=109818&d=1542065917


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## Tikoo Tuba

The drum is very respected , centered .

As for the washtub cello , it's virtue is in its old string from a cello that's got for free . It can be played quite precisely , range 1.5 octave .

I make the flutes from Rio Grande River cane and may tune them to perform as a set .


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## Guest

I mean, show us the instruments you made so we can see the workmanship.


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## Tikoo Tuba

A drum made from a section of log simply appears to have had its bark removed . My large drums are double-headed and cross-laced (as in the sketch ) with one long rawhide strip of lacing . Anyway , sorry I've no camera . If I thought a photo to be important I'd make you a drum and send it to you . So , then you could take a picture of it . Thanks for your interest . I can describe any aspect of making one of these drums that you may be curious about . 

For one simple drum that I enjoy making a found flower pot is the shell - and should I have no hide at hand I'd pray for , look for and skin a road-kill . I've 20 years experience . My interest began with a visit from a magical dancing bird at a site where pioneer prairie settlers had been massacred by Indians . Seems they had made their little settlement on Sacred Ground , that is , so beautiful no one , no tribe , should ever claim it .


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## Tikoo Tuba

I can describe my drum-making tools . The chain saw I almost don't want to mention , but there it is to make the first cut and then forgotten . The rest are hand-tools :

an ordinary 3/4 inch flat chisel
a long chisel made from a 12 in. metal file and a carpenter's hammer handle (gifted by a blacksmith)
one wooden mallet - hickory , self-made
a horse-shoe'ers rasp 
scissors
a hide scraper made from a small axe blade (from a Flathead Rez Montana drum-maker)
a knife or two
tannic acid made from acorns and alcohol
a trimming saw
a little Norwegian scoop chisel


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