Portable didgeridoo

The construction of an inexpensive didgeridoo out of plastic pipe is well documented on various sites. In summary, all is needed is a 120cm long piece of 40mm waste pipe with a beeswax mouth-piece. This is quick to build and gives a surprisingly good sound with a pitch of around D2, the D two octaves below middle C .

This article describes how you can chop the pipe into sections that can be quickly reassembled into a working didg with no appreciable effect on its acoustic properties. The sections are small enough to be carried in a rucksack and can be reassembled in seconds.

All you will need is an extra few inches of the same pipe, a hacksaw, a piece of A4 paper, a pencil, a set-square, a file and some fine emery paper.

Step 1

Cut the 120cm pipe into three equal 40cm pieces, keeping the cut edges as square as possible. This will allow a more accurate join. Lacking any fancy equipment, I found the easiest way to do this was to make a pencil mark on the pipe where I wanted to cut, then wrap an A4 sheet of paper around the pipe so that the top edges of the paper tube are aligned and that the top of the paper tube lines up with the pencil mark. Now use the paper as a guide to draw a circumference around the tube. Using a fine hacksaw blade, carefully cut the pipe. Run a set-square around the cut edge to check the accuracy of the cut. Make fine adjustments with a file or sandpaper block if necessary.

Step 2

We now have three short pipes that need to be joined. The trick is to use a short length of the same pipe to make an internal collar (see left) that can be used to join the pipes as shown in Step 3.

The challenge here is to cut out a 50mm section of the pipe so that when inserted into a didg section, it grips enough - but not too much. A bit of maths shows that we need to cut out a section that is 2*π *T where T is the thickness of the pipe wall and π =3.14. Given the inaccuracies of hand-cutting, an approximation of 6T is fine. So, if the pipe wall is 2mm thick we need to cut out a channel 12mm wide.

Step 3

Insert the collar approximately halfway into a didg section. If the collar is too large, press the jaws of the cut collar onto a double-sided file to make fine adjustments. The fit should be snug but if necessary, super glue can be used to anchor one end while silicon lube can be used on the exposed end.

The portability aspect is really useful and I have used mine at the end of walks to caves in the Lake District in the UK

Step 4

Create a mouth piece. Melt bees wax in a small bowl and repeatedly dip the last 15mm of the end of one of the 40cm pieces in the wax, waiting a while in between each dip to keep building up the layers. Aim for a 25mm mouthpiece - you can always add or remove wax to suit your style of playing. Use a warmed knife to remove the wax that has set beyond the outer circumference of the tube and again use a warmed knife to clean the inside of the pipe.

Bonus: making a variable length didg

By using difference lengths of pipe, one can easily assemble a small set of pipe sections that are portable and can be combined in different permutations to provide a range of pitches. For example, if you make a fourth section the same as other three, but cut it into 3 sub-sections in the ratio 1:2:4 you gain a lot of flexibility.

Length Adjustment

Using these additional pieces, one can easily construct a range of sizes between 80cm and 160cm.

Bear in mind that while this will give a wide range of frequencies, they are unlikely to be in concert pitch.

Concert pitch

If concert pitch is important to you, refer to the chart on the left. The bore of the pipe can also affect this though its effect is minimal.

Edited 15-Jan-2024

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