Some while ago Teresa asked me to make a bodhran style drum for one of her service users (a chap called Angus). So, eventually, I did. It was fun. And Angus apparently loves it.
So I decided to make another, for my own use. Both were made from the same old 13” drum-kit tom, stripped of hardware (holes filled!), and the cheap and horrible drum wrap it had previously sported.
Teresa has persuaded me to try selling it. And possibly start doing this as a bit of a low key hobby that might even bring in a bit of money. So I’m going to give it a shot.
Talking of ‘shot’, here are a few very short video clips of me that Teresa shot on my iPhone, in the garden today, attempting to play this drum. I’m a kit drummer, primarily. And I think these videos might reflect that. I ought to play hand drums more. It’s fun!
The above video is kind of holding the drum in a traditional hand drum manner. Some hand drums, like the bodhran, can have wooden beams inside the, across the diameter of the drum. Some times just one (like the I made for Angus), sometime two, 90° to each other. This drum has no such internal beams.
The next three videos I’m playing the drum on my lap. I probably should’ve put it between my knees. To stop it bouncing around and moving. I might do some more practice (and maybe some videos?) in that line.
I’ve advertised the drum on Facebook Marketplace. And I’ll also be putting it up on Etsy, Reverb, eBay, Gumtree, and anywhere else I can.
Annoyingly FB Marketplace limits me to just one video. So I added the following six photos.
This drum, like the bodhran before it, was made from the shell of a drum, from an old drum kit. I have four complete drum kits, and lots of other sundry drums and bits ’n’ pieces.
I’ve always wanted to make my own drums – drum set drums, that is – in a variety of ways: stave construction, ply, or even solid shells. But I’m not at that point yet. For now working with existing shells is challenge enough.
I spray painted Angus’ bodhran, in matt black. And then added numerous coats of silk lacquer. So it’s a little shiny, but not high gloss. This drum is just the wood, which I think is a maple outer ply, over birch inner plys.
The skin is a goat skin, ordered off Amazon UK. When I made Angus’ drum, the skin arrived in a card tube. This one came only wrapped in a thin bin liner! Our kitten, Chester, smelt the gamey animal smell, and attacked. He shredded the packaging, and even chewed the skin itself.
Luckily he only nibbled one edge, and I was able to soak, stretch and glue it onto the frame, and cut away the damaged part.
Both of the drums I’ve made so far have used this gorgeous black and white herringbone patterned ‘fabric tape’. I love it. But for future projects I may try skin variations, such as a patterned fabric.
Sometimes hand drums also have metal tacks, for a belt ’n’ braces approach to securing the skin. I’ve got some, but chose not to use them on this drum. Mostly ‘cause I just love the fabric. Herringbone textiles are my bag, baby!
I’m keen to make some larger hand-drums, perhaps with a thicker heavier skin? I want to w able to get deeper bass notes than either of my 13” drums produce. But this still sounds great.
Unlike pretty much all kit drums, and nowadays a lot of hand drums, because the skin is glued on, tuning is kind of fixed. I say kind of because the tuning will change with heat and humidity.