Web-page of Dennis Havlena
ARTICLES HERE INCLUDE DIY HOW-TO-BUILD SIMPLE
BUT NICE SOUNDING/PLAYING FOLK INSTRUMENTS.
This webpage has been online for approaching 25 years.
I have been tinkering with instruments for over twice that long.
CLICK
HERE TO SEE PHOTOS FROM MY WORKSHOP IN AFRICA
Anyone overseas want me to do a workshop? No pay needed, just flight & expenses. dhavlena@gmail.com.
CLICK
HERE for a short video showing several instruments being played
Pantheon Steel, long-time maker
of steel drums is making and selling
their excellent "Halo" hand-pans.
Click HERE for more
information.
Re. the Hapi Drum Mini - I'm very impressed with the tone
& volume out of it. For more information click HERE
MY FRIEND DUDU BA IN DAKAR, SENEGAL, MAKES AND SELLS
ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL OBJECTS OUT OF GOURDS (CALABASHES)
CLICK
HERE TO SEE MORE EXAMPLES OF HIS WORK
ACE CRAFTSMAN DAVID KRONBERG HAS MADE AVAILABLE
BLUEPRINTS/PLANS FOR CONSTRUCTING THREE DIFFERENT
STYLES OF VERY HIGH-CLASS HURDY GURDIES.
CLICK HERE
FOR INFORMATION ABOUT OBTAINING
DAVE'S PLANS
PLEASE CHECK OUT THE CD "COOKIES AND CAKE"
BY FRIEND ELEANOR KING MD
CLICK
HERE to hear a short segment from Eleanor's CD
CLICK
HERE for more information about this CD
MUSIC
RELATED ARTICLES (my articles & ideas):
BAGPIPE:
- How to make a set of real Highland pipes from PVC piping
- Construct pipe bags from naugahyde/vinyl
- Simple bellows for smallpipes &
Uillean bagpipes
- Build a bagpipe practice goose from a
wine-box bladder
- Make an extremely quiet chanter for pipe
practice, from a tinwhistle
- Build a simple, foolproof check-valve for
Highland pipes
- Build this Bagpipe case with room for
everything
- The only bagpipe tune I ever wrote -
'Richard Longstaffe of Ormond'
BANJO:
- A thumbpick for playing clawhammer banjo that actually works
- How to double the life of certain metal-wrapped strings
- Pitch reference built for a few cents
- Simple 3-string banjo made from a tennis racquet
- Yet another simple, very inexpensive banjo -- this one fretless
- Fretting the above fretless banjo made it my all-time favorite banjo
- 3 instruments in one - Banjo, Bouzouki & Tenor Guitar - conversion
- How to make a 5 string CELLO-BANJO
- How to make a 5 string GOURD BANJO
- How to salvage a gourd that's started to go bad while drying
- Make a 3 string fretless banjo from a cookie
tin
- Ukulele to 5-string "Uke-jo" (uke/banjo) quick conversion
- Build a simple 5-string fretless banjo in a
weekend
- Fiddle & banjo written music for the old-time
tune "Gilsaw"
- I find it FAR easier to "claw-hammer" a banjo using
nylon strings instead of steel
- Some hard-earned advice on learning how to play an instrument
BASS:
- Easily convert a cello into a very nice acoustic mini-bass
- Make a real, 4-string upright bass using an
upright washtub
- Acoustic, fretless bass made
from an old guitar body. 40" string-length
- Acoustic, fretted bass made from an old
guitar in a couple hours. Very easy.
- Oversized acoustic bass -
construction simplified by kerfing the sides. See picture below
- Build this acoustic or electric
"Doodle-bass" (4 string, 40" string-length) for a few dollars
- Turn the Doodle-Bass into a great
sounding Electric Upright Bass for a few dollars
- A simple way to make a very low
cost, fully adjustable electric bass guitar bridge
- Build a Bass Kalimba - a String Bass
Alternative
- Chart showing 2-note chord
pairs for bass
- Charts
for easily converting standard bass notation into bass
tablature
- Bass clef to bass fingerboard
relationship chart (15 frets)
- Bass clef to bass fingerboard
relationship chart (22 frets)
- How to set up an upright bass
- Make & install upright bass
bridge adjusters (for installing commercial adjusters too)
- Build this low-cost, sturdy
Upright Bass playing/storing stand
- Make a simple wash-tub bass
- I very much like my Chinese-made
Cremona SB-1 Upright Bass - A short review
- My comments about Chris Badynee's excellent cardboard bass
BOWED PSALTERY:
- Make a bowed psaltery
DIDJERIDU:
- Ready-made didjeridu sold at K-Mart for 97
cents
FIDDLE:
- Fine-tuners scuffing fiddle faceplate? A very easy fix
- Convert a regular fiddle into a Hardanger
fiddle
- Fiddle-Gurdy -- a VERY easily built hurdy gurdy
that fingers like a fiddle
- How to make a fiddle very quiet - for late night
diddling
GUITAR (& GUITAR CONVERSIONS):
- NEW - Just changing the strings on 12-string guitar turns it into a fine bouzouki.
- How I converted a busted up guitar to a Bouzouki/octave mandolin
CLICK
HERE to hear a short clip of this instrument being played
- An easy way to use zither pins to replace the leather-rings on a kora
- African Kora tune reworked for guitar (tablature) - Alla La Ke
- Make an Oud by converting a 6 or 12 string guitar
- How to re-tune a 12 or 6 string Guitar to simulate an Arabic Oud
- Home-made Steel Capo
- 3 instruments in one - Banjo, Bouzouki & Tenor Guitar - conversion
- a Fretless Guitar in an hour
- How to make a Hurdy Gurdy from a guitar
- Kerfing the sides of a guitar-family
instrument greatly simplifies construction
- Acoustic, fretless bass made
from an old guitar body. 40" string-length
- Acoustic, fretted bass made from an old
guitar in a couple hours. Very easy.
- How to convert a Guitar into an
Octave-Mandolin
- Pitch reference built for a few cents
HAMMERED DULCIMER:
- Build a conduit-tubing dulcimer
(includes a jpg photo)
- How to build a simple 12-course Hammered
Dulcimer
HAND-PAN (INSTRUMENTS THAT PLAY SIMILAR TO A HAND-PAN/HANG):
- Build a 23 string, 10 note, 2 string per note 'kora' hybrid that emulates a handpan/hang"
- Build a "Goni-Pan" -- Simulates Hand-Pan -- Can be tuned to any Hand-Pan scale
- Template for Senegalese/French 6kg propane tank Hank-Drums"
- Another invention -- a simple 8 note pentatonic "Bala-Pan", with notes arranged
similar to a Hand-Pan (Halo, Hang etc) - inspired by the W. African Balafon
- Blue-Man Group type PVC instrument inspired by the hand-pan/hang"
- PVC tube, Ake-Bono scaled instrument inspired by the hand-pas/hang"
- Making a stringed instrument inspired by the hand-pan/hang"
- HANK DRUM (inspired by the hand-pan/hang) made from a propane tank
- Making a Hank drum with same scale & pitch as PantheonSteel's Halo
HARP:
- Simple, inexpensive wire-strung, 22-string Celtic Harp
- 22-string Celtic Harp built around a mountain dulcimer body
HURDY GURDY:
- How to build a hurdy gurdy for under $20
- How to add a 2nd melody string to the $20 Hurdy
Gurdy
- Fiddle-Gurdy -- a VERY easily built hurdy gurdy
that fingers like a fiddle
- How to make a Hurdy Gurdy from a guitar
- Dave Kronberg's hurdy gurdy plans for sale
INDIAN INSTRUMENTS:
- Home-made Esraj --- instrument from India
- Make a near zero-cost Indian
Tamboura. Sound sample & photos included
KALIMBA/MBIRA
- Build a "KORIMBA" (a Kalimba that
plays like a KORA)
- Build a Bass Kalimba - a String Bass
Alternative
- Bobby-pin Kalimba
- 2-octave kalimba made from lawn-rake tines
- Popsicle-stick kalimba, by Dorothy May
,br>
KORA:
- New idea. pitched an octave-higher, short Kora. DIY instructions
- My most successful, most traditional DIY Kora - full building instructions
- Easy kora conversion -- leather-ring tuners to zither pins"
- Build a 23 string, 10 note, 2 string per note 'kora' hybrid that emulates a handpan/hang"
- Kora tune reworked (tablature) for guitar - Alla La Ke
- Easy tablature system for the west African Kora
- DIY AKONTING - an ancestor of our 5-string banjo
- Information about solid Spruce-soundboard, full sized kora
- How to install guitar-type geared tuners on a Kora neck that has leather tuning rings
- N'KORA -- 10 string 2-notes per course N'goni converted from a Kora
- Plywood top, bare bones "practice/learning" Kora
- Quest for the least expensive DIY Kora - full plans
- 20 "new" Kora-related photos from my trip to Africa (scroll to bottom of page to see)
- Build a "Goni-Pan" -- Simulates a Hand-Pan/hang -- Can be tuned to ANY Hand-Pan/hang scale
- How to build a Burkina-Faso, African Goni. Similar to the "Goni-Pan". See bottom of this article
- Harp-Kora using guitar-type tuning gears - very nice sound
- Make a Kora using a snare drum instead of a calabash (gourd)
- Make a simple, easier-to-tune replacement neck for a leather-ring (konso)
African Kora neck
- How I built a Northern Michigan KORA. 16 new photos added
- Make a "Harp-Kora" -- a simple 2-sided
harp that plays like a KORA. 19 new photos added
- Build a "KORIMBA" (a Kalimba that
plays like a KORA)
- Build a cake-tin KORA. Altho I now own an African Kora & have built several others, this is what I do the bulk of my learning & figuring on. 24 new pics.
- How to salvage a gourd that's started to go bad while drying
- Anatomy of a failed Kora building experiment
MANDOLIN (OCTAVE) & BOUZOUKI:
- Just changing the strings on 12-string guitar turns it into a fine bouzouki.
- How I converted a busted up guitar to an octave mandolin
CLICK
HERE to hear a short clip of this instrument being played
- 3 instruments in one - Banjo, Bouzouki & Tenor Guitar - conversion
- How to convert a Guitar into an
Octave-Mandolin
MUSICAL SAW:
- Musical Saw - how to find one & play it
(inexpensively)
MUSICAL STRINGS:
- NEW: $1 micrometer - very useful for checking string gauges
- Renew the sound of wound, metal strings by
boiling them
- Make wound music strings
- K-Mart/Wal-Mart sells 400' of
e-string for $2.99
NON-MUSICAL INVENTIONS & IDEAS:
- Roast raw pumpkin seeds in microwave in 3 minutes
- HOW TO MAKE HIGH-QUALITY 3D PHOTOGRAPHS WITHOUT A STEREO CAMERA
- Simple do-it-yourself test for Sleep-Apnea
- Second handle added to a shovel makes
it almost fun to dig
- Cat-box stink?? Try this
- Beanbag Horseshoes - a fun game
- Make a pressman's hat
ODD NOISEMAKERS AND IDEAS:
- How to salvage a gourd that's started to go bad while drying
- A very temporary "clarinet" made from
the stalk of a zucchini plant
- Ukulele to 5-string "Uke-jo" (uke/banjo) quick conversion
- Build a "whirligig"
- Two "Involuntary Twangamadiddles"
- A very simple and effective type of nut
- A very simple Key-Changing Chart
- Using "Audacity" (free program) to facilitate tune learning
- Pitch reference built for a few cents
ARABIC OUD:
- Make an Oud by converting a 6 or 12 string guitar
- How to re-tune a 12 or 6 string Guitar to simulate an Arabic Oud
ORIGINAL MUSIC:
- The only bagpipe tune I ever wrote -
'Richard Longstaffe of Ormond'
- A slip-jig (9/8 jig) my brother
and I wrote years ago
PENNYWHISTLES, FLUTES & FIFES:
- Instant dollar-store echo/reverb for your
tinwhistle (with sound sample)
- Make a "flex-fife" from 3/4"D x 1/8"
wall clear, flexible tubing for about $1
- How to make a low D tinwhistle
- Add a drone to your tinwhistle
- Turn a tinwhistle into a "no-hole,
bugle-scaled" whistle
TAMBIROS -- VERY NEAT INSTRUMENTS MADE FROM VARIOUS
HELIUM & PROPANE TANKS:
- Make Tambiro safely from an unused 20 lb LP tank
- Make a tambiro - from an empty helium or freon tank
- How I made a smaller-version of the above tambiro
from an small camping-type propane cylinder LP
XYLOPHONES:
- 2-1/2 octave conduit-tubing xylophone"
- Very simple Kid's "xylophone"
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How to play "Amazing Grace" on the Bagpipe -
note for note
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MUSIC RELATED ARTICLES (other folk's articles &
ideas)
PLEASE NOTE: IT HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY HARD TO KEEP UP-TO-DATE
WITH EVER-CHANGING LINK ADDRESSES. PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF SOME LINKS HERE
DO NOT WORK. AS I HAVE TIME I'LL TRY TO FIX THEM:
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- Webpage of
friend Sam King - ace musician, songwriter & otherwise multitalented
individual
-
LDS's Pedigree Resource File. My (searchable) family tree is now
on this system (Later note: see link to new info below)
-
Ancestry World Tree. My (searchable) family tree is now
on this system too (Later note: see link to new info below)
-
Old Family Photos (on my wife's side and mine). I have lots more.
- Tree of my Havlena ancestors including much NEW INFO yet to be sent to LDS
- GEDCOM file of my entire genealogical data
including NEW INFORMATION that has not yet been submitted to the LDS system. BE SURE TO IMPORT NOTES
- Havlena family in Zahrobi, Bohemia - short
family tree
- Aerial photo of Zahrobi, Bohemia. Havlena houses are numbered)
- Sketch I made of house #24, Zahrobi,
Bohemia, where my Gt Grandpa, Josef Havlena was born in 1851
- Fahndrich family in Allfeld, Germany - short
family tree
- Descendants of my 5th Great Grandfather
Mathias Becker, from Peterswald, Rhineland Pralz, Germany
- Chart: Ancestors of Dennis Havlena (me)(Updated July 18, 2018)
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Dennis Havlena -
W8MI (formerly W8UR, KL7GRQ, WA8DDI)
I am a dual-citizen, Canada and the United States.
The URL of this webpage is:
http://www.DennisHavlena.com
Please note:
Things have gotten extremely busy
around here. I apologize
that I may not be able to
answer e-mail in a timely fashion.
If you e-mail me, please mention musical instruments
prominently in the subject line -- I get tons of spam daily.
Copyright 2018 Dennis Havlena
The URL of this webpage, for many years WAS
http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/ or
http://edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/
