Before the article............

"EDITORIAL": I am SO dismayed to see a Swiss-made hang drum sell for almost 
$10,000 on E-bay!! All this can serve to do is jack the price up across the 
board and make these beautiful instruments only affordable to the rich. 
I see my sincere desire to someday have my own slipping away from me! 

Later note:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
PLEASE NOTE: A real, Swiss-made hang drum is VERY difficult to obtain 
these days. A ray of hope is on the horizon however-- Pantheon Steel, 
a maker of beautiful steel drums ("steel pans") is researching and 
experimenting -- with the intention of producing hang drums (under 
a different name) for sale. Please contact them at pantheonsteel.com 
and encourage them! They're looking for signs of interest at this time.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This thing was born of frustration at being infatuated
with the hang-Drum, but not being able to do anything
about it, their being unavailable, short of travelling
to Switzerland. 

So -- what to do ?  --- Invent something that has the
same playing layout as a hang drum & plays with a 
similar slappytapping hand action. Thus this PVC "beauty"
(yeah, they're golf-balls!)

I've worked all the bugs out of this thing and it sounds 
good - just not much like a metal hang. Using stock bronze-
wound guitar strings, as you might expect, it sounds somewhat 
like a guitar, but, I think, pleasingly different. In any 
event, it's a real instrument and a whole lot of fun to play.

Having strings and adjustable tuning gears, you can put this
instrument in any hang scale you wish very easily. I have been 
fascinated with D minor pentatonic, where mine remains most of
the time. It sounds in the same octave as a metal hang-Drum.

Most of the parts are readily available at any lumber/hardware store.
A few of the items can be bought at Wal-Mart. I got the guitar tuning 
gears from elderly.com for about $11. Strings came from Wal-Mart
(their "First Act" brand which was on sale for a buck a set (two sets
are needed to get enough of the proper gauge strings for this instrument).
The tube was made from a single piece of 1/4" Luan mahogany handi-panel
that cost $4 at Home Depot. Total cost for this stringed "hang-Drum" was 
on the order of $20 (June, 2007 prices).
 .
Like a lot of things on my webpage, not much is critical or fussy --
not the tube diameter, heigth, length of striker mechanisms, etc.
A few things might better be made closely though:
- Make the slot in D just fit H -- not too loose or tight.
- Location of the brad-hole in G
- The whapper-head ("I") is made wide so it won't ever miss the string.
  Make sure it's "aimed" properly.
- Ensure that the loose joint where A meets G IS loose (but not too loose).
That's about all the somewhat fussy stuff. 

The Low D ("ding") string & mechanism, being mostly mounted inside the tube, 
is not the easiest to install -- I made a temporary "jig" ("W") that greatly
eased this installation.

By experimenting with where the hole in "G" was drilled, I got the "action"
down to a very easy 3/8" (ie: golf-ball half moves 3/8" when tapped).
In this light, make sure the pony-tail rubber-bands are light-weight and
long enough so "pushing-pressure" at the golf-ball is just enough to 
reset the mechanism. A heavier band makes it hard to push.

This choice of guitar strings maintains the same string-tension as on a guitar:
- For the Low "D" (the central "ding")--- use a guitar Low E string & make 
  string-length _(tba)_mm long
- For the Low A --- use a guitar A string, make string-length _(tba)_mm long
- For the Low C --- use a guitar D string & make string-length _(tba)_mm  long
- For the D --- use a guitar D string, make string-length _(tba)_mm  long
- For the F --- use a guitar G string & make string-length _(tba)_mm long
- For the G --- use a guitar G string, make string-length _(tba)_mm long
- For the High A--- use a guitar B string & make string-length _(tba)_mm long
- For the High C --- use a guitar B string & make string-length _(tba)_mm long

Dennis Havlena - W8MI 
Mackinac Straits, northern Michigan
6/24/07

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