We would like to present some aspects of our process of making didgeridoo to give you better understanding and insight in the instruments themselves.

There is no general rule in Duende that we follow. All instruments get their own attention, and from that attention and observation, from the inspiration during the process, an instrument is made.

There are generally two different ways of making didgeridoo in the House of Duende, those being:

Monodidges and Hybrididges.

Monodidges are in short “one piece” didgeridoos. That means they are made from one piece of wood (mostly eucalyptus), which was one throughout the process of crafting and is still one piece in the end.

Hybrididges are all the other didgeridoos. They can be made of more monodidges, of same or different kind of wood, of laminated wood, of wood and possibly other material… – no holds barred.

However, all Duende didgeridoos are DRILLED and CHISELED. We chose this method of making didgeridoo because it allows us to create (almost) any shape, in a very logical way, and with the added possibility of checking and altering the sound in any stage. When an instrument is drilled, a hole is (hopefully) done in a controlled way. Thus you can start from a hole you wanted, whereas when termites create a hole, there is already a starting form. Some rare Duende didges were started by termites, usually some (very) big ones. Drilling easily makes cylinders where you want them. Chiseling makes cones where you want them. Combined they make most of the possible shapes of a didgeridoo. A very special advantage of making didgeridoo in this manner is that you can check the sound while still working on the instrument. This means the process of making is not ‘one lucky shot’. Rather, it can be guided precisely to the point where you and the wood wish to meet.

Making Didgeridoo-ende: process description

Most of Duende didgeridoos are made of eucalyptus. The following process is common to all.

Curing

Wood is seasoned as raw material. This lasts for at least a year, sometimes much more. Later, as the instrument is progressing, wood is seasoned even more, until it becomes completely dry and stable. Big trunks are shaped in the saw mill on the 75kW bandsaw. Smaller logs are not processed prior to drilling.

Drilling

Drilling takes place on a horizontal drill with possibility of making 3 meter holes, i.e. 6 meter monodidges – at least in theory. ;-) Since 2009, Duende didgeridoos have had a new drilling mechanism, constructed by Croatian inventor Ivan Prijatelj. The new machine results in much less physically involving and more precise process of making didgeridoo. Using many different drill bits, a basic hole is made.

Rough shaping

Some parts of wood are removed using a saw, some using a planer. The instrument is made into an object lighter than 50 kg which can be handled for sound check relatively easily.

Chiseling

This is where the instrument arises. It is done using up to 3 meter long chisels. This is the main cause of the Duende didgeridoo sound. After making a basic hole, the instrument is checked for sound more than a hundred times before it is complete. This actually means one hundred instruments were made before One was chosen. Making didgeridoo from ‘one shot’ is possible, but being able to change it once you hear it creates a difference in sound. And that can be a world of difference.

Read more about chiseling from Danka’s view.

Tuning

Tuning is done during the chiseling process, by ear and by tuner. After rough tuning, the didgeridoo is taken to the studio. There it is checked with the sound of piano, and still fine tuned by cutting slices or prolonging it with short mouthpiece extensions. It must be said that after being in hundreds of tuning situations, some of which were very dilemmatic, there is a conclusion in Duende didgeridoos about tuning. Read more about it in the article on tuning the didgeridoo.

Inlaying

Inlaying is done to fill holes and cracks or handmade carvings with stones and minerals. They say if you want to take a piece of information from a place, take a stone, because it’s been there for a long long time… And the combination of these two earth-bond materials – wood and stone – is fascinating to us. Minerals are chosen for their color, opacity, glow, hardness and other factors. Minerals currently used are: Fuchsite, Agate, Jasper, Calcite, Quartz, Sodalite and Hematite.

Finishing

Since there is not one perfect and best wood finish, finishing options in Duende also vary.

The hardest and very vapor resistant finish we use is epoxy resin. It is a two component adhesive  not harmful when dried, but since it is also NOT the most natural product, and we strongly believe these are the times to go natural, epoxy is being reduced to a minimum in Duende didgeridoo.

Oils are often used, either in combination with other oils or with waxes. Only very ecological products of highest quality are considered. More about the topic soon.

Shellac and French polish are in preparation…


Hybrididges: process description

Hybrididges are done in so many various ways that the process of making didgeridoo of this kind cannot be described as clearly as for monodidges.

The most frequent situation is making didgeridoo from laminated eucalyptus blocks/boards. The process is similar to making monodidges, except it is not one piece of wood that is processed, but a laminated block, which is drilled, chiseled, and so forth.

There are two advantages to this method. One is that laminated wood is more stable than unlaminated wood, and it is as massive as a one piece instrument – the instrument is not in any way deprived of the eucalyptus acoustical properties. The second advantage is that due to predrilling, the hole can be made in a little bit more controlled way, which allows more precise post hollowing process.

There is no visible joint, wood pieces are joined perfectly. If the glue is correctly applied, the joint is even stronger than the wood itself. The only thing that arises from this joint is a difference in wood color visible in some areas.

I cannot say I hear a difference in sound between monodidges and hybrididges. I simply cannot extract the sound of the joint out from what is heard. I either don’t have ears magical enough or the difference is simply not apparent.

On the other hand, making didgeridoo as monodidge is more holistic process – the energy of the wood has been kept in the integrity of the wood piece that had been worked on. We cannot go into depth here, because we don’t understand cosmic reasons, but if wood doesn’t like being separated, monodidges don’t have a problem with it at all!

Two (or more piece) didgeridoos have the advantage of being transportable. The catch in crafting such an instrument is that because of the joint, inner chiseling is somewhat restricted. Even with already known shapes, instruments are always at least fine tuned through (fine) chiseling. And if this modification collides with the joint place, then it is simply undoable, and some compromises have to be made.

This is why big one-piece-monsters are loved and cherished in the house of Duende – because of their uncompromisabilty.