This whole process of 20 easy steps takes about 2 hours once you shop for some basics. You'll need: 150 cm of PVC pipe, a pipe connector, 100 g beeswax, a cleaned tin can, a pot of close to boiling water, hack-saw, wood file, measuring tape, halved plastic bottle (clean). Optional extras: permanent marker pens, spray paint primer, spray paint, beeswax lip balm, guitar for tuning, Youtube videos on extra 'wobble' and breathing techniques.
1. Saw a piece of 3-4 cm wide PVC drain-piping down to approximately 120 cm length (eventually it will be 117 cm = D or 104 cm = E tone). File off any shavings of plastic produced.
2. Use a pipe connector for a mouthpiece (this way it can be placed on another pipe of different length for different notes and sounds without the need to create another mouthpiece.
3. Place about 2 golf balls-worth of beeswax and into a cleaned and dried tin can.
4. Place can into pan of water close to boiling point (can is to protect pan from the wax).
5. Take off the heat and take can out of water onto a bench.
6. Take the connector and dip into about 1 cm of the beeswax at the base of the can (you may need to use a pair of pliers to hold the connector low enough).
7. Keep dipping and extracting, allowing layers to cool for a few seconds onto the connector until the beeswax hardens. Reheat the beeswax (I needed to do this 3 times) and continue...it takes about 40 dips!
8. Once a 1 cm thick layer has been deposited and it is still warm start to mould the wax so that there is an even surface (i.e. get rid of the ridges and valleys and drips on the surface by pressing them away).
9. The hole should be about 3 cm wide and taper in then out to join the plastic on the inside.
10. Use an old plastic bottle cut in half with hot-enough-to-only-just-dip-your-finger-in water to dip the mouthpiece in to resoften the beeswax to continue moulding.
11. Mould the inside of the beeswax so that it is slightly oval-shaped (about 3.5 cm wide x 2.5 cm tall to fit the mouth).
12. Push the narrow part of the oval (i.e. the top and bottom) in towards the plastic about 0.5 cm (to fit the teeth/gums).
13. Pinch the sides of the oval so that they make side guards to your mouth for a good seal.
14. When finished, rest in cold water for a minute so that it hardens. Then test out connected to the main tube and reshape if required.
15. Cut the total length of the didge down to tune to an E or D. Higher pitch than an F starts to be tricky to play.
16. Decorate the pipe (not the mouthpiece!) with spray paint (a primer layer may be required) and permanent markers making sure that these dry properly.
17. To detach a firmly fixed mouthpiece you may need to try to bend the connection a little so that it clicks and loosens in order to take it off.
18. If you're struggling to get a good sound, try to make sure you have good seal with your mouth against the beeswax and then just 'blow raspberry'. Beeswax lipbalm applied to your lips and/or the mouthpiece can also help with the seal. If still no joy, then play a D/E note (e.g. bottom string on guitar) and encourage your raspberry down to that note.
19. You actually end up breathing out quite slowly and can sustain about 20s of sound in one breath. Play around with your 'wobble' and introduce some of your voice/throaty-gargling for effects...diaphragm pulsing is good for playing with drums.
20. Circular breathing is the next challenge for me. I am also looking out for a termite-hollowed branch out in the Aussie bushland to try for an authentic material didge if possible.
