Bass Sectional ABS Didgeridoo (Key of G)

 I made my first bass didge in G from 1 inch diameter pipe, thinking that the smaller diameter pipe would require less wind. But that one ended up being about twelve feet long! It didn't sound good, but was good for comic relief, especially since it tended to fall apart.  The kids at the library thought it was pretty hilarious.

My next attempt was a straight sectional using 2 inch pipe. It was about six feet long and sounded good, but also tended to fall apart. So I decided to reduce the length as they do with modern trumpets by using two u-joints. This one came out sounding just as good or better than the straight model. 

An added benefit of the curves was that the playing end ended up closer to the bell end, so that you could hear quite well what was coming out. I have found that for most long, straight didges, the sound the player hears can be quite different from the sound the audience hears coming out the other end!

Here is a sound sample of my original bass didge in G (Warning: It may knock your house down!)



The new model uses 1 inch and 1.5 inch diameter pipe at the blowing end to increase the back pressure and make it easier to play. This didge is therefore also more conical in shape, which improves the sound.

 This didge toots a C at the first overtone and a G at the second.

The U joints are used to reduce the overall length to something manageable and less unwieldy. You swivel the segments around into something like a trombone configuration. 

Once you get used to the amount of wind required and the much looser lip vibration, bass didges are lots of fun to play and quite different.

One great thing about the bass didge is that it's quite easy to blow a range of three toots or trumpet tones. By good fortune the three toots on my ABS bass didge in G ended up being C G & D, all notes that fall nicely into the key of G:




Toots on most didges I've played start sounding very strained when you get above the second one, but since the bass didge is so low, it is not a strain to toot three levels at least. The lip action for these toots is so loose they are essentially drones, therefore you can actually say you have four didges in one!  Here's a brief sound sample of a bass rhythm I'm working on using the first two toots and some high harmonics:


High harmonics on a bass didge are quite low! This sample will test out the bass response of your computer speakers as well!