How to Make a Bodhran,

in collaboration with Rohan Young.

(Bodhran design by Rohan Young)

  
  Virgin Drum  
  Rip plywood to size of the width of the drum. You will need two lengths of the plywood. Using the mold put the 1st length of plywood in the mold and cut to suit, then insert the second piece (noticing that the 2nd piece is slightly shorter because it has a smaller circumference).  
     
 

Now take out the second piece, paint with glue on the contacting surface and insert into the mold, clamping where needed.

 

  
  Take the rim out of the mold, round off the edges, sand, and then seal with paint or varnish.  
 

 

  
 

Next, take the bus to Donegal and catch yourself a roaming goat (!) To make the skin of your Bodhran! After fleshing the skin, cure it in lime for about 10 days, stirring well. Then rinse all the lime out of the skin Lay over the rim and staple the skin in a star shape sequence around the rim. If the skin is dry due to bleaching agents in the lime, use a non-perfumed hand cream sparingly on the skin. Get a strip of tanned leather to hide the staples and finish with bass upholstery tacks.

  
     
  You will also need a backbar and a stick (a hock). There are many different styles of backbar and there are also various kinds of bodhran sticks, most people today enjoy the thinner, weighted sticks.  
 
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