A tamborim is a small percussion instrument from Brazil, used in samba music and other styles of Brazilian music. They are played with a flexible plastic beater, which is basically a bundle of two or more thin plastic rods.

I bought a tamborim beater in Brazil that is made with two high quality flexible plastic sticks. Unfortunately, these plastic sticks are rather hard to come by outside of Brazil. I've searched everywhere but I can't seem to find the same material. Companies like LP and Meinl make tamborim sticks, but they are poor quality and don't last very long. They also cost about $5 or more. I've found that you can make a better beater with plastic coat hangers and stuff you can find around the house!

Step 1: Materials and Tools

Like I said, you can probably find all the materials you need around your house.

You'll need:

2 or 3 plastic coat hangers
Electrical tape
A file(or the sidewalk)
Wire cutters(or something else that can cut plastic)

Step 2: Making the Sticks

You can use 2 or 3 sticks to make your beater depending on what you prefer. I even saw some tamborim players in Brazil that used a beater with seven sticks! They were very thin sticks though.

Plastic hangers seem to make really good sticks. I used plain white hangers, but you could use different color hangers if you like. Blue, yellow, and green would make a nice Brazilian flag colored beater or red, green, yellow, or black would make a cool Axe/Olodum colored beater.

To make the sticks you'll need to cut the long part of the hanger off. Then use a file to round one end of each stick. If you don't have a file, just go outside and scrape the stick on the sidewalk until it is round.

Step 3: Taping the Sticks Together

I used electrical tape, but you could use duct tape or some other kind of tape that is fairly durable. I think electrical tape works the best though. You can also get electrical tape in different colors!

To tape the sticks together, start by wrapping a small piece of tape over the non-rounded end of the sticks. Then spiral the tape up the sticks until you get a little less than halfway up, circle around a couple of times and then spiral back down to the bottom and cut the tape.

Step 4: That's It!

You're finished! Now you have a nice tamborim beater. I actually like the one I made better than the one I bought in Brazil. Also, if you loose or break your tamborim beater, you can now easily and cheaply make another one!

Now go play some samba!!! :D