Coconut Shell Music Instrument

Hi Friends, when i was Browsing through a Instructable Page i saw a person made music instrument from coconut shell ( https://www.instructables.com/Simple-Music-Instrum...) , This inspired me to do this project.

So Today am gonna show you how to make awesum music instrument from coconut shell.

I have passion to make music instruments but at the end i don't know how to play this properly, but still i have tried to play this instrument to show you guys the real tone of it.

I think everyone will be curious about this instrument whether it will produce any sound or not .......

Stay here till the end to hear What my instrument can do.

Added Video at the END Please Watch it.

Step 1: Items Needed

1, Empty coconut shell

2, Soft Wood

3, Steel Mosquito Net ( String)

4, 3 inch Nail 10 Numbers

5, 2 inch flat head Screw 3 Numbers

6, Wax Paper or X-Ray sheet

7, Drill machine and Drill bits

8, Angle Grinder for Polishing

9, Dremel

10, small piece of Hard wood

11, Super Glue

12, Baking Soda

13, Saw dust and Feavicol to fill gaps.

Step 2: Prepare the Coconut Shell

1, Cut the Top portion of the Shell

2, Grind the Outer portion of the Shell to remove the small coconut fibers.

3, Flat the Opening surface of the Shell as shown in Image 4.

4, Now Polish the Outer shell to give a shiny look.

Step 3: Attaching the Wood Frame to Coconut Shell

1, Cut the one end of the Wood frame to 45 degree as shows in Image 2

2, Trim the End to look like semi circle to fit the shape of coconut shell as shown in image 3.

3, invert the shell to have flat area touching the ground and keep the wood touching the shell and apply glue as shown in image 4.

4, Fill the small gaps with Baking soda and apply super Glue so that a shell and Wood Frame get bonded tightly.

Step 4: Adding Additional Support to Shell

1, Take small piece of Hard wood as shown in image 1.

2, Keep this hard wood at the bottom of the Wooden frame to support the Coconut shell as shown in image 3.

3, Apply Super Glue and then fill the Small gaps with Baking soda and then apply super glue to have strong bonding between Shell and Support wood refer image 4

4, Make small hole in Support wood as shown in image 9 and 10 and secure it with wood screw.

5, Give a Curly Shape to support wood with the help of chisel or blade refer image 5, 6, 7, 8.

Step 5: Screw the Shell and Wooden Frame

1, we need to secure the shell and wood frame with a screw so put a hole at the side of the frame that pass through the shell as shown in image 1 and 2.

2, secure the screw with nut as shown in image 3.

3, Mix saw dust and Feavicol to make wood filler and fill the small gaps drill holes etc.to give finishing look

refer image 4, 5, 6

Step 6: Attaching the String Hooks to Shell

1, Make 3 holes in Shell with the help of Drill to attach the String Hooks to coconut shell See Image 1

2, Attach the hooks with the help of small nuts and bolt, make sure it is fixed Strong.

Step 7: Preparing the Wood for Tuning Screws

1, The Wooden frame is soft wood so it wont with hold the tension of string so to avoid that we need to attach a hardwood at the end of the Soft wood.

2, Cut a portion of soft wood with the help of Saw. See image 1 and 2.

3, Cut small piece of Hard wood and glue it at the end of soft wood to cover the gaps, see image 5.

4, Also use same hard wood at the bottom of the Frame to have extra support for the Tuning screws. see image 6

Step 8: Attaching the Tuning Screws to Wood Frame

1, Take the Flat head screws and File a side of the screw to make a hole. see image 2.

2, Drill a Hole at center of the Screw make sure not to damage the spiral part of screw. see image 3 and 4.

3, Drill a Pocket hole for inserting the Tuning Screws, see image 5.

Step 9: Attaching the Wax Paper to Shell

1, We need some source to amplify the sound, i have used the Wax Paper for amplifying the sound i have already tried this so am pretty sure this will work out.

2, keep the wax paper on top of the coconut shell and mark the area roughly, see image 1.

3, Apply super glue for fixing the Wax paper with coconut shell make sure its tight, see image 2,3, 4.

4 Remove the Excess Wax paper with the help of Blade by just dragging the blade outside of the shell. see image 6 and 7.

Step 10: Marking Fret Positions and Attaching Fret Lines.

1, I have used the Nails as Fret lines.

2, Cut the required size of the Nail using Dremel cutter, see image 2 and 3.

3, I got the Fret positions from internet and marked the positions with the help of caliper, see image 4

4 once position is marked, take the Nail and fix it in the marked fret positions with the help of Super Glue, see image 5.

Step 11: Attaching the String to Frame and Shell

1, I don't have enough money to but the Strings so i have used the Steel Mosquito Net for my Instrument.

2, Remove one String from the Mosquito net and tie one end of the string to the hook, which is attached in coconut shell, see image 2.

3 Tie other end of the string to the hole which we made in 2 inch Flat head screw, See image 4 and 5.

4, Adjust the tension of the string using the Screw driver.

Step 12: Ready to Rock and Roll

1, It wont sound good until you place a bottle cap on top of the Wax paper and below the Strings.

2, By Keeping the bottle cap it will amplify the sound created from string and pass it to the Wax paper and shell to have a louder sound.

I know everyone is eager to hear the sound it produces right.

I hope Everyone would have watched the video...its fun.

Thank you friends.