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At the moment I have five Australian eucalyptus didjeridus, and I made one from bamboo, another from agave, and several from non-natural materials, like PVC, aluminum etc. to experiment with sound, keys, forms and so on.
Here are the eucalyptus instruments, from both the mouthpiece and bell ends.
As you can see, most of them have dipped beeswax mouthpieces and more or less medium sized bells.
The one above is my first didjeridu ever. A good friend brought it from Australia. She bought it at Victoria Market in Melbourne and carried it on her shoulder for almost one week until visiting me on her return to the UK. When it arrived, it was very hard to play. But I didn't give up so easily - I'd been waiting too long for a real didjeridu! After several sessions of serious chiselling at both ends (took 2.5 kg of wood out!), it now plays very nicely (key of F#). It is 104 cm long and weighs 3.8 kg. Maker and artist unknown. Some time after finishing the interior reform, I painted a lizard on its back side.
It didn't take long and I decided to buy another one, online, from Prodidja's in Perth. It is a very nice sounding D, very powerful and loud, clear bass, very good harmonics, overall an impressive instrument, made by shop owner Glenn Edgar (Perth - Australia), artwork by Kerry Dickerson, a well known aboriginal artist. There are 3 turtles and a giant goanna on it. It is a rather heavy stick (6.9 kg) with a nice internal termite made structure. Length 142cm. Looking back, I have to say that I was really lucky, as I didn't know much about didjeridus at that time, but Glenn made a perfect choice for me. In the picture on the right it is the one on the extreme right hand side.
The one in the middle and below is an acquisition (from Peter Brady, Humty Doo - Darwin Area - Australia). It is a long (155 cm - 5.3 kg) and relatively thin E, made by Djalu Gurruwiwi, one of the most famous Yolngu didjeridu makers of Northeast Arnhemland (click here to see him with some fine instruments - the one at the extreme left ended up here). The well-known Aboriginal rock band Yothu Yindi plays his sticks exclusively ....
Actually, even after a year now, I am still getting to know this one. It is a tremendous instrument that is opening completely new horizons for me and my playing. It has no wax mouthpiece, Djalu makes his instruments in dimensions that make it possible to play them "bare back", the mouthpiece has about 3.2 cm of internal diameter while the bell opens to around 9 cm. The termite bore is rather narrow over almost 2/3 of its length, after a short initial chamber at its mouthpiece side (chiselled up a bit). The bell side was also opened up a bit more by hand.
In spite of being rather long (155 cm) and not exactly a high pitch (E), it is a very fast playing instrument and at low air pressure! Vocals are coming through very easily! The first toot flows in and out gently as if it would be a mere harmonic change, almost without any effort! The instrument seems to accelerate on its own, even when starting a relatively slow rhythm, all of a sudden this thing goes off, and I find myself doubling the pace before I even realize what is happening. My playing goes up 3 levels even without knowing all of this stick's tricks yet. The impression is that all the various rhythm features and sounds I'd been playing before start overlapping and flowing into each other by themselves now, while I would do them one after the other on my other instruments. Jaw drops go down to a low A or even lower (from E). The first toot is continuously playable (CBing) with harmonics and vocalizations without bursting your lungs ....
The one right above is my longest (163cm) eucalyptus, a deep A#. It is very light for its size (around 3 kg), thanks to thin walls and the type of timber. Its deep, slow and gentle sound is very clear, with good vocals and nice tooting. It demands a bit more air, of course... It comes from Bill Jelly's group (near Darwin) and Chris Canole from La Jolla, California carved it with a fairy dragon. After I saw other creations he made, I painted the dragon's teeth in white (see detail).
There are two new arrivals, so far without photos here, a very nice D# by Lipwarrunga (Les Huddleston), an Aboriginal artist originally from the Roper River area, now living in Darwin (got it from Peter Brady) and a wonderful C traditional Western Arnhemland yidaki, made by Wugularr artist Mickey Hall. He belongs to David Blanasi's group who took it to the US on their last tour (together with some other nice ones). It just arrived from LA Outback..
