HOW TO BUILD A VERY REAL KORA USING A 16" SNARE DRUM AS A "CALABASH"

Recently returning from three weeks in Senegal, Africa (where I taught a workshop about
building a variety of musical instruments using a lot of parts scrounged from discarded
items) has greatly stimulated my latent high interest in the west African Kora.
If I'd have only stuck with the Kora when I first became interested in it decades ago,
perhaps I'd now be a good player instead of the beginner that I am! Moral: if you're
interested in playing an instrument, just DO IT ! Life's only so long.

In Dakar, I was given a beautiful traditional Kora, which survived the 4,500 mile jet
flight back to northern Michigan perfectly. With this Gambian-built Kora in hand,I was able to
determine exact dimensions and layouts that I previously had only guessed at, so I proceeded
to build another Kora (which will be detailed on my webpage - hopefully shortly *). Being on a
roll, and armed with much new information (measurements etc), I'm setting about to build yet another
Kora,this one using a snare-drum in place of a calabash (gourd) which I know will work just fine.

Below is my design for this Kora made by substituting a snare-drum for a (hard to get in USA) calabash".
These are my pre-construction plans - in advance of building the thing. I've been involved in a lot
of Kora building & tinkering over the years & know that this design & these dimensions will work nicely.

I have made a number of instruments based around snare-drums. Seems I can always find an "not expensive"
such drum at Goodwill or Salvation Army. Or try shopgoodwill.com. My favorite clawhammer banjo I made
from a cut-down 10 inch "First Act" (ie cheapie) Salvation Army snare drum.
Wouldn't trade it for my most expensive banjo!

A Kora may well look like a super-complicated collections of strings, tuning devices and
what-not but because to make one, no frets, no curves or wood bending are involved and even the
string length isn't very critical, building a nice, workable Kora is an easy, straightforward,
few days of spare time type project. No fancy tools are needed.

The illustrations in this article should cover most points & dimensions of building.

The neck is a single piece of any type of hardwood fitted with 21 inexpensive guitar
type tuning gears. Cheap ones are actually better than pricey ones because they're lighter
in weight -- I must have used at least 500 inexpensive such tuners over the years and have never had
a single failure. The strings leaving the tuning gears are routed through tiny screw-eyes and on their
way to the bridge.

Most cabinet-making shop can supply you with the neck you need. Also try High School shop Teachers
who often have tons of scrap pieces from kid's projects that usually end up as firewood.They're bound
to be most curious about you building such an oddball instrument.

Monofilament fishline & weed-whip line is used for all strings.

To mount the neck to the drum body, lay masking tape over the area on both sides of the outside of
the drum in the area where the neck will pass through. Draw a rectangle the same dimensions
as the cross-section of the neck, beneath the top of the drumhead tensioning ring (the top surface
of the neck should be somewhere around ___ beneath the top of the drum's tensioning ring when
tightened --- because of several "variables" here, it's nearly impossible to indicate this exact
measurement, so approach the cutting of these two rectangular holes in the side of the drum very
carefully,taking into account everything mentioned in the information below. Strive for a fairly
tight fit. Keep things square. The neck does not have to be fastened to the drum -- the string
pressure keeps it in place.

Drumhead modification:
Four holes must be melted into the 16 inch mylar drum head to accept the handle and
brace sticks, the elongated holes in the mylar drumhead are made by first plotting their position
and then carefully melting each hole using a small soldering iron (don't breathe the fumes!).
This worked very nicely on other Koras and the resultant holes never show any sign at all of tearing
once the two handles and the brace are inserted. Nonetheless, it's cheap insurance to put small patches
of heavy-duty duct-tape (better yet, Gorilla tape) on the underside of the skin where the wood
bears on it.

Because the commercially made drum-heads are not as pliable as wet cowhide, I purposely looked for
BOWED (not straight) 5/8" dowels. Our local Home Depot store had quite a selection of bowed dowel
rods to choose from. With this bowed dowel rod inserted through the holes in the head and underneath
of the two handles, it is not hard to draw down the head/handle/brace assembly fairly tightly and
evenly. If you can't find a sufficiently bowed 5/8 inch diameter dowel, it's easy to make one.
Soak the piece for a few hours and then (wearing heavy leather gloves) evenly heat it over a kitchen
stove - on high - until you can bend it to what you want. It's best to over-bend a bit as things usually
spring-back a little. Once you have the bend you're after, quickly immerse it in cold running water for
a few seconds to cool it off and set the bow.

Another possibility: I haven't yet had to, but if the cross-brace fits too tightly, there's no reason
you couldn't shave down the spots a small bit where the handle braces touch the cross brace a bit.

The tensioned drum head, with the dowels inserted, can not be expected to lay perfectly flat &
unwrinkled when properly tensioned. Wrinkly is OK -- take a look at the many photos of African Koras
on the internet to confirm this.

The bottom of the snare drum is removed and replaced with a disk of about 5mm (3/16 inch thick) (or
thereabouts). This is an easily done procedure.

The two hand grips provide a very practical & satisfying way to hold the instrument & position the
thumbs and index fingers properly for playing.

The bridge is simple and is made as shown. Strings can either pass through a slot or go through a hole.
I somewhat prefer holes, as they're less troublesome in the long run. Note that the bridge is made
taller than necessary - due to a number of variables, it is unwise for me to specify bridge height dimensions.
It's best if you fit your bridge to suit your particular situation. Having said that, here's what to
aim for: the shortest string goes thru the lowest slot on the right side of the bridge. When all
strings are at playing pitch, it's imperative that this string does not hit or buzz against the
corner-edge of the drum rim. This is the only string where this is an issue. Adjust the bridge
height (carefully) so that the space between this string and the closest part of the drum edge
will be about 5mm (3/16 inch) (with full string tension). If this space is too much, it can make the
lower-pitched strings hard to reach while playing. If you goof up and cut too much off a bridge's
bottom, a wood spacer glued to bottom fixes things nicely. Remember that the bridge will sink
further once all the strings are on & tuned, so take this into account when cutting.
I recommend making the "final" bridge height cut a bit taller - then, once all string tension is on,
carefully away the bottom as needed. This isn't easy with all the strings on (loosen them first) but
can be done - slowly & carefully.

The bridge rests on a "bridge-pad" -- a small cloth-lined chunk of wood with very rounded corners
on the bottom (so it won't harm the drum-head). I glue the cloth to the wood with wood glue.
Because of the "bulge" in the drumhead (as compared to the flat head of the original snare drum)
some thought is needed as to how the bridge sits on the bridge pad. With this type of modified
snare-drum head setup, the bridge-pad will tend to angle towards the tuning gear end of the instrument,
meaning that the foot of the bridge itself should be cut at a corresponding angle so that it rests
on the pad squarely. I put a couple of small dabs of wood glue on the bridge bottom to hold it in place.

This illustration shows string tie-offs etc:

NOTES ABOUT OVERALL PITCH & TUNING:
In Africa, little, if any, attention is paid to "absolute" or concert" pitch. in addition, I find that
one instrument might be based in the key of F (the lowest string on each side being tuned to "F"), while
another Kora might be based in the key of C (lowest strings tuned to "C"). I am by NO means an expert
here, but I prefer the D-based approach, and have used D on the last few Kora's (& Kora-like instruments)
I have built.

This is the most common Kora tuning (string gauge also shown. WW means weed-whipline & FL means fishing line)

* This note corresponds to the D just above the middle C on a piano

This combination of gauges tends to be a bit on the loose side for the key of D but I prefer this more "relaxed"
tension - it being easier on the instrument, less string breakage & still producing a loud and clear Kora sound that
is pretty much indistinguishable from that of an instrument fitted with slightly thicker gauge Kora strings.

STRINGS:

In my many years of diddling with the Kora,I have found the following gauges/types of string to work nicely on
this Kora. I use a combination of various gauges of both regular monofilament fish-line as well as
off-the-shelf monofilament weed-whip line. See chart immediately above.

Fish-line:
"Strengths" (in pounds) of fish-line needed are; 20 LB, 25 LB, 30 LB, 40 LB, 50 LB, 60 LB (& 80 LB. if you
can't find .040 inch diameter weedwhip line) This line is available in a wide variety of strengths (rated in pounds).
Wall-Mart & K-mart carry many gauges. Cabela's big Sporting Goods catalog carries all of the required gauges, but
I have found that their huge retail stores do not always carry all the gauges that their catalog does. Dunhams and
other such sporting goods stores often have what K/Wal Mart doesn't. It just takes a bit of looking around.
You can always go the Cabelas mailorder route.

Weed-whip line:
Diameters of the weed-whip line needed are:.040",.050",.065" and.095" K-mart and Wal-mart do (at least
sesonally) carry most of the gauges of weed-whip line needed. Also, Tru-Value * Ace carry a wide selection
of this line. Try lawn-mower specialty shops. One caution however is to avoid buying grooved or square
line. While these MAY work, go for the regular round monofilament line. In the winter, I have been able to
have the people at our local Tru-Value hardware store go into the basement to get rolls of this stuff for
me. If you simply cannot find a particular gauge weed-whip or fish-line, just use the next smaller size
& get used to the slight "looseness" & very slightly lower volume.

Over the years I've amassed a big Rubbermade tote tub full of rolls of just about every gauge monofilament
fishing (& weed-whip) line available. I use this stuff for all sorts of instrument (& craft) projects.
Having mentioned this, it's by no means necessary to buy lots of rolls of this stuff if you know a few fishermen.

This chart shows the diameter in inches of various strengths of monofilament fishing line (note that
different manufacturers make slightly different diameter line for a claimed strength):
20 LB = .018"
25 LB = .019"
30 LB = .020"
40 LB = .024"
50 LB = .028"
60 LB = .030"
80 LB = .037" (will work in lieu of .040" weed-whip line)

A NOTE ABOUT STRING STRETCHING:

Monofilament nylon line stretches prodigiously at first - Not just on a Kora, but on any instrument. This is an
unavoidable but fortunately short-lived situation. It takes about two or three weeks or so before the things
completely settle down. Once thus settled, the instrument can go for months without requiring retuning (or in the
case of one Kora I made ages ago, played for a while & then hung on the wall - over TEN years - if you can believe
that! Stayed tuned for over 10 years.)

It's not only the strings that stretch & settle -- the drum head does so as well. Also, the bridge settles down into
the head & various other wrinkles will likely appear. This is all normal and this all settles down in about the
same amount of time that it takes for the strings to settle.

My procedure is to tune up the instrument right after it's made. Then keep retuning it a couple of times daily
(it will drop in pitch regularly). After a day or two it's playable, so long as you realize that strings will
have to be retouched quite often, until it's completely settled (in a few weeks).

During this settling-in process, remember to not just tune the instrument to itself, but tune it up to pitch.
Day by day the thing holds it's tune better. In a week's time, you scarcely notice that it's going
out of tune & after a couple more weeks, it's all settled.

There's an up-side to this 2 to 3 weeks of string stretching/numerous retunings -- during the process,
you'll invariably become quite familiar with the string layout, pitch, tuning, intervals etc.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU BUILD ONE OR HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.
dhavlena@gmail.com 

Dennis Havlena - 1/22/2012  
Webpage at www.DennisHavlena.com

Click here to access my webpage

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