ARTICLES HERE INCLUDE DIY HOW-TO-BUILD SIMPLE BUT NICE
SOUNDING/PLAYING FOLK INSTRUMENTS.

NOTE: Pantheon Steel, long-time maker of steel drums (pans) is making and selling
their "Halo" hand-pan which is their version of the essentially unobtainable Hang drum.
Click HERE for more information about the Halo, also to see and hear it being played.

Spike Finch in California is selling very nice "Hand-Pan" instruments.
Here's a short YouTube video of me playing his "Zen Tambour"
CLICK HERE to watch this YouTube video.
Click HERE for more information

MY OWN Music Related Articles	OTHERS' Music Related Articles
Links to Other Musical Sites	Some Genealogical information
How to Play Bagpipes - Amazing Grace	Links to Miscellaneous Sites

CLICK HERE TO SEE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS FROM MY WORKSHOP IN AFRICA

CLICK HERE for a short YouTube video showing several of my instruments being played

SOMEWHAT NEWER STUFF (past few years): Fiddle-Gurdy; northern Michigan Kora;
zucchini "clarinet"; helium-tank "Tambiro"; LP-tank mini-Tambiro; 2-1/2 octave
conduit Xylophone; Kid's conduit Xylophone; big Tambiro from a new 20lb LP tank;
Hang-Drum/PVC tube hybrid; Stringed hang drum like instrument; Propane-tank HANK DRUM;
5-string "Uke-jo"; Home-made Esraj; Simple Key-Change Chart
GOURD BANJO; Ake-Bono Scale PVC instrument inspired by the HALO & HANG drum
CELLO-BANJO; 3 instruments in one (banjo, bazoukey & tenor guitar) conversion
Hank drum pitched & scaled same as a Halo; Easy tenor to 5-string banjo conversion;
Using "Audacity" to facilitate tune learning; Simple fretless banjo from snare-drum
Make nice stereo photos without a stereo camera; 3-string Banjo made from a tennis racquet
Home-made metal guitar capo; Pitch reference for a few cents;
Extending the life of certain strings; Thumbpick for clawhammer banjo playing!
Keep fiddle fine-tuners from gouging soundboard; simple 22-string Celtic Harp built
around a mountain dulcimer body; A simple inexpensive wire-strung Celtic harp
Fretting one of my fretless banjos; Template & info about for Senegalese/French 6kg tank
Hank-Drums; Make a simple, new Kora neck; Kora made using a snare drum instead
of a "calabash"
-------- SEE CONSTRUCTION ARTICLES BELOW

PLEASE CHECK OUT THE NEW CD "COOKIES AND CAKE"
BY FRIEND ELEANOR KING
CLICK HERE to hear a short segment from Eleanor's CD
CLICK HERE for more information about this CD

BAGPIPE:
• How to make Highland pipes from PVC pipe
• Construct pipe bags from naugahyde/vinyl
• Simple bellows for smallpipes & Uillean bagpipes
• Build a bagpipe practice goose from a wine-box bladder
• Make an extremely quiet chanter for pipe practice, from a tinwhistle
• Build a simple, foolproof check-valve for Highland pipes
• Build this Bagpipe Case with room for everything
• The only bagpipe tune I ever wrote - 'Richard Longstaffe of Ormond'
  
  BANJO:
• NEW - A thumbpick for playing clawhammer banjo that actually works
• NEW - How to double the life of certain metal-wrapped strings
• NEW - Pitch reference built for a few cents
• NEW - Simple 3-string banjo made from a tennis racquet
• NEW - Yet another simple, very inexpensive banjo -- this one fretless
• NEW - Fretting the above fretless banjo made it my all-time favorite banjo
• NEW - 3 instruments in one - Banjo, Bazoukey & Tenor Guitar - conversion
• NEW (5/19/2009) How to make a 5 string CELLO-BANJO
• NEW (3/8/2009) How to make a 5 string GOURD BANJO
• Make a 3 string fretless banjo from a cookie tin
• NEW - Ukulele to 5-string "Uke-jo" (uke/banjo) quick conversion
• Build a simple 5-string fretless banjo in a weekend
• Fiddle & banjo written music for the old-time tune "Gilsaw"
• I find it FAR easier to "claw-hammer" a banjo using nylon strings instead of steel
• NEW: SOME HARD-EARNED ADVICE ON LEARNING HOW TO PLAY AN INSTRUMENT
  
  BASS:
• Make a real, 4-string upright bass using an upright washtub
• Acoustic, fretless bass made from an old guitar body. 40" string-length
• Acoustic, fretted bass made from an old guitar in a couple hours. Very easy.
• Oversized acoustic bass - construction simplified by kerfing the sides. See picture below
• Build this acoustic or electric "Doodle-bass" (4 string, 40" string-length) for a few dollars
• Turn the Doodle-Bass into a great sounding Electric Upright Bass for a few dollars
• A simple way to make a very low cost, fully adjustable electric bass guitar bridge
• Build a Bass Kalimba - a String Bass Alternative
• Chart showing 2-note chord pairs for bass
• Charts for easily converting standard bass notation into bass tablature
• Bass clef to bass fingerboard relationship chart (15 frets)
• Bass clef to bass fingerboard relationship chart (22 frets)
• How to set up an upright bass
• Make & install upright bass bridge adjusters (for installing commercial adjusters too)
• Build this low-cost, sturdy Upright Bass playing stand
• Make a simple wash-tub bass
• I very much like my Chinese-made Cremona SB-1 Upright Bass - A short review
• My comments about Chris Badynee's excellent cardboard bass
  
  BOWED PSALTERY:
• Make a bowed psaltery
  
  DIDJERIDU:
• Ready-made didjeridu sold at K-Mart for 97 cents
  
  FIDDLE:
• NEW- Fine-tuners scuffing fiddle faceplate? A very easy fix
• Convert a regular fiddle into a Hardanger fiddle
• NEW - Fiddle-Gurdy -- a VERY easily built hurdy gurdy that fingers like a fiddle
• How to make a fiddle very quiet - for late night diddling
  
  GUITAR (& GUITAR CONVERSIONS):
• NEW - Home-made Steel Capo
• NEW - 3 instruments in one - Banjo, Bazoukey & Tenor Guitar - conversion
• a Fretless Guitar in an hour
• How to make a Hurdy Gurdy from a guitar
• Kerfing the sides of a guitar-family instrument greatly simplifies construction
• Acoustic, fretless bass made from an old guitar body. 40" string-length
• Acoustic, fretted bass made from an old guitar in a couple hours. Very easy.
• How to convert a Guitar into an Octave-Mandolin
• NEW - Pitch reference built for a few cents
  
  HAMMERED DULCIMER:
• Build a conduit-tubing dulcimer (includes a jpg photo)
• How to build a simple 12-course Hammered Dulcimer
  
  HANG DRUM (INSTRUMENTS THAT PLAY SIMILAR TO A HANG DRUM):
• NEW - Template for Senegalese/French 6kg propane tank Hank-Drums"
• Blue-Man Group type PVC instrument inspired by the hang drum"
• PVC tube, Ake-Bono scaled instrument inspired by the HALO & HANG drum"
• Making a stringed instrument inspired by the hang drum"
• HANK DRUM (inspired by the hang drum) made from a propane tank
• Making a Hank drum with same scale & pitch as PantheonSteel's Halo
  
  HARP:
• NEW - Simple & cheap wire-strung, 22-string Celtic Harp
  
• NEW - 22-string Celtic Harp built around a mountain dulcimer body
  
  HURDY GURDY:
• How to build a hurdy gurdy for under $20
• How to add a 2nd melody string to the $20 Hurdy Gurdy
• Fiddle-Gurdy -- a VERY easily built hurdy gurdy that fingers like a fiddle
• How to make a Hurdy Gurdy from a guitar
  
  INDIAN INSTRUMENTS:
• Home-made Esraj --- instrument from India
• Make a near zero-cost Indian Tamboura. Sound sample & photos included
  
  KALIMBA/MBIRA
• Build a "KORIMBA" (a Kalimba that plays like a KORA)
• Build a Bass Kalimba - a String Bass Alternative
• Bobby-pin Kalimba
• 2-octave kalimba made from lawn-rake tines
• Popsicle-stick kalimba, by Dorothy May
  
  KORA:
• NEW - Make a Kora using a snare drum instead of a calabash (gourd)
• NEW - Make a simple, easier-to-tune replacement neck for a leather-ring (konso) African Kora neck
• How I built a Northern Michigan KORA Construction article
• Make a "Harp-Kora" -- a simple 2-sided harp that plays like a KORA
• Build a "KORIMBA" (a Kalimba that plays like a KORA)
• Build a cake-tin KORA
  
  MANDOLIN (OCTAVE):
• 3 instruments in one - Banjo, Bazoukey & Tenor Guitar - conversion
• How to convert a Guitar into an Octave-Mandolin
  
  MUSICAL SAW:
• Musical Saw - how to find one & play it (inexpensively)
  
  MUSICAL STRINGS:
• Renew the sound of wound, metal strings by boiling them
• Make wound music strings
• K-Mart/Wal-Mart sells 400' of e-string for $2.99
  
  NON-MUSICAL INVENTIONS & IDEAS:
• NEW: Roast raw pumpkin seeds in microwave in 3 minutes
• NEW: HOW TO MAKE HIGH-QUALITY 3D PHOTOGRAPHS WITHOUT A STEREO CAMERA
• NEW: Simple do-it-yourself test for Sleep-Apnea
• Second handle added to a shovel makes it almost fun to dig
• Cat-box stink?? Try this
• Beanbag Horseshoes - a fun game
• Make a pressman's hat
  
  ODD NOISEMAKERS AND IDEAS:
• A very temporary "clarinet" made from the stalk of a zucchini plant
• Ukulele to 5-string "Uke-jo" (uke/banjo) quick conversion
• Build a "whirligig"
• Two "Involuntary Twangamadiddles"
• NEW - A very simple and effective type of nut
• A very simple Key-Changing Chart
• NEW - Using "Audacity" (free program) to facilitate tune learning
• NEW - Pitch reference built for a few cents
  
  ORIGINAL MUSIC:
• The only bagpipe tune I ever wrote - 'Richard Longstaffe of Ormond'
• A slip-jig (9/8 jig) my brother and I wrote years ago
  
  PENNYWHISTLES, FLUTES & FIFES:
• Instant dollar-store echo/reverb for your tinwhistle (with sound sample)
• Make a "flex-fife" from 3/4"D x 1/8" wall clear, flexible tubing for about $1
• How to make a low D tinwhistle
• Add a drone to your tinwhistle
• Turn a tinwhistle into a "no-hole, bugle-scaled" whistle
  
  TAMBIROS -- VERY NEAT INSTRUMENTS MADE FROM VARIOUS
  HELIUM & PROPANE TANKS:
• Make Tambiro safely from an unused 20 lb LP tank
• Make a tambiro - from an empty helium or freon tank
• How I made a smaller-version of the above tambiro from an small camping-type propane cylinder LP
  
  XYLOPHONES:
• 2-1/2 octave conduit-tubing xylophone"
• Very simple Kid's "xylophone"

Return to Top

How to play "Amazing Grace" on the Bagpipe - note for note

Return to Top

MUSIC RELATED ARTICLES (other folk's articles & ideas)

PLEASE NOTE: IT HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY HARD TO KEEP UP-TO-DATE
WITH EVER-CHANGING LINK ADDRESSES. PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF SOME LINKS HERE
DO NOT WORK. AS I HAVE TIME I'LL TRY TO FIX THEM: 

• To see Jim Doble's excellent BIG-tank, thick-metal tongue-drums! They are beautiful
• Lindsay Davidson's excellent, free, online bagpipe playing instructions. Fine site in general!
• "BOGDON BOX BASS" - A really good sounding upright cardboard (!) bass
• "BOGDON BOX BASS" - A really good sounding upright cardboard (!) bass
• Oddmusic.com - a really excellent "different" musical instrument website
• Yuichi Onoue's innovative Kaisatsuko
• A very neat free-standing Aeolian Harp
• Bill Koch's handsome oblong-tub 4-string bass
• Eric Reiswig's excellent Scottish Smallpipe (& other instruments) building plans
• Complete on-line book detailing Steel-Drum making
• Make a PVC flute - Mark Shepard's instructions & webpage

Return to Top

LINKS TO SOME OTHER MUSICAL SITES:

• Webpage of friend Sam King - ace musician, songwriter & otherwise multitalented individual
• Web page of KORA player Mamadou Diabate
• Jeff Sadler's vintage instrument website
• Tor Clausen's neat musical furniture
• "Roots of American Fiddle Music" - 320 old 78 RPM fiddle tunes on a single CD
• Keith Davis' webpage - U.P. maker of fine violins etc.
• David Gilden's excellent Kora/Cora webpage
• Richard Robinson's Tunebook
• Hurdy Gurdy homepage
• Old-Time Music links
• Musicians and Instrument Makers Forum
• Ceolas - Celtic music archive
• The "Bagpipe Web"
• The Hardanger-fiddle home-page
• Elderly Instrument Co. homepage
• Fiddle & banjo written music for the old-time tune "Gilsaw"

Return to Top

A FEW GENEALOGICAL LINKS:

• LDS's Pedigree Resource File. My (searchable) family tree is now on this system
• Ancestry World Tree. My (searchable) family tree is now on this system too
• Old Family Photos (on my wife's side and mine). I have lots more.
• Good central/eastern Europe town/village locator
• Cyndi's List of Genealogical sites
• GEDCOM file of my entire genealogical data. Note: Will be updated shortly as I have much new information to add
• Havlena family in Zahrobi, Bohemia - short family tree

  

• Aerial photo of Zahrobi, Bohemia. Havlena houses are numbered)
• Sketch I made of house #24, Zahrobi, Bohemia, where my Gt Grandpa, Josef Havlena was born in 1851
• Fahndrich family in Allfeld, Germany - short family tree

  

• Descendants of my 5th Great Grandfather Mathias Becker, from Peterswald, Rhineland Pralz, Germany
• Chart: Ancestors of Dennis Havlena (me)

Return to Top

MISCELLANEOUS LINKS:

• Friend Sam King's webpage
• Mapquest -- worldwide map generator

Return to Top

Dennis Havlena - W8MI (formerly W8UR, KL7GRQ, WA8DDI)
The URL of this webpage is:
http://www.DennisHavlena.com

Please note: Things have gotten extremely busy
around here. I apologize that I may not be able to
answer e-mail in a timely fashion.
If you e-mail me, please mention musical instruments
prominently in the subject line -- I get tons of spam daily.

Copyright 2010 Dennis Havlena
The URL of this webpage, for many years WAS
http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/ or
http://edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/