MIMF

Has any one any tips on how to make a Sansula (which seems to be a kalimba mounted on a stretched skin)
Would the skin be stretched on an open backed frame or closed? and how would the kalimba bit be stuck to the skin?
This is so far just an idea floating round in my head.
How to stretch the skin on what is the first problem.
I have an old dried out skin off a banjo mandolin that has torn itself into a circle about 10" round if I can figure out how to make it pliable enough. I am going to put a new skin on the Banjo

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Be sure to read the Bowl Drum discussion in this section. Basically, you soak the head in a sink or large bowl of water overnight and it becomes very pliable. You stretch it over your frame and tack it in place while it is wet, and it will become taught as it dries. I imagine the kalimba is just glued to the top, after it has thoroughly dried.

Who says that F is not my full name?

Is it?

You might want to watch this video on bodhran construction. At about 5:00 he applies a water-based glue to the rim, stretches the wet head over it, and just "clamps" the rim with a piece of elastic until both glue and head dry. He says he actually prefers gluing to using tacks or laces because he almost never sees tearout, which occurs with the latter two occasionally.

That link does not appear to work, Allyson.

I would go about it by making a wooden pan- by bending strips of wood into a circle and gluing a back onto it. Create a channel around the rim so that when you stretch the skin you can bind it down into the channel. I would glue some wood on the inside so that I could hinge the back of the kalimba onto the frame and I would have a bar going across the front that could be adjusted by bolts to press the kalimba down onto the skin. After the skin is dried I would cut a 20mm hole underneath the kalimba like a string instrument sound hole. That way the sound will radiate from the front. The adjustable bar would allow you to experiment with the amount of pressure the kalimba touched the skin with and might give you some interesting buzzing sounds.