Buying the Right
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They can be a right pain to make because the top piece will warm up and expand when played so that when you start it will be loose/snug fitting and slide easily but will become harder to slide the more you play.
Here’s how I do it.
I use two pieces of piping, 32mm and 40mm diameter waste pipe. The mouthpiece and bell are fashioned as stated on earlier pages – though I normally add a removable mouthpiece for ease of construction and fiddling about.
The top piece of pipe is either flared out slightly to match the internal diameter of the 40mm pipe which helps to reduce loss of air when playing. If I don’t do this, I wrap some plastic electrical insulation tape round the bottom until it is wide enough to fill the gap and slide easily up and down the bore.
The top of the bottom piece of plastic is reduced in the opposite way to making a flare on the bell. Using a wine bottle with the bottom knocked off (be carefull), I will insert the pipe in the bottle having heated the top 10mm or so. Pushing the softened plastic against the bottle uses it like a form creating a reduction in the diameter.
Take care here as reducing the diameter is prone to creating kinks in the circumference and rendering the pipe useless. If this happens and you have no more plastic available, the kink can be filled – I normally use Milliput for it workability and elasticity when set.
Slide the narrower plastic pipe up and inside the larger pipe, fit the mouthpiece and hey presto you have a slide didge.
I bit fiddly but good result considering the lack of expense. I have several that I use and keep one in my car which I play in traffic jams and lunch breaks etc. I found playing in the driver’s seat with the didge pointing into the front passenger’s footwell creates quite a good sound. You do get some weird looks from people!
Have fun.
