Daxophone Tongues

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daxophone tongues

The tongue is the soul of the daxophone. If you already have a daxophone soundboard, this option will be perfect for you. I use handtools, the CNC machine, and creative glue-ups to create wild daxophone tongues with a great variety of sound. Perhaps you’ve been playing already for a few years, and are looking for new sounds? Buy a new tongue. A new shape or wood reveals a musical world!

I don’t often work with specific requests for wood or shapes because of the inherent variability of the daxophone. The plain fact is: even identical wood species sound different from tree to tree, and the surfaced edges and thickness of the tongue have as much to do with overall sound as does the overall shape. But if you’re curious, we can talk about wood! At present I am have been designing tongues with the domestic lumbers of North America: claro walnut and black walnut, maple, sycamore, catalpa, ash, mulberry, oak, and yew. I also build a lot of daxophones made from precious rosewoods and some more common tropical woods, such as padauk, wenge, and mahogany. You may inquire about particular woods if you are curious, and depending on what’s on the bench, I may be able to accommodate you.

Basic Tongue

This option gets you a random shape and random wood choice. Please write me with your purchase to distinguish particularities about tone and sound—whether you want a good instrument for playing “melodies”, or whether you need a noisemaker.

$80

Premium Tongue

This ratio isn’t exactly mathematical, but for every 10 daxophone tongues that I build, I end up with 1 “premium” tongue—a stellar instrument that makes music like no other. a unicorn in the woodpile. These may be made from costly, rare timbers such as chestnut, Brazilian Rosewood…But this is only part of the story—it’s not merely about the wood species. I’ve built dozens of tongues from walnut and discovered upon a few exceptional creatures in this domestic lumber. The same goes for Tulipwood, a more exotic lumber in which I’ve worked extensively—many tongues, but a few miracles. If you order a “premium tongue”, the upcharge will give you one of these special instruments!

$120

Tongue Sampler Package

People often ask: how do I know which tongues to buy? The truth is that I send many tongues to the customer, and the customer selects the tongues they want. For example, if you purchase 7 tongues. I will send a batch of 12 tongues to you—you can try them out and find the instruments that speak to you. This batch will include at least 1-2 “premium” instruments. Note the quantity discount.

$450