Making a copper tube xylophone or glockenspiel

Yes this is a wood project, just look at those dovetails in the base! I made this for a child’s Christmas present. It is a full C scale octave plus a high D. Of course you could add more tubes at either end to lengthen the scale, or even add the sharps and flats to make a more versatile instrument for adults.

I only had to buy the copper tubing, which is about $10 for a 10 foot section.

• 6 1/2 feet of 1/2 inch copper tubing; you can also use 1/2 inch electrical conduit but the lengths will be different
• music tuner (buy one from Amazon for $10 or borrow one from your nearest garage band) or a phone app such as Fourier
• 1/2 inch thick wood for a base
• string to mount the tubes
• plastic straw for separators

Copper tubes must be tuned to the correct frequency, and there is a lot of variation in the tubes. So cut your first tube maybe an inch larger than the table shows below. Measure in 22% from each end and temporarily suspend the tube from these points. Hit the tube in the middle with a piece of wood or dowel and measure the frequency using the music tuner. Now trim it down with a file and measure again. Repeat until you have the correct note.

After all the tubes are cut and tuned, drill a hole at each end of each tube at the 22% point. Use a marker to mark the note on each tube.

I made the mallets using some old tent poles for the handle, although you could use some dowel. I used a larger piece of dowel for the end, wrapped with a piece of cloth. The cloth makes the lower tones sound better.

C scale octave plus high D:
note/frequency (hz)/length (inches)
C 1046.5, 10 1/8 in
D 1174.7, 9 1/2
E 1318.5, 8 15/16
F 1396.9, 8 11/16
G 1568.0, 8 3/16
A 1760.0, 7 11/16
B 1975.5, 7 1/4
C 2093.0, 7
D 2349.3, 6 5/8

Here are some music sheets for simple and easy songs for the xylophone. The high C and high D are marked with a 2 suffix:

Twinkle twinkle little star
CC GG AA G
FF EE DD C
GG FF EE D
GG FF EE D
CC GG AA G
FF EE DD C

Jingle bells
BBB BBB B D2 G A B
C2C2C2 C2C2 BB BBB
A A B A D2
BBB BBB B D2 G A B
C2C2C2 C2C2 BB BB D2D2 C2 A G

-- Scott in North Carolina