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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.

All you need is
  • 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 or borrow one from your nearest garage band) or use a phone app
  • 1/2 inch thick wood for a base
  • string or wire to mount the tubes
  • plastic straw for separators - I tried wood dowels and paper straws and both mute the strings

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 a 1/4 inch larger than the table shows below. Measure in 22% from each end and temporarily suspend the tube from these points, using two strings with a loop on the end of each. 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.

Wood base total length is 13 3/4", one side 8", the other side is 6", all three boards 3" wide.

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.

I used string initially to hang the tubes, but I believe the child stood on it and the string broke. For the second attempt I used picture hanging wire. See the last photo.

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

Video of it in action:

Gallery

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Very neat! I still lack any musical talents, but do appreciate others who have them and share. Thanks!
 

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That's one of the coolest projects I have seen on here in a long time!

Well done and thanks for sharing.
 

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Thanks for sharing this cool project and all the details to make one .great job
 

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Very cool. I should make some for grandsons. But their mother (my daughter) would take them away. She's a tough one to seek past.
 

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Neat project! Thanks for the details.
 

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Nicely done. I am sure that the child will love it.
 

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Very Nice!!
This is one for the Favorites!!
 

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Great musical instrument and even better to have the instructions to make and tune
 

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Scott,

Thanks for sharing all the details so we can all make them!

L/W
 

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Very nice! I know a nephew who would love one of these… may have to work on it. :) Thanks for sharing.
 

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Very nice! I know a nephew who would love one of these… may have to work on it. :) Thanks for sharing.
 

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Excellent post, Scott, thank you. I usually make a lot of changes after seeing someone else's design, but I shamelessly duplicated your plans. I checked all the tube lengths with a tuner app, Iphone "Tuner T1". Mine were just a millimeter or two shorter. Also used Type M copper pipe. Sorry, did not use dovetails. For this Christmas, I made one xylophone with three mallets, hoping that my three small grandkids will share. This may be overly optimistic…
See it here:
!
 

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Very nice one Bill! You did a great job and the mallets look awesome too.
 
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