hey all. how many of you have made your own tippers? i'm curious as to

--what you look for in a Tipper (light or heavy, top-end or kerry, long or short)
--what your home-made ones look like (pics, please!)
--how you made your tippers
--where you got the supplies to make your tippers

i have pics at home of some i made recently which i'll post later on this evening. not only were they cheap, but they are tailored to my playing style. i love them like my own children! actually, i don't have any children, so next to my cats they are the closest thing i have to children. so lay it down for us, would ya? tell us about your home made tippers.

ok maybe i can post this picture.

from left to right--

--10" fiddle bow, a bit of wire at the top, a rubber grommet and a bit of foam grip-tape below that.
--another fiddle bow, 10.5", the original "leather" grip with a rubber grommet above.
--7" fiddle bow (very light wood) with rubber grommet at the top. purely a top-end Tipper. not that i know how to use it!
--10" fiddle bow, slightly curved, heavier wood (pernumbuco?)with a foam pencli grip, attached with 2 rubber "o" rings.
--yet another 10" fiddle bow, with copper wire and 2 rubber grommets
--9 1/2" bamboo skewers, glued in the middle, with fabric grip tape and 2 rubber "o" rings
--a 7@ bamboo skewer affair, top-end style, with a rubber grommet at the top, and another at the bottom (moveable) for counterweight. soft sounding.

the rubber grommets, "o"rings, and wire i got at the local hardware store. the bamboo skewers fro the grocery store. the fiddle bow i bought from a local music shop--i had to do some calling around to find them. i got alot of "what the hell would ou want THOSE for?" type of questions before i found them. grip tape from the bike shop, and pencil grips from a stationary shop. nothing too hard to find. there's wood glue involved with the bamboo ones too. the instructions for those i got here at BODOJO.COM. yay bodojo!

m

Okay, I guess I'll share. Still being relatively new to bodhran playing, I find my Tipper preferences have changed over time, going from thicker, knobbier tippers to narrower, heavier ones in the past year. I've been milling tippers over the past year and a half and have been experimenting with different woods and lengths (and learning as I go along what seems to work and what doesn’t). Some of these tippers appear below in rough order of age. The longest one is about 11 inches or about 28 cm.

1 & 2 - Made of ash - Very light with a pronounced wood grain.

3 - Plum wood - Reasonably dense, producing a deep sound.

4 - Ironwood - Very dense wood. I wish I had made the ends smaller. They produce too much inertia when playing.

5 - Maple – Fairly light, but too small to do much with it.

6 & 7 - Lilac wood - Surprisingly dense. I use #7 a lot and find it produces a fuller sound like a bulkier tipper. The polyurethane finish makes it slippery, but it brings out the purple grain. It’s great for more nimble playing.

8 - Aspen - Way too light, so it doesn’t produce much volume, but it mills easily.

9, 10 & 11 - Oak - I find the oak wood grain doesn't lend itself to a smooth finish, even with a lot of sanding. It can be a bit light for playing. #10 is just a modified wooden dowel from the local home improvement store. It’s not bad for a 25 cent piece of wood, and isn’t missed if lost.

12 - Rosewood - The one piece of wood I had was about an inch shorter than I would have liked, but it produced a smooth finish and has good weight.

13 & 14 - Bubinga – I found this in a local woodworking store. It’s similar to cocobolo in appearance and density, so it’s quite heavy. One advantage it has over cocobolo is that it doesn't produce skin irritation for which cocobolo is known. It’s my current favorite.

I plan to experiment more with lilac and bubinga in the spring once I can get back into the garage to work on the wood lathe. To date, I’ve been using a polyurethane, wood stain, or Danish oil finish, but will try to use progressively finer sandpapers to produce a naturally polished finish.

Cheers,
Dietmar

very nice, thanks for posting! i'm finding that the thinner, heavier route is where i'm tending to go too. but i'm always changing my mind so i never throw anything out!:P

mark

I've heard it said, and found it true, that we don't truly own tippers, we just rent them for a while.

Have fun with the making! And more still with the playing!

Hi All,

Recently I have started turning tippers for myself and
others, these have been successfulish... some really good, some not so good..

My profile pic is of three sticks I made...

left to right:

10" fiddle bow (taken from the middle - very light and fast)
8" special custom hotrod of my own design (rubber tubing ~ with rods through it - really unusual sounds)
9" standard hotrod

I use a load of other tippers, all homemade or made at work...

although i love my own tippers i recently ordered a few tippers from ralf siepman (bodhranshop.com) after them being recommended by a freind - hope they are as good as i was told :P

Cillian.