It's been a long time on my mind to build a slit drum, and the opportunity finally came. As if making a slit drum wasn't hard enough, I chose to create a 12 note chorded slit drum. Because tuning is the most time-consuming part of this process, twelve "tongues" took a while to do. After much hand carving and chasing notes, I eventually came up with a slit drum that sounds good. That being said, I did learn a lot, and the next one will include a slightly different process and design and maybe fewer notes. Maybe. Here are some pictures of the drum and a video demonstration of the sound. I didn't have much time to practice or learn any actual tunes, so take it for what it is. Percussion is not my expertise. I would love to hear it in the hands of someone more qualified, but for now, this is it. Enjoy the video, and if you're interested in getting one of these made, let me know.
The video sound is a bit low and not the best quality, so you may need to adjust your volume. Headphones work best. Let me know what you think.