# Building a xylophone **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 3, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430 "2017-07-03T14:53:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/1 "2017-07-03T14:53:48Z")
I have a question about mounting my wood keys on the base. I am going to try mounting them on springs. Trying to figure out what kind of load spring I should order. Something that barely compresses with the weight of the key maybe? Like say 1/8" for the middle length keys? Or would springs not be a good choice at all? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/2 "2017-07-03T15:12:54Z")
It won’t matter very much how you mount them, as long as you mount them at the right points (at 1/4 and 3/4 the length of the wooden rods), and they aren’t too tight. I think the usual method is to have a couple of felt rails running the length of the instrument, with the keys held on the rails via loose nails. The mounting points are nodes, so there will be almost no vibration there. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/3 "2017-07-03T15:22:12Z")
I too had an idea to build a xylophone, and sought help here: **[What’s the fundamental resonant frequency of an average adult human skull?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=572715)** ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/4 "2017-07-03T15:37:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It won’t matter very much how you mount them, as long as you mount them at the right points (at 1/4 and 3/4 the length of the wooden rods), and they aren’t too tight. I think the usual method is to have a couple of felt rails running the length of the instrument, with the keys held on the rails via loose nails. The mounting points are nodes, so there will be almost no vibration there. They gave me a method for identifying the node using salt crystals and the mallet. The crystals gather on the node. I am having trouble keeping the salt from all vibrating off of the key as I strike it. The formula they said to use was 2/9 inside from each end. I tried the felt and it seemed to dampen my note, maybe I didn’t have it setting square on the node. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/5 "2017-07-03T16:03:07Z")
Why are you mounting them on springs? If in good acoustic contact, at correct nodal (null) points, I could imagine it creating a weird wow-wow effect, at least in theory, but probably unhearable. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure about the theory, of a wave pushing a complex wave on top of it. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/6 "2017-07-03T19:12:06Z")
I have all the keys cut and I feel like I am doing something wrong, it suggested fine tuning by grinding the outside lower edge to raise the note and thinning the middle third of the center to lower the note. All the notes seem to adjust out fine by just cutting the length. A possible draw back to this might be that my nodes don’t line up in a straight line from lowest to highest notes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/7 "2017-07-03T19:16:52Z")
**Leo** , that would be an ossophone, or maybe a craniophone, not a xylophone. And **HoneyBadgerDC** , maybe you just got the cuts precise enough that you don’t need the fine-tuning. How are you testing the tone? By ear, by a comparison pitch (tuning fork etc.), or with an electronic tuner? And no, the nodes won’t all lie on straight lines, unless you also vary the spacing of the keys to match. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2017, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/8 "2017-07-03T19:44:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Leo** , that would be an ossophone, or maybe a craniophone, not a xylophone. > > And **HoneyBadgerDC** , maybe you just got the cuts precise enough that you don’t need the fine-tuning. How are you testing the tone? By ear, by a comparison pitch (tuning fork etc.), or with an electronic tuner? And no, the nodes won’t all lie on straight lines, unless you also vary the spacing of the keys to match. Electronic tuner, I built one a few years ago from stainless steel pipe that has outstanding sound but the keys are hard to hit cleanly. I don’t know anything about music and am just learning as I go. I shaved the bars a few thousands at a time until I nailed the note. Next I have to sand them and round the corners and possibly do another fine tuning. Sitting out in the hot sun changed the pitch a little, I am thinking now I may need to redo all of them at room temps in the shade. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/9 "2017-07-04T13:49:13Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I have a question about mounting my wood keys on the base. If you are using wooden keys I believe you are building a marimba. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/10 "2017-07-04T14:22:12Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I shaved the bars a few thousands at a time until I nailed the note. What’s the best thing to use to shave metal for this purpose? There’s a preset rhythm on an electronic keyboard that I used to compose a song and I’d like to recreate it with real percussion instruments. It has a double-cowbell part whose pitches I want to replicate exactly as the notes form part of the song’s melodic framework, and I haven’t found matching cowbells for it in the real world. No seriously, this isn’t a joke question. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/11 "2017-07-04T15:04:25Z")
> [@](#): > > If you are using wooden keys I believe you are building a marimba. Nope, a xylophone is made out of wood. It’s right there in the name: “xylos” = “wood”. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/12 "2017-07-04T15:45:47Z")
Another thing to be aware of with fixed-pitch instruments is that [not everyone uses the same tuning frequency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_pitch#Current_concert_pitches): > [@](#): > > Despite such confusion, A = 440 Hz is the only official standard and is widely used around the world. Many orchestras in the United Kingdom adhere to this standard as concert pitch. In the United States some orchestras use A = 440 Hz, while others, such as the New York Philharmonic use A = 442 Hz. The latter is also often used as a tuning frequency in Europe, especially in Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Norway and Switzerland. Nearly all modern symphony orchestras in Germany and Austria and many in other countries in continental Europe (such as Russia, Sweden and Spain) tune to A = 443 Hz. The Boston Symphony Orchestra tunes to A = 441 Hz. A = 440 Hz is probably the best fit for modern popular music. The difference between 440 and 442 Hz is 7.85 cents, or 7.85% of a semitone, which should be an audible difference. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/13 "2017-07-04T16:05:43Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Another thing to be aware of with fixed-pitch instruments is that [not everyone uses the same tuning frequency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_pitch#Current_concert_pitches): > > A = 440 Hz is probably the best fit for modern popular music. The difference between 440 and 442 Hz is 7.85 cents, or 7.85% of a semitone, which should be an audible difference. This solved a little problem I was having, I didn’t know what the HZ setting was for and I somehow had it set on 439, all the keys were built at 440 and this morning they were a little out. simple adjustment brought them all right back in ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/14 "2017-07-04T16:58:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Nope, a xylophone is made out of wood. It’s right there in the name: “xylos” = “wood”. I stand corrected. Now I don’t know what’s the difference. (Are there any other English words that come from “xylos”? I can’t think of any.) I play with vibes players, and those use metal bars. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/15 "2017-07-04T17:01:11Z")
I recall some documentary evidence of stone age xylophones made from a set of appropriately sized dinosaur bones. Possibly they were mammoth bones as that species coexisted with dinosaurs in the ancient city of Bedrock. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/16 "2017-07-04T17:04:38Z")
“Xylem” is also from the same root, but it’s a technical term not much used by non-botanists. And that much of a tone difference probably would be audible if you were hearing them together, but if everything in the same song is tuned to 442 instead of 440, most people would never know the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/17 "2017-07-04T20:35:40Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I stand corrected. Now I don’t know what’s the difference. (Are there any other English words that come from “xylos”? I can’t think of any.) Xylophobia is the fear of wood or wooden objects cf. dendrophobia\* which is the fear of trees. \*I started another thread where I experienced a bout of dendrophobia so it is real. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/building-a-xylophone/790430/18 "2017-07-04T21:11:08Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > (Are there any other English words that come from “xylos”? I can’t think of any.) [The isomer Xylene was first extracted from wood tar.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylene#History) It was probably named by that French guy but you know the way we steal words in English.