Kazoo Making and Caroling (100+ Hours of Research to Create a High Quality Low Cost Instrument. Plus Decades of Humming)

Ok so I blurted out on Thanksgiving "Who wants to go Kazoo caroling this year?" Believe it or not everyone did. Eybaba, so I had to get to work on how to make over 40. First, I wanted to know more about Kazoos so a-googling I went.

After seeing tons of silly videos of the Kazoo Kid, I found a brief history of Kazoos from here. "It's known as a mirliton, which uses a resonating membrane to amplify sound. It belongs in the percussion family of instruments and can be made in a number of ways. Derived from the ancient African mirliton, the kazoo was first manufactured during the 1800s." The modern day kazoo was invented by Alabama Vest during the 1840s. He drew up the plans for the instrument and had it made by a clockmaker named Thaddeus Von Clegg. In 1852, they demonstrated their kazoo at the Georgia State Fair, and it became a popular instrument in that region.

BTW here is the Kazoo Kid now.

I explored various designs but since I had to make many fast and only have time on the weekends; I needed to be very efficient. The result, I believe, is that I create an extremely cost effect and handsome instrument at less than $0.10/Kazoo. (Never thought, I'd have a per Kazoo metric in my life).

Feel free to skip the build and go to the bottom to watch our Kazoo caroling. We are already planning this year's concert. But don't forget to go back to see the build tricks I developed.

PS I added my nephew's solo of Ode to Joy. He plans to start touring soon.

Supplies

If you watched my other ibles, you know I like to be very economical in my builds and use reclaimed material where possible. Craigslist "free" section is a great place to start. I snagged some solid floor planks and I had left over window screen and a plastic shopping bag (stay tuned for my big discovery that will revolution home Kazoo making). I bought some screws and O-Rings on AMZ.

Costs

Wood / Screen / Bag - Free

O-Rings (3/4" D, 1/16" thick) 100 count - $3.38

Stainless Steal Screws (1/4") 100 count - $7

= $0.10/Kazoo.

BTW, I started out with 2 screws per Kazoo but realized 1 was better since reduces costs and makes membrane access easier.

Step 1: Design

I used Tinkercad to play with the design. Many Kazoo plans call for more contoured shapes but I liked the streamlined version which simplified and accelerated manufacturing. First thing I learned was that I needed to have a membrane to enable the vibration to create the classic Kazoo sound. Well AMZ sells them at $7 for 30 pieces. Yikes!, that would break the bank. With more research, I learned you can make membranes out of paper or plastic but I needed a way to stretch the material to keep it taunt. Humm, I mean Hmm. KEY INSIGHT: Why not use an O-Ring and create a inset in the wood to create a sort of drum. It worked great. You can see the progressions of the steps in the Tinkercad which I describe in the next sections.

Step 2: Build Base Frame

I cut down 7/8" strips of the oak floor planks and then in to 4 3/4" blanks. Pretty easy and fast.

Step 3: Drill Resonator Chamber

This step took some planning so I can batch out many Kazoos consistently. I created a jig on my drill press to set the Kazoo blank in the correct orientation. First, drill down 3/8" with a 5/8" Forstner bit around 2" from a side you mark as top. Repeat for all blanks. Now change out the Forstner bit to 3/4" but only drill down 1/16" in the same hole as the first one. This creates a rim for the O-Ring. (see step 3 in Tinkercad). Once you have the chamber set, then drill along the length of the Kazoo with a 1/4" drill bit until you are all the way thru. I used a jig with a cam for that too so to go straight down the center.

Step 4: Make Resonator Cap

Here I just used some scrap wood 2" long, 7/8" wide and 1/8" think. Drill a 5/8" Forstner hole thru the center and a 1/8" hole at the top for the screw. I also cut screen as a protector for the resonator.

Step 5: Assemble the Kazoo

As I said previously, the Amz resonator was going to be costly, plus it made my design wider. After testing paper, plastic wrap, and others as resonators, I ended up with a simple grocery bag. That turned out to be a perfect sound. Just cut out pieces, place them over the resonator chamber hole and put the O-Ring on top. Add the screen and screw in the cap. Seems simple but that was a lot of design to make it simple.

Step 6: Voila and Enjoy

Of course I had to make a Jenga tower and then a domino line of Kazoos but the best is our Christmas Day Kazoo concert that surprise neighbors.

Hope your try to conduct (I mean construct) your own Kazoo and go caroling.

Oh, I almost forgot the best part. When present the Kazoo to its owner you have to do two important steps. First is called giving birth to the Kazoo. Since there is likely a lot of sawdust in the instrument, they have to blow real hard to get it out or they will have a mouth of dust in their throat. The puff creates a cloud of dust. Second, they have to tune the Kazoo. This involves putting a finger at the end of the Kazoo and suck in and out very quickly to create a tapping sound to stretch the membrane and get a great Kazoo sound. You might have to do that again if the Kazoo set for a long unused period. Finally if the membrane tears or breaks down then the great part it's easy to replace.

Happy Holidays.