Making an Epoxy Mouthpiece for your Didgeridoo

Many of you who know me know that I am a BIG proponent of no-wax mouthpieces. In fact, every didge I own personally and every didge I make has a waxless mouthpiece. I don't like having to reshape the wax constantly, its easier to shift the didge around on my face and the sounds are a little crisper.

Very few of my didges have been made with a natural mouthpiece sized opening, therefore all of them have been tweaked with the addition of some kind of reduction ring. To date, the majority of them are made with eucalyptus wooden ring inserts. For details on this process, check out How to make a wooden mouthpiece.

The wooden mouthpiece procedure works well for those with a shop that has a lot of tools at their disposal, but is out of the reach for most didgers.

There is another way, the epoxy mouthpiece! Thanks to Per Hultquist for telling me, and Dave Crowder for showing me about this one.

Materials needed:

• Epoxy putty. Looks like a "Jelly Roll" with the hardener and resin together in a roll.
  
• Masking tape
  
• Various grades of sandpaper
  
• Rubber gloves
  
• Paper Towels
  
• Acrylic Paint
  
• Some form of "top coat" such as varnish or polyurethane
  

Tools Required:

• Knife (Xacto type)
  
• Electric Drill (optional)
  
• Small Sanding Drum for drill (optional)
  
• Heat gun or Hairdryer (optional)
  

The procedure:

1. Remove the wax mouthpiece

2. Clean out all of the old wax from the INSIDE of the mouthpiece, using the Xacto knife first, and then sandpaper. It is essential to get rid of all of the wax, else the epoxy won't adhere to the surface well. If available, use the sanding drum in the drill to clean out the inside of the mouthpiece.

3. If there is wax on the OUTSIDE of the didge, use a heat gun or hairdryer to soften it, and then wipe it off with a paper towel.

4. Sand the top surface of the mouthpiece with the sandpaper.

5. To eliminate having to refinish more of the didge than absolutely necessary, very carefully put masking tape along the outside of the didge at the top. This will keep the putty and sandpaper from damaging the finish.

6. Cut off a piece of the epoxy putty from the roll, making sure it's large enough to form the mouthpiece. Use approximately the same amount as the wax mouthpiece as a reference.

7. Wearing the rubber gloves, work the putty together with your fingers to activate the epoxy resin and hardener. Usually, the two components are of different colors so you can tell when they are mixed together thoroughly.

8. As you would do with wax, work the putty into a snake, and join it together at the ends to form a donut the size of the mouthpiece. For details on making a wax mouthpiece, refer to How to make a wax mouthpiece.

9. Press the donut onto the end of the didge and shape it to form the shape mouthpiece you desire. If anything, error on the side of the mouthpiece opening being smaller than desired, as you can always take it off later with the sandpaper. You can "lubricate" your fingers with water (or saliva) to keep your fingers from sticking to the epoxy as you shape it.

10. Allow the putty to harden.

11. Shape to final form with sandpaper. I prefer a 1 3/16" opening with about a 1/8" flat surface that then tapers to meet the sides of the didge that looks like this.

12. Since the masking tape may have been damaged by the sanding process, remove the old tape and replace with new.

13. Paint the mouthpiece with an acrylic paint. If you can match the paint on the didge, you're in good luck, but if you can't, you can always use a brown color to simulate wax or wood. After the paint has dried, you can use a polyurethane, epoxy or other varnish to coat and protect the mouthpiece.

Enjoy!

-jm