Construction of the Persian ney
Searching for the right piece of Arundo Donax
The Persian ney is made out of a piece of Arundo Donax, a bamboo-like grass. A piece piece is selected containing seven segments, hich defines the length of the ney. !onditions must be "ust right to procude the right thickness and length. #or this a hot dry climate such as in the area$s south of %sfahan &ran is needed. The cut piece is dried for several years, and cleaned out, and ' holes are burnt in it at the right spots. &t has been said that only () of the neys produced this ay actually sound good, so it is a time consuming process despite the simplicity of the instrument. &t is also possible to make a ney out of other materials, ith excellent results. &$ve made some neys out of P*! and acrylic pipe hich are as good as a nice cane ney, though not +uite as good as the best neys & have. The best materials & found so are (. The light light P*! pipe pipe used for electrical electrical conduit conduit in %urope. %urope. The The pipe & use use has outer diameter (mm, inner diameter ('mm, so the alls are (.mm thick. This is called /('mm P*! pipe/ in 0olland, here & bought it. The exact thickness is not so important, but this is the material & used. 1. %xtr %xtrud uded ed acry acrylic lic pip pipee from from http22.tapplastics.com http22.tapplastics.com.. 3ook under the plastics section under /4od, Tubes, and Shapes/. 5nder clear acrylic tubing, they sell a si6e that is (2(' all, 27 &D, 829 :D. &n millimeters, this orks out to be (.7 all, (.7; &D, (.< :D, hich is very close to the dimensions of the P*! from 0olland. !ut a piece of length '(. This side =the filed outside> is called the T:P of the ney. _ | |
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file to something like | || | \ | | | | | |
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/\ 1cm (approximately) \/
?o take a cylindrical piece of steel =& use the back of drill bits> of diameter mm and heat it up over a candle. @ake it hot enough to melt, but not burn the plastic. @elt in the finger-holes of the ney ith this. Alternatively you can use a /#orstener drill bit/, made especially for making circular holes, for use ith a poer drill. #or the acrylic this orks better.
#inger-holes of the ney. Also shon are a sari and a bottom cover. The nodes, here the braches ere attached, are rapped ith red rotan
:ne hole at the back, 819mm from the top =i.e., the center of the hole is 819mm from the top>, and at the front, at distances 87mm, 9<;mm, 98(mm, 979mm, 1;mm from the top. 0eat the ney gently above the candle, at the area 97mm from the top, rotating the ney above the candle. hen the area becomes slightly soft, take a piece of cord =not too thin, or you ill cut the pipe>, ind it around the hot area, and tighten it, making a notch ith inside diameter slightly larger than the finger-holes. This is to imitate indentations here the side branches on the cane are. Do this at places 97mm, (;1mm, 17mm, 8'mm, <9mm, mm from the top. The last thing to do is to iden the top. & do this by arming the top over a candle, and pushing a cone shaped metallic thingy in =about 1-8cm>, thereby stretching the ney. & do
this several times, until the top is a little ider than the rest. &n the end you can insert the bottom of a the unstretched pipe into the top, very tightly. This last step improves the sound a lot. A better ay to do this exists but & have not discovered it. &f you do, let me kno. =A hint use a /taper pin/ and a /tapered reamer/.> This ney plays in Bb =B flat>. Cou can scale the length, to make neys in different keys. &f interested, ask me for measurements from neys in other keys. They scale approximately linear =i.e., all proportions remain the same>, but not completely. Smaller neys than ! don$t play ell in the upper register. The longest ney &$ve made is # =!-kuk>.
# ney =!-kuk>
This ney is so long that & can$t reach the fingerholes. 0oever bending the ney at the nodes a bit, making a kindof 6ig-6ag pattern brings the holes ithin reach. &$ve also offset the holes from the center to bring them ithin reach of the fingers. The sound is very good.
Sari from brass
#inally make a sari. !ut a piece of flexible plastic, -ray film material is popular. The plastic from inside the collar of men$s shirts is :E too. :r a soda-pop bottle. rap it around the top, sticking out slightly. This is your mouthpiece =called /sari/>. &t is sometimes made from brass, but this is very bad for the teeth and does not improve the sound in any ay.
@aking a sari from -ray film
Some players ho have no gap beteen their front teeth to insert the ney in prefer to make a small cut in the sari, alloing the ney to enter further in the mouth. &$ve experimented ith many shapes of cuts but in the end prefer to play ithout.
Belo are measurements of several neys. Eeep in mind the lengths can vary by about ( cm depending on the inside structure. ?arroer nodes give a loer pitch, smaller fingerholes give a loer pitch too. h( =back>
h1
# =!7;; 1< (' kuk>
9;
1 7; '( '7 ;9 1 191 9< ;< ;(; 79;
#F
719 1( (;
9<
(9 97 ;' '98 ;<( ;< 19< 8< 8 ''< ;'
#G
717 1< (8
97
18 8 79 '9 ;<9 1 1 9<< 87 '' ;7
H
;;1 ( (1
9(
97' ( 9' '<7 ''< '1 1<7 8; 97 '81 ;'<
HF
;; 1< ((
9<
9;' < 8' '<( ' ;9 11 8'9 9< '( ;8<
Ab
;1 1< (
877
98 978 <7 '7 '(8 ; 1(< 899 9'7 71 '9
Ap
;1< 1< (1
81
9 97' (( ;< '19 ;< 1(8 89; 9;8 7; '<
A
' ( (8
8;9
98 9'9 97 9' 1 ;1 (7 81 9< '< ''
AF
'9 1( (8
8(
9< 981 9 <9 < ;1 1<< 8( 918 18 '(
Bb
'88 1< (8
898
87 917 91 <( 98 '; (7 8(( 9( ( '(<
Bp
'( ( (8
817
877 9(1 98 977 8
B
77 ( (1
81(
8'7 8 9( 9 < '< (;7 178 87; 9; '1
!p
;; 1< (9
8<7
87 87' 9<7 99 9 7 (;8 17< 8;8 9'7 97
!
'< ( (9
8<<
89; 8;8 8 98; 9;7 '( (;1 1;< 8'8 98 91
!F
19 1( (9
1;
81< 89' 8'7 9<; 997 '8 (; 19 88 911 <<
!G
(' ( (1
1;8
81< 899 8'8 9<< 998 9( (< 19 88< 9(1 97'
D
9< 1< (1
1'<
1 811 891 8;; 9(9 ; (8 187 8(; 87 9
%b
9'< ( (( 7
18'
17< 8<8 811 8 88 9; (81 1( 18 8;< 997
%p
917 ( (9 7. 18<
1' 177 8<; 889 8' < (88 1(< 17< 89 9<7
%
919 ( (1
11(
11 1; 18 818 8; < (18 ( 1' 889 9<<
#
8( (7 (
1(<
198 1'9 1;7 8<8 88
Eey
3
T B 0
h8
h9
h
h'
n( n1
n8
n9
n
n'
9 (;8 1< 9<8 < '<8
9; (18 (< 19 8( 8;'
Dimensions =in mm> of various neys. 3 total length, T inner diameter at top, B inner diameter bottom, 0 diameter finger hole, h(,...,h' center of finger hole from top =here you blo>, n(,...,n' center of node from top. Contact Kees van den Doel
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