Hicks Sticks, Dark bore sound

I have created a way to seal the inside of didgeridoos with epoxy but also darken the sound quality so the didge sounds more natural.

All of the instruments I make for sale are coated inside and out with epoxy to waterproof the wood and eliminate cracking problems from moisture/dry cycles in the wood. The epoxy creates a hard shiny surface which inside the bore accentuates the highest harmonic frequencies. This creates a very bright upper frequency range. There are other things internally that affect this brightness, but the bottom line is epoxied bores are a bit unnaturally bright in tone compared to natural wood bores. Some people really like the extra brightness, some prefer a darker more natural "woody" sound. I have experimented with using tung oil instead of epoxy for a more natural sound, but some of these instruments cracked, so I do not feel comfortable selling them. The dark bore treatment uses epoxy for waterproofing, so I guarantee them against cracking, but creates a more natural interior surface in the bore and a more natural woody tone. The percent rating I use is my subjective opinion of how much effect the treatment has compared to a natural wood bore, so 0% is the brightest epoxy like sound, and 100% is just like natural wood.

Another nice thing about the dark bore didges is to brighten them, you can pour water into the bore just like aboriginal people do with their wood didges, but the epoxy eliminates cracking problems.

These are before and after sound files I recorded of a didge I made a while ago that had a particularly bright sound before the dark treatment. The sound comparison says more than any words could.

Bright bore sound

Dark bore sound