Stanford Taiko's Drum Building Manual

Welcome to Stanford Taiko's drum building manual!

Our manual is based mostly on techniques taught to us by Zenshin Daiko, a fantastic children's group based in Maui, Hawaii.

Over spring break of 2003, Stanford Taiko was invited to spend a week with Zenshin Daiko to learn how they build drums. They graciously guided us through the process from start to finish, and we did our best to record it. This manual is the result. We owe them a great deal of thanks for their patience and generosity.

• The History (making taiko in North America)
• The Drum-Making Process (a step-by-step guide)
• Fun in Maui (Stanford Taiko seeing the sights and being goofy)
• Thank Yous and Acknowledgements (credit where credit is due)

Disclaimer:

This site is meant to be a good starting guide for building nagado chu-daiko from wine barrels. We don't claim to be experts, nor is this the only way to build drums. For a different look at drum building, visit the Rolling Thunder Resource. (A note from current webmasters: Rolling Thunder Taiko Source no longer exists.) If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please contact us -- we love to learn!

Please click on the "Thank Yous" page to see who helped us to finish this project.