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Let's start off with a didj without
any mouthpiece.
If yours has any beeswax on it, simply
scrape it off as well as you can.
When doing this, be careful not to
damage the varnish which protects the wood.
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Now you take a piece
of soft beeswax and start pushing it onto the inside
corner of the top opening in the didj. (The top of
the didj is always the side with the smaller diameter).
Note how well the wax is pushed onto
the inside edge of the didj.
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It will make it much easier if you
start of with the right amount of beeswax.
For different size holes you need different
size beeswax pieces to start with. (the bigger one
will only be enough to go about 3/4 around the didj)
On these two didjes I squeeze the wax
already into a triangular profile as I go along. (compare
with last photo)
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Keep pushing the wax around the hole.
As you go along, thin the wax if needed to avoid having
to much. Imagine the final size of the hole you want
to end up with (about 30-40 mm across). Having too
much or too little wax will make it hard or impossible
to end up with the right size hole.
Note the profile of the wax where it
is pressed onto the wood. It is achieved by shaping
the wax between thumb and forefinger as it is applied.
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Join the circle. Note
how well the mouthpiece is already shaped.
Keeping the approximate size and shape
of the final hole in mind during this first stage saves
lots of correcting later on.
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Simply take the excess
off...
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Or...
If the beeswax piece is the right size,
you simply join the ends...
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Now you want to press the wax against
the inside of the didj. This is best done by pushing
the wax downward allowing it to peter out (we do not recommend
that you cut your didj in order to check your mouthpiece).
You will have to feel with your finger
as you push the wax against the timber that you end
up with a continuous seal
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Here an example of what it shouldn't
look like if you could see the bottom of the mouthpiece.
Note the gaps between wax and timber,
specially in the 4 o'clock position.
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Another view showing the thinning of
the wax towards the bottom. You still want to achieve
a good seal all the way down.
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Once the inside is well sealed, you
want to use your thumb to seal the outside edge of
the wax onto the timber...
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Insufficiently sealed areas like this
might create air leaks and any such leak will make
it difficult or even impossible to play the didj. (Even
a tiny hole will affect the sound quality of your didj)
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Here the outside is well sealed but
the profile of the mouthpiece is too high...
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After another round of squeezes the
profile is right. Note the hills and valleys of the
inner edge.
It will be difficult to get a good
seal with such an irregular inner edge. So use little
pulls and pushes to even out the hills and valleys...
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This is how you want the top edge of
the mouthpiece to look like.
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Similarly you don't want to play a
didj with such a deformed hole
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Looking onto the hole you want to end
up with an evenly round or slightly oval inner edge
which is about 30 to 40 mm across.
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