MANUFACTURING THE KABAZURNA

Manufacturing the Body 

It is said commonly that the zurna can be produced by all the trees with fruits. On the other hand, the best of all the zurna-s produced is the one produced by plum wood. The external surface of the 10 cm wide and 60 cm long plum wood piece is rounded by a metal cutting implement called raspa, 

so that this cylindrical shaped wood is kept on being smoothed and a cylindrical shape in the same size is produced. Smoothing this cylindrical wood takes the shape of the zurna. 

Carving

 The lower part’s, in other words kalak’s,  bore is 8 cm and the tip’s bore of this zurna shaped wood is 3 cm. The bore is not standard; the kalak may vary from 7 to 10 cm.  The inner side of the zurna is carved by a wood lathe and by a drill with a fine screw, which prevents the wood being broken. First of all, a tiny hole called pilot hole is opened up.  This hole is widened gradually until the required size is obtained. 

Widening the Inner Side

To produce sound, the zurna need to be conic by carving and smoothing the kalak by raspa about 15 cm until the devil holes, thus the body of the zurna appears. 

Smoothing the Outer Side

Next step is to carve the kalak by the mechanical workbench

               Carving the kalak                                   Smoothing the inside of the kalak by hand

Afterwards the spaces between fingerholes are determined and the holes are pierced. 

Determining the Spaces between the Fingerholes

There isn’t any standard measure for the fingerholes. Each master has its own. 

Fixing the Spaces between the Fingerholes

The diameters of the fixed fingerholes are burnt to widen gradually. Once again, since there isn’t any standard measure, some deterioration may occur. 

Widening the Fingerholes by Burning

This causes an unstandardized manufacturing. The measures below are the common ones that I have experienced in many manufactures.

           The length of the kabazurna including the fork........53 cm. 

            The outer diameter of the kalak.................................8 cm. 

            The inner diameter of the kalak.................................7.2 cm. 

            The outer diameter of the upper side.........................3 cm. 

            The inner diameter of the upper side………………....1.6 cm. 

            The places of the fingerholes beginning from the upper side down

             1.         Fingerhole                                  6 cm 

             2.        Fingerhole                                10 cm 

             3.        Fingerhole                                14 cm 

             4.        Fingerhole                                18 cm 

             5.        Fingerhole                                22 cm 

             6.        Fingerhole                                26 cm 

             7.        Fingerhole                                30 cm 

            8.         Thumbhole                                8 cm    (at the back side, on the line where is just the middle of 1. and 2. fingerholes). 

            All these fingerholes’ diameters are 7 mm. 

                        The places of the devil holes beginning from the upper side down:

Devil holes in the 3rd row           (3)        38 cm  

Devil holes in the 2nd row          (1)        42 cm  

            All these devil holes’ diameters are 5.5 mm.

           After finishing the holes on the zurna, all parts (inside and outside) are smoothed by wooden emery. 

Emerying the inner and outer surface

Completed body

Manufacturing the Fork 

It is the one of the important part of the zurna. 99 % of them are produced of boxwood. Staple and reed fit into this part and the sound actually comes out of these two parts. A piece of boxwood, length 20 cm and diameter 4 cm, is chipped by lathe and raspa as small as it fits into the tip of the zurna. 

Chipping the fork

It should be neither tight nor loose. The part of the fork fitting into the zurna must reach to the end of the 3^rd fingerhole.(15 cm). The diameter of it is as big as the inner diameter (1,6 cm). The length and the diameter of the fork staying out of the zurna is 3 cm. It is pierced longitudinal by a drill of 7 mm 

Piercing the fork by the tap

The upper side of the fork is pierced about 10 mm. which narrows toward the lower part, about 7 mm, thus a slightly conic shape is obtained.  Like the zurna, a pilot hole is first pierced in the fork; later this hole takes its real size gradually by the aid of a tap. 

Widening into the real size

After piercing, the front part of the fork is cut beginning from the 1^st fingerhole and the back part beginning from the thumbhole.

Cutting the central of the fork

The sides of the boxwood remain only. The cut parts are smoothed by sandpaper or knife for a qualified fork.

Smoothing the fork by sandpaper or knife 

This fork must produce a sound similar to whistle when not attached to the zurna; this sound proves its quality.  Each fork is special for one zurna; it won’t fit to other zurna most probably. After fixing the fork into the zurna, its length will be 56 cm. 

           Boru  Yapımı

 Manufacturing the Staple 

The staple is manufactures according to the performer’s requirements whereas other parts of the zurna are manufactured according to the manufacturer’s. The experience of the zurna player influences the quality of the staple. 

Brass and silver are the most widely used metals in manufacturing staples. Gold is rarely employed because of the high costs. The thickness of the metal is 0.25 mm. The measures of the staple given in the illustration are the measures widely accepted by the old zurna players.

            The measures while opening out the staple are shown below. 

Illustration 1 Opening out the Staple 

           The metal piece cut as indicated Illustration 1 is bent by steel. Next, this shaped piece is forged by a wooden hammer on an anvil. This bending operation takes place gradually beginning from the large size ending in the required size. The long sides, being 55 mm, of the bent metal are compounded and welded; thus the joint lines disappear. Welding process is very important because the staple must be air-proof; otherwise the sound during the performance is not well qualified.

 Staple

            The staple is thickened by wrapping thread around to fit to the hole of the fork with 10 mm width. In other words, the conic shape oh the outer surface gets straight by wrapping thread.  Instead of thread, cork or leather may also be used. To protect the thread from sliding down, various ornamentations can be put around.

Ready to Use Staple

Manufacturing the Reed and Binding 

                        One of the important parts of the kabazurna is the reed which can be found near the water sides. It is collected in two ways: 

            1.)        Sprouting reeds are cut in the spring.  They are seasoned for about 1-1.5 months until being completely crisp and its color turns from green to yellow.  Waiting longer will cause the reed break while prepared for the zurna.

            2.)        Some reeds sprouting are broken because of the natural reasons and therefore they don’t grow up. They become naturally ready to use since they stay in the water and don’t get dry. This type of reeds stayed in moist environment is higher in quality and preferred because they are long lasting.

The reeds are like hollow pencils whose inside is covered by a thin membrane. First of all, this membrane must be removed. Then, it is called cane; with a length of 20 - 30 cm. 10 or 15 zurna reeds whose lengths are about 2,5 cm. However, not all of them are as required; sometimes, 10 or 20 reeds are wasted for just one high qualified reed.  The diameter of the reed cut out of the cane is proportional to the staple and generally 1 cm. 

 Canes

The second step is the constriction of the reeds. The reeds cut in length of 2 cm and in diameter of 1 cm are made damp by various methods (spit, water, steeped tea, milk etc.). A conic wooden piece is inserted into the half of the moistened reed. This wedge has to be as thick as the staple. The part of the reed which is at the same level with the wood is constricted by wrapping using thin thread. It should be paid extreme attention not to fold the reed while constricting.

After constricting process finishes, reed has to get dry before taking out the wedge from the inside. The thread around the dried reed is untied and the wedge is taken out. The reed is now ready to tie on the staple. 

Constricting

The diameter of the ready to use reed is same as the diameter of the upper side of the staple. Thus, when the reed is attached into the staple, the staple is inserted up to the point where the reed is constricted; otherwise the reed doesn’t produce timbre of high quality. The reed is attached to the staple tightly by thread.

The top of the reed attached to the staple becomes circle. To produce sound the two sides of the reed need to be joined by the thumb and the index finger. To prevent the reed being again circle, the reed needs to be pressed until it gets dry.  

 Attaching the Reed and Attached Reed

                        Before starting to play, the reed has to be moistened by spit, otherwise there would be no sound produced. Each time playing, the reed needs to be moistened. 

            Maintainance of the Kaba Zurna

A mixture of grease and lubricating oil is poured into and on a newly manufactured zurna and is let to absorb completely. It lasts about one or two weeks to get dry. The reason for this process is to prevent the cracking in the first performance by closing the pores of the wood.

The kabazurna gets dry more rapidly in warmer weather. Therefore, it needs to be greased regularly by sesame, almond or lubricating oil, each month or when necessary.

The inner wall of the zurna used continuously gets dirty because of the accumulation of spit which affects the tuning and intonation adversely. Moreover, the fork swells due to the wetness when the zurna is used frequently. To clean the inside of the zurna, the swollen fork has to be removed. To get dry, it must be waited and not used for one or two weeks. Otherwise, swollen fork may be broken and also break the zurna as removing. After removing, the inner wall of the zurna is washed by a suitable brush under flowing water. The fork is also cleaned by a piece of cloth. When the fork is removed to let dry, two parts may cling together. Before fixing into the zurna, the fork’s two parts needs to be moistened.

A zurna whose inner side is moist always produces much better timbre. Therefore, before playing the zurna, the reed and the inner side of the zurna have to be moistened.