Jim’s Yellow Xylophone

Here is a quickie project I slammed together for our 2 year old grandson. Santa had asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he said “a yellow present.” Soooo, Jane and I were looking for a yellow present for him and couldn’t find anything suitable, but we noticed a xylophone bar set with plans at Rockler. It turned out pretty good but it’s not exactly a fine quality musical instrument. :-) And, as expected, after he opened it, Luke was much more interested in other more 2-year-oldish gifts than the “yellow present.”

It was easy to build from scraps of poplar I cut to four 1×3/4 boards for the tone bars, and two 1×3/8 I cut for the bottom supports to hold it together. Sanded smooth and rounded the edges, then glued and clamped. Pre-drilled holes for #10 1″ pan-head metal screws to hold tone bars. Sprayed with yellow Rust-oleum gloss. Put little pieces of soda straw around the screws to prevent clanging against screws, per instructions. Foam, adhesive-backed insulation support the tone bars. I had some 3/16″ dowels on hand for the strikers. Didn’t have time to find a wooden bead to go on end.