Construction of the Persian ney

Searching for the right piece of Arundo Donax

The Persian ney is made out of a piece of Arundo Donax, a bamboo-like grass. A piece is selected containing seven segments, which defines the length of the ney. Conditions must be just right to procude the right thickness and length. For this a hot dry climate such as in the area's south of Esfahan Iran is needed. The cut piece is dried for several years, and cleaned out, and 6 holes are burnt in it at the right spots. It has been said that only 1% of the neys produced this way actually sound good, so it is a time consuming process despite the simplicity of the instrument.

It is also possible to make a ney out of other materials, with excellent results. I've made some neys out of PVC and acrylic pipe which are as good as a nice cane ney, though not quite as good as the best neys I have.

The best materials I found so are:

1. The light PVC pipe used for electrical conduit in Europe. The pipe I use has outer diameter 19mm, inner diameter 16mm, so the walls are 1.5mm thick. This is called "16mm PVC pipe" in Holland, where I bought it. The exact thickness is not so important, but this is the material I used.
2. Extruded acrylic pipe from http://www.tapplastics.com. Look under the plastics section under "Rod, Tubes, and Shapes". Under clear acrylic tubing, they sell a size that is 1/16 wall, 5/8 ID, 3/4 OD. In millimeters, this works out to be 1.58 wall, 15.87 ID, 19.05 OD, which is very close to the dimensions of the PVC from Holland.

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Alternatively you can use a "Forstener drill bit", made especially for making circular holes, for use with a power drill. For the acrylic this works better.

Finger-holes of the ney. Also shown are a sari and a bottom cover. The nodes, where the braches were attached, are wrapped with red rotan

One hole at the back, 324mm from the top (i.e., the center of the hole is 324mm from the top), and 5 at the front, at distances 385mm, 407mm, 431mm, 484mm, 527mm from the top.

Heat the ney gently above the candle, at the area 48mm from the top, rotating the ney above the candle. When the area becomes slightly soft, take a piece of cord (not too thin, or you will cut the pipe), wind it around the hot area, and tighten it, making a notch with inside diameter slightly larger than the finger-holes. This is to imitate indentations where the side branches on the cane are. Do this at places 48mm, 172mm, 289mm, 396mm, 504mm, 595mm from the top.

The last thing to do is to widen the top. I do this by warming the top over a candle, and pushing a cone shaped metallic thingy in (about 2-3cm), thereby stretching the ney. I do this several times, until the top is a little wider than the rest. In the end you can insert the bottom of an unstretched pipe into the top, very tightly. This last step improves the sound a lot. A better way to do this exists but I have not discovered it. If you do, let me know. (A hint: use a "taper pin" and a "tapered reamer".)

This ney plays in Bb (B flat). You can scale the length, to make neys in different keys. If interested, ask me for measurements from neys in other keys. They scale approximately linear (i.e., all proportions remain the same), but not completely. Smaller neys than C don't play well in the upper register. The longest ney I've made is F (C-kuk).

F ney (C-kuk)

This ney is so long that I can't reach the fingerholes. However bending the ney at the nodes a bit, making a kindof zig-zag pattern brings the holes within reach. I've also offset the holes from the center to bring them within reach of the fingers. The sound is very good.

Sari from brass

Finally make a sari. Cut a piece of flexible plastic, X-ray film material is popular. The plastic from inside the collar of men's shirts is OK too. Or a soda-pop bottle. Wrap it around the top, sticking out slightly. This is your mouthpiece (called "sari"). It is sometimes made from brass, but this is very bad for the teeth and does not improve the sound in any way.

Making a sari from X-ray film

Some players who have no gap between their front teeth to insert the ney in prefer to make a small cut in the sari, allowing the ney to enter further in the mouth. I've experimented with many shapes of cuts but in the end prefer to play without.

Below are measurements of several neys. Keep in mind the lengths can vary by about 1 cm depending on the inside structure. Narrower nodes give a lower pitch, smaller fingerholes give a lower pitch too.

Dimensions (in mm) of various neys. L total length, T inner diameter at top, B inner diameter bottom, H diameter finger hole, h1,...,h6 center of finger hole from top (where you blow), n1,...,n6 center of node from top.

Key	L	T	B	H	h1 (back)	h2	h3	h4	h5	h6	n1	n2	n3	n4	n5	n6
F (C-kuk)	877	20	16	9	475	552	587	619	689	749	52	242	409	570	717	847
F>	824	21	17	9	450	514	548	576	643	701	70	240	390	535	660	765
F#	828	20	13	9	458	523	553	584	649	704	92	255	400	538	665	785
G	772	19	12	9	415	486	519	546	608	660	62	208	357	498	632	760
G>	757	20	11	9	405	476	509	536	601	655	74	225	364	490	615	730
Ab	729	20	15	9	388	453	483	508	568	613	75	210	344	468	582	694
Ap	720	20	12	9	392	455	486	511	570	624	70	213	347	473	587	690
A	699	19	13	9	374	435	464	489	546	592	72	198	325	450	560	656
A>	645	21	13	9	351	405	432	455	504	550	72	200	315	423	523	615
Bb	633	20	13	9	343	398	428	452	501	543	67	198	311	415	515	610
Bp	615	19	13	9	328	388	412	435	488	53	49	173	290	403	505	603
B	588	19	12	9	321	368	395	419	459	550	60	178	283	387	479	562
Cp	577	20	14	9	308	358	386	408	454	495	58	173	280	373	468	548
C	560	19	14	9	300	347	373	395	437	478	61	172	270	363	453	542
C>	524	21	14	9	279	320	346	368	407	448	63	157	245	335	422	500
C#	516	19	12	9	273	320	344	363	400	443	41	150	245	330	412	486
D	490	20	12	9	260	299	322	342	377	414	57	153	238	317	389	455
Eb	460	19	11	8	236	280	303	322	355	393	47	132	215	293	370	448
Ep	428	19	14	8.5	230	265	288	307	334	369	50	133	210	280	345	408
E	424	19	12	9	221	252	275	293	323	357	50	123	195	265	334	400
F	391	18	15	9	210	243	264	278	303	33	47	123	190	254	315	376