Final run from Bron's tin shed at Franklin • In 14 active carts • 27 left
Bron's Hand-Tuned Rain Drum
Bron's Hand-Tuned Rain Drum
Hand-tuned one at a time in Tasmania
30-day money-back guarantee
One of Bron's final 185
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Bron's Hand-Tuned Rain Drum
Hand-Tuned in a Tin Shed on the Huon
Bronwyn “Bron” Kelleher, 64. Blacksmith at Franklin, Tasmania, since 1989. For the last nine years she has made nothing but rain drums. This is the final batch she will tune by hand.
“I don’t play them. I set them outside and wait for the weather to do it.”
— Bron Kelleher, Franklin, Tasmania
What’s in the Box
Everything That Leaves the Shed With It
The Drum
One 10 cm carbon steel rain drum, hand-tuned to A=432Hz.
Two Mallets
Wooden handles, rubber tips. Or play it with your fingertips.
Beginner Songbook
Number notation. Anyone can play from the first evening.
Cloth Pouch + Note
One handwritten sentence from Bron, folded inside.
Why This Drum
Six Things a Machine-Tuned Drum Can’t Give You
Every detail below comes out of thirty-seven years at an anvil and nine years of filing tongues one at a time. Nothing here is decoration.
The Pentatonic Promise
Nine notes, all pentatonic. Every note harmonises with every other note on the drum, so there’s no wrong one — whether it’s your fingers or the rain doing the playing.
The 432Hz Calibration
Tuned to A=432Hz rather than the standard A=440Hz. Eight cycles softer. Across an open garden it carries more gently than concert pitch.
The Southern Sun Finish
Powder-coated carbon steel, sealed against rust and — more to the point in this country — against UV. Bron’s own has been out on the chopping block through eleven winters and eleven summers.
The Franklin Cleat
Every drum gets its final check against a small bronze boat cleat Bron cast in 1994. Tapped on the bench it rings a quarter-tone between F and F sharp. It lives in her apron pocket.
The Ten-Centimetre Size
Small enough for a verandah rail, a fence post, a balcony rail or the arm of a garden chair — and it still fits in a jacket pocket or a daypack when you want it with you.
The Folded Note
Each drum leaves the shed with a handwritten note from Bron in the cloth pouch. Not a marketing card — one sentence, in biro, on the back of an old apple label.
— Expert Note
“A genuinely hand-tuned steel tongue drum is rare outside the small community of instrument makers. Most of what sells online is machine-stamped and machine-tuned, which is why it can sound brittle even played quietly. Tuning each instrument by ear against one fixed reference, one at a time, is how these drums were built when they first appeared in the early 2000s. And the pentatonic layout means anyone can pick one up without a single lesson — that part isn’t marketing, it’s simply the maths of the scale.”
Dr Alison Rennie — Senior Lecturer in Music, Conservatorium of Music, University of Tasmania, Hobart
Where It Lives
Perfect For
Quality Promise
Five Things You Get With Every Drum
30-Day Returns
If it doesn’t feel right when it turns up, send it back within 30 days for a full refund. No questions, no forms, no return postage to pay. One email to our team and it’s sorted.
A Note From the Shed
Bron tunes every drum by hand and writes a one-sentence note for each one. Small variations in pitch and in the pearl-flecked surface are part of how each drum finds its own voice. They aren’t faults — they’re the maker’s hand. The bronze cleat in her apron pocket settles the rest.
The Details
Product Specifications
| Material | Carbon steel |
| Finish | Pearl-flecked powder coating — six colours |
| Dimensions | 10 cm × 10 cm — XXL also available |
| Notes | 9 tongues, pentatonic scale, A=432Hz |
| Set Includes | Drum, 2 mallets, beginner songbook, cloth pouch, handwritten note |
| Play Method | Mallets, fingertips — or leave it out and let the rain play it |
| Outdoor Use | Built to stay outside all year, sealed against rust and UV |
| Care | Wipe with a soft dry cloth. Don’t submerge it. |
| Origin | Hand-tuned at Franklin, Huon Valley, Tasmania — final batch of 185 |
| Maker | Bronwyn “Bron” Kelleher, blacksmith and metal fabricator since 1989 |
| Sound Check | Final tuning verified against a 1994 bronze boat cleat from Bron’s apron pocket |
Why This Is the Last Batch
Why This Is the Last Batch
A note from the tin shed at Franklin:
Bron Kelleher has worked metal in a corrugated-iron shed on the Huon River since 1989 — boat fittings for the wooden-boat builders first, then farm gates, weathervanes and verandah brackets. In 2015 she put a failed commission down on the chopping block by the woodheap and forgot about it. Two months later a southerly came through and the thing started singing in the rain. She has made nothing else since.
Thirty-odd years of hammer, grinder and swage block have caught up with her hands: the fingers go white and numb in the cold and stay that way for the best part of an hour. She can still forge. She can no longer feel what she is filing — and tuning a tongue is done as much by feel as by ear.
So this is the last batch she will tune herself. 185 drums, one at a time. After these, the tuning hammer goes down.
Size, Care and Returns
Size, Care and Returns
What you get
- One hand-tuned steel tongue drum, 10 cm × 10 cm, nine tongues, pentatonic, tuned by ear to A=432Hz
- Two mallets with rubber tips, a beginner songbook with number notation, a cotton drawstring pouch
- A handwritten note from Bron, one sentence, chosen for that drum on that day
- XXL Premium size also available
Living outside
- Powder-coated carbon steel, sealed against rust and against Australian UV
- Built to stay outdoors all year. Bron's own has been on the same chopping block for eleven winters
- Wipe with a soft dry cloth. Don't submerge it
Returns
- 30 days, full refund, no questions and no forms
- One email to info@backroad-goods.com and it's sorted
Frequently Asked Questions
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
Email info@backroad-goods.com, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AEST. We answer within one business day. Bron doesn't have a smartphone — Kirsty, who set the shop up, handles every question and packs every order herself.
Can I return it if it's not for me?
Can I return it if it's not for me?
30 days, full refund, no questions and no forms. One email and we sort out the return. You don't pay return postage.
How is it made?
How is it made?
Powder-coated carbon steel, cut and tuned by hand in an eighteen-square-metre tin shed at Franklin, Tasmania. Nine tongues, pentatonic, tuned by ear to A=432Hz. Every drum gets a final check against a bronze boat cleat Bron cast in 1994 and keeps in her apron pocket. Final batch: 185.