Instrument Designs (some sketches)

While planting, I thought my main crop would be Bilobal gourds. My main interest is making Shekeres. But only a couple bilobals survived. These gourds are great for shekeres because the second, smaller lobe can be cut off and a nice cone-shaped sound hole is left to amplify the sound- similar to the sound hole of a guitar or a trumpet.

Here is a Bilobal Gourd:

And here is a basic Shekere Design:

The other problem is that I have a ton of Dipper gourds. They only have one lobe and an awkward shape. Nice for filling with beans to make a rattle, but not much else because there is no second lobe for a cone-shaped sound hole. So I designed my adaptation of a guiro with the main lobe cut of and carved notches going up the dipper handle (to be played with a stick). My hope is that it might be even louder than a traditional guiro or at least have a unique sound.

Here is a basic Dipper Gourd:

Here is my adaptation of a Guiro:

October

I've thinned out some dead leaves (dead leaves that cover tops of gourds encourage bugs and rot) and took this picture. It's like those Highlights magazine Dr. Riggs, my orthodontist, had in his office: "See how many gourds you can count!"

There will be more to post on soon. Job's tears harvest, etc.