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: