Homemade Instruments

[congamyk]

I've always wanted a shekere with a dark gourd that has beads the color and shape of the Brasilian flag.
What are the possibilities?

[bongosnotbombs]

All you have to do is stain the gourd with a dark stain to get it that color.
The beads come in all colors. I chose Brasilian colors for the shekere in my avatar.

[Mike]

Well the black and red one, plus the one I'm working on now are going to England,
maybe one of my shekeres is destined for Deutschland?....add a few yellow beads to
the black and red?

Well, why not? It is only that like many Germans, I am a bit anxious of trooping our national colors.
That is different when it comes to football though...

Why not combine the two?

I dig your sense of humour as well as your being savvy in photo montage
Well, considering the latest scandal about Lukas Podolski, the football player in the pic,
I would say a calabash in the hands of bashin Luke could possibly lead to more harm for Ballack:wink:

Enough off topic, lets better watch the gourds grow

[seisporocho1]

Well, I finally got some time to do a few shekeres so here are the prospects!
Today I opened and sanded them...
One of them will have the Brazilian theme. I hope it comes out good.
Will keep you posted with the progress!

[Joseph]

Not exactly a homemade instument, but a set of home made stands.

I have a set of Djun-Djuns, which I owned before I got back in to congas.
I love those drums...deep and powerful, capable of laying a heavy bass line on a rhythm.
I am getting into playing them more in a hand & stick style, as taught by my Haitian friend, with muffs & crackin' stick shots. They're great for bombo patterns also.

I never liked the traditional African side mount stands for djuns.
The alternative is the "ballet style" stand, which is what I built. Allows for seated or standing play on all 3 drums.

I laminated some (almost!) perfectly round wooden rings of different sizes, corresponding to drum circumferences.
3 laminates of pine, 1 surface laminate of Luan (from driftwood) for outside finish surface. Easy but tedious.
Rings are through bolted to legs, which are notched to hold rings in place.
2 coats Tung Oil, finished off with 2 coats & quick buffs of carnuba wax, gives hand-rubbed look.

Wood for legs is Florida Red Cedar, also known as Aromatic Cedar...the wood with which old fashion Cedar closets are made. It has colorful red-purple heartwood grain to it, and can have some pretty wild variation. The cedar came from trees in my backyard, that leaned over heavily after torrential wind & rains from tropical storms made ground soggy. I had to cut them down, but they had sizable trunks to them, so I turned them into lumber.

I used flat webbing and nylon zip-ties to make a flat plane soft surface for drum to sit in stands. Tape on one leg of each stand is where webbing terminates; a cleaner termination than trying to tie webbing into knots.

Stands are very stiff and light. Drums appear to float inside the rings, and are very stable.
Unfortunately, due to drum diameters, only 2 of the 3 stands nest inside each other for transport

[seisporocho1]

Here is a pic of the gourds now:

6x8

[bongosnotbombs]

Nice coloring on those gourds. What did you use? A stain? I've seen other people do
similar, often the beads end up scratching the coating after a while.

[seisporocho1]

Thanks.
I used Welburn's stains! They're awesome. I haven't had a problem with bead scratching at all! This stuff goes in deep and the finish is important.

6x8

[seisporocho1]

Here are 2 shekeres I did last week: sorry if the pics are sideways...don't know why that happens.

Old LP fiberglass shekere...just re-did the net!

[OLSONGO]

OK fellow board members or bros, hermanos you asked for it here it goes.

[OLSONGO]

A cajon

[OLSONGO]

Cut cymbal

[OLSONGO]

Another shekere

[Mike]

Whoa, that cymbal looks like a weapon
Seriously, what does it sound like?

Here is my (first) cajon:

I like sitting in the green

[OLSONGO]

Mike the cymbal sounds between a crash and a china.( Anything can be a weapon depends how you use it ). Here is a surdo and a caxixi I made, the caxixi is made from the end of a palm leaf and gourd, they are everywhere here in Florida USA, especially after a rainy windy day.