To Make a Didgeridoo (My Message Stick)

So this past fall I was strolling through the streets of San Francisco on my way to the airport when I spotted the most beautiful dried agave flower stalk. With this being my first time face-to-foliage with this plant, I instantly thought of the possible crafting opportunities, a didgeridoo in particular.

I began playing the didgeridoo in the fall of 2008. It is a very simple instrument that consists of a long hollow tube shape that you blow into. I had heard it used in many songs byXavier Rudd and found it quite enticing. I went online and purchased a hand made bamboo didgeridoo from LA Outback, I figured that if I made the investment it would push me to master the instrument. It turned out to be a challenging task at first, making the drone sound and then eventually figuring out the circular breath. So as my interest in didgeridoos was growing I was continuously looking into how to create my own. First it was the PVC pipe didgeridoo which yielded a simple tone but I wanted something more substantial, I wanted an agave stalk. With agave being native to the western united states I decided to put these ideas on the back burner.

I returned to Frisco after an amazing visit with Miley in Texas, to see him and his platoon off to the middle east. Before I hit the road once again, leaving town, I made one last stop. I paid a visit to the dead agave stalk. It was dark and there was little traffic so I pulled up beside the plant and fetched my machete from the back of the car. When agave flowers, it puts all of its available energy into the production of this long stalk so it can ensure reproductive success. The plant will input so much energy that it dies soon after the fruiting period. This individual had already flowered and was growing more as a weed so I knew I was doing the city a favor by cutting it down. Plus I had creative plans for this particular plant. After hacking down the stalk to a suitable 6ft length I tossed it into my car where it sat for the remainder of my trip across the country, constantly sliding around hitting me in the head and obstructing my views.

After finally returning home to Vermont after my month long trip, living out of my car, I was ready to get started on this project. luckily my father had an abundance of hand tools to make the whole process a bit easier. The first step was to hollow out the interior of the stalk. This was possible because the flower stalk has a very soft pith that can be easily cleaned out. I began by clamping the stalk to the work bench and taking the 4 ft auger with 1 inch drill bit and slowly drilling a channel through the length of the stalk, carefully entering from both ends to make the connection. One end of the stalk was about 5 inches wide so my next step was to clear out the rest of the pith. To do this my father gave me the idea to construct a sharp scraping tool. After grinding a piece of metal into a suitable shape and fixing it to the end of the stick, I was able to complete the hollowing process.

With the center hollowed out and complete I was ready to cut it to the final dimensions and to prepare the exterior surface. By using a pull scraping tool I was able to achieve a beautiful smooth exterior.

My next step was to decorate and seal the didgeridoo. Without being able to play the instrument until I fixed the mouth piece I became very anxious to hear its sound. I found it important to seal the didgeridoo inorder to protect it from cracking and to give a crisp sound since the soft pithy interior wouldn't resonate very well. I sealed the didgeridoo with food safe epoxy, first by slowly dripping it down through all 70 inches of the interior length. Next I sealed the exterior by

rubbing it down with gloved hands to ensure full coverage. After letting it sit for a day after each coat I purchased some beeswax to shape into a mouth piece so that I could start playing.

After days of anticipation and easily over 15 hours of work, the didgeridoo was complete and I gave it a toot and oh what a sound it produced. The sound is very distinct from that of my bamboo didgeridoo and with it being much longer, it enables me to make new sounds and vocalizations with ease. It has been an amazing process and I am happy to continue along the long road to mastery with my new message stick

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