What is it about art that inspires us? There are many forms of artistic expression; even the most insensitive person will feel a twinge of inspiration at some form of creativity. I am moved by myriads of creative expression. A stirring poem, a stark winter landscape, an intricately carved piece of wood or ivory. Music is artistic expression; I am truly moved by music in all its complex forms. I often wondered, I was lucky to have all the creative gifts, could I be so lucky to be able to play music? I picked up the harmonica as a teenager, had a natural feel for blues rhythms. As a young man a craftsman and instrument builder let me play a 4 string Application lap dulcimer, years later I dabbled with free form piano, and blues in G on the banjo. I found my rhythms carried me to percussion and even blow notes on flutes. I do not know how to read music. I can only play on a bare minimal level; I found I could create small tunes in the venues I mentioned. As a craftsman I thought I could actually build my own instruments. Since the dulcimer is the first stringed instrument I took up I decided I would build a large dulcimer out of driftwood and other found materials, like pieces of hardwood pallet boards old flooring and other assorted pieces. I would stick with my found material principles. My driftwood dulcimer became a long necked wide body dulcimer unlike any traditionally on the market. I was thinking not only of or forefathers sitting in their log cabins in the Adirondacks, strumming hymns, I thought about Indian Sitars. I tried to create a combination Middle Eastern and traditional American instrument. What I ended up with is what I call a Sitar-dulcimer. Tuned to an open tuning the long neck allows some variable keys, by placing a block of wood under the strings. The wide body gives the instrument a rich sound.

Drum Building. I figured in order for me to truly appreciate my walk into the realm of musical instrument making I should begin by building a drum. Drums have been a part of human cultural evolution, drums gave us the opportunity to first communicate over long distances, and to express and even relate to one another. Drums have been likened to contain the natural rhythms such as a heartbeat. I chose some red cedar shingles that were made by a homer homesteader in the early fifties. I cut 8 of the shakes into slats of equal lengths and widths, and planed the wood. I cut the long edges into an angle that created an octagon cylinder when glued together. The drum evolved into a cut out lace design, looking like a Celtic knot pattern. I used a young moose hide that was killed by a car, and an interesting method to remove the hair. I placed the wet hide hair side down on a stump in the sun. The summer heat and freshly skinned hide attracted files. I let the fly larva work on the hair for a short while, probably no longer than 24 hours. I checked the hide often pulling on the hair until it started to come free. In that short time the fly larva worked the area at the skin surface enough to allow the hair to be removed very easily. Using this method is tricky; leaving the fly larva on the skin too long can allow the larva to eat through the skin ruining it. If done properly, the fly larvas do a job that involves many hours of tedious scraping. The drum building was and still is rewarding. The hours of working the wood, stretching the hide on the drum were a meditative process; now the drum itself can be played. I am hard pressed to describe what to say about playing the drum. Elation comes to mind. I have many more drums and other percussion instruments to build.

Recycled Hardwood 4 string banjo. In the early 90’s I began awaking my musical muse, I gathered with a few friends at different houses in the Homer area and jammed. At the end of a late night session I picked up a banjo tuned to an open "G" tuning. We always switched around during our jams, each playing any of the instruments that inspired us. Everyone was laid back, having worked out quite a lot of our musical whimsy. I strummed the banjo, a bluesy sound came out, I began a slow John Lee Hooker rhythm, and my love for the blues harp got me going. I was expressing the same thing on a stringed instrument, my friend English John, an unbelievable picker, actually gave me that banjo that night upon hearing my little blues rhythm. From then on I practiced on that cheap banjo until I wore out the drumhead, I was with out a banjo until the fall of 02. I decided to build a banjo using hardwood from pallets and other sources. I chose only wood from pallets to construct the hoop and neck of the banjo. I laminated some found exotic hardwoods to form a hardwood drumhead. The top contains a center slat of an old wooden boat rub rail, a piece of Iron bark, on each side of the center strip are two identical pieces of teak pallet wood with nail holes, next to the Teak are Australian cypress trimmed with Rose wood. The neck was cut from a mahogany 2x2 that separated the pallet slats. The hoop is constructed from 16, cherry, oak, and mahogany slats. The neck, hoop, and drumhead glued, and the body hollowed out, created a lightweight slim necked banjo with an unexpectedly great sound. I have much to learn about stringed instruments, I practice daily playing a much improved version of my little rolling blues. I really enjoy playing the banjo with a slide. My pallet banjo was one of those extravagant art projects; it took a lot of time to make. A couldn’t sell it, so I won’t make any income from it. Although if I get good enough I have thought I could play in public places for spare change. The satisfaction I have received has made it all worthwhile.