I like to make things. I grew up with building toys and scale model kits. My efforts at making musical instruments started in earnest while I was in high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy, when my mom gave me a book called Sound Design, by Reinhold Banek and Jon Scoville. That book revealed to me that glass plate and bottles could be cut and drilled. From there, I learned a little about wood working, soldering, stained glass, welding, manual machining, blacksmithing, computer-aided design, 3D printing…I don’t know what’s next, but I look forward to it!
The photos below represent many projects over the years.
Built at Ithaca College, circa 1989
cut glass wind chimes
cut glass wind chimes
Custom cut glass wind chimes, designed and fabricated by SDBranch
Built for my twin nieces, late 1990’s
After hauling these drums around in other ways, I modified a handtruck to make transporting dununs easier. I made 3 of these for Mark Sunkett and the African Drum Ensemble while I was at ASU.
medium shakere, June 2012
Green and gold shakere, June 2012
Height-adjustable, folding aluminum surdo stand. Made for Dom Moio, circa 2002
This system was commissioned by Emmy Ayafor. He wanted the ability to play multiple drums with fast set-up and easy mobility. The aluminum rack snaps into place with spring pins and the cross pieces are adjustable for drums of different diameters.
Franken-drum, before
Frankenstein’s Field Drum
As-is, from the pawn shop
Stripped and sanded. I had hoped to make this drum match the other 2 with “natural” finish. But the stain is too deep, and pink was not an option!
After many coats of ebony stain and polyurethane