Rommy plan

Rainstick

Ive been toying with the idea of making a rainstick for a while. Traditionally, these are made with bamboo shoots or cacti and have nails driven through their walls. Or I guess even more traditionally, thorns. They can be filled with beans, pebbles, lentils, rice, etc. The configuration of the baffles and the object sizes determine the unique sound of each rainstick.

I didnt want to drive a bunch of nails into mine, so I simply cut out a bunch of chicken wire hexagons and slid them onto a half inch dowel. The body is quarter inch oak plywood and each strip is beveled at 30 degree angles.

I puzzled over how to glue six long strips together, until I came up with the idea of laying them out with masking tape. It worked great.

I used rice as a filler. The sound is really nice and can be controlled by the angle at which the rainstick is tipped. Enjoy the project.