Discover the Sound

It all started on a small farm in Kauai, Hawaii.

 

I was doing a work exchange, harvesting bananas and papayas during the day, and one day while wandering the streets of Hanapepe I heard a local playing a bamboo flute on the side of the road. I was instantly hooked by the sound and knew I had to try making one.

 

So I grabbed some bamboo, brought it back to the farm, and started carving flutes in a little woodshed after work. It became this fun, creative wind down routine at the end of my days, and I fell in love with the process.

 

When I got back home to Virginia, I tried selling a few of my bamboo flutes on Facebook Marketplace… and got zero interest. So I let the idea go.

 

While exploring the rabbit holes of YouTube one day, I came across Linsey Pollak and his carrot clarinets. Eventually I found a video he had made titled "Low D Dorian membrane reed bagpipe" and instantly fell in love with this novel sound.

 

As soon as I heard the tone and timbre of the membrane clarinet, I knew I had to try building it. That day I ran to Home Depot, grabbed some PVC pipe, and started tinkering in my garage. I loved the raw, reedy sound, but the materials were finicky, and I knew there had to be a better way.

 

So I bought a used 3D printer, learned some basic 3D modeling, and started designing my own mouthpieces, and that’s how the Tuboe design took shape.

 

Now I’m building each one by hand, and sharing it with people who are curious about sound, music, or just trying something new. My goal is to make music more fun and accessible, and maybe give kids an alternative to the recorder (no offense).

 

If you're in the mood for a fun project, I even encourage you to try making one yourself. The membrane clarinet world is weird, wonderful, and ready for more people to enter it!