The Hicks Sticks Story

Updated 4/2/2012

Over 25 years ago, having made an electric bass and a couple guitars, I had a dream of merging my woodworking skills with my music background professionally. I considered becoming a luthier and making eclectic one of a kind stringed and percussion instruments. I had no idea my dream of being a musical instrument maker would be realized making didgeridoos.

Hearing didgeridoo and learning to play inspired me to learn as much as I can about the instrument. Not knowing at first where to find a real didgeridoo, I made my own from plastic pipe and learned to get a drone and circular breathe. I also learned that straight plastic pipe is far from good in terms of both sound and playability, so soon started experimenting with making didgeridoos from wood and other materials. After making a few wood and agave didges, several people asked if I would sell them, and that was the beginning of Hicks Sticks. The best early successes I had were with hardwoods, agave and yucca, and I still prefer making didges from these natural materials.

The process of making didgeridoos is endlessly fascinating, fills a great creative need and is a great joy to me. Over the years, I have made around 1000 didgeridoos, and still find new discoveries in each piece of wood. Each new piece is unique, with its own potential for it's own voice. The most satisfying aspect of it all for me is the relationship of simultaneously learning from the wood, and imparting new life to it by giving it a voice of it's own. Each of my didgeridoos is an individual, and has its own unique sound.

After years in business, success took its toll. I could no longer keep up with demand and became overwhelmed by the circumstances. I closed the business in July 2007 for a year to reassess my priorities, then reopened for several more years at a reduced level of production. Now in 2012, I have readjusted again. I am a didgeridoo maker at heart, not a businessman, and as such decided to completely turn sales over to retailers so I can let go of all the website issues, photographing and recording soundfiles, sales accounting etc, i.e just focus on making didgeridoos without the other business worries. The exception to wholesale only business is for those who take the time and to effort to come visit.

My creative urges keep me looking in different directions, so in addition to making didgeridoos, I still plan to diversify as a musical instrument maker by making other unique instruments in the future.

The other aspect of the Hicks Sticks Story is how didgeridoo led me to its traditional roots and the Yolngu aboriginal people of Arnhem Land. More about that in the Hicks Sticks and respect for aboriginal people section.