Make a Speaker Holder From a Gourd

It’s not exactly high design, but an old gourd makes a pretty good holder for my Bluetooth speaker

A clam shell Bluetooth speaker holder made from a gourd

I have what you might call a “surplus” of gourds.

The other day I pulled the ones hanging to dry in last year’s garden thinking there were only two or three left. Now I have a wheelbarrow and a 30 gallon trash can full of gourds.

There were more than 2 or 3 gourds still hanging in the garden

So, like I said, surplus.

Gourd Craft Galore

Anyway, having so many gourds and a compulsive need to put them to good use, I find various ways to use them around the Acre.

The dipper gourd phone cradle in the veggie garden

I also have some more utilitarian applications for them.

There’s a birdhouse gourd I turned into a protective house for my weathercam, a bottle gourd made into a dispenser for the jute twine I use to tie stuff, and even a cradle made from a dipper gourd to keep my phone cool when I’m working in the garden.

My most recent gourd adaptation is a holder and sun hat for the bluetooth speaker in my greenhouse (the plants and I like to listen to Yacht Rock when were playing in the dirt).

As you might guess, the light and heat of the greenhouse is hostile to electronics, so I had been keeping the speaker on a shelf out of the sun. But the shady shelf is on the opposite side of the greenhouse from the solar panel outlets so every time I want to charge it, I have to move it to the outlets where it’s usually in the way of something.

Then the other day I was staring at my wheelbarrow full of gourds wondering where to put them when I saw a bowl (aka: canteen) gourd that looked to be a little wider than my speaker.

Clam Shell Speaker Holder

A quick comparison against the speaker, and yeah, it was the perfect width. So I cut the bowl gourd halfway down horizontally and vertically to create a sort of clam shell to cradle the speaker (and reflect the bass from the rear).

Then I screwed it to a 8-inch long piece of 1-in. x 2-in. wood and used an “L” bracket to mount it on the green house wall a little above the power outlets. Then I put the top of the gourd on the speaker to protect it from the sun.

The empty gourd “clam shell” side view

The empty gourd “clam shell” from the front

Boom. Awesome eco-friendly speaker stand.

The stand gives me access to both sides of the speaker, so charging, switching it on/off, and changing the volume are a breeze. It’s out of the direct sun and the higher mount without the shelf in the way makes it sound clearer too.

Plus `Toothy (that’s the speaker’s name) kind looks cool with his hat on.

A clam shell Bluetooth speaker holder made from a gourd

I’m pretty pleased with this little gourd adaptation. The plants and I all agree Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville has never sounded better. Let’s crank it up.