Cosmic Soul Factory

WOODVILLE — Felled in error, a local couple hopes a former walnut tree turned drum will literally help them bring new life and joy to the world.

For the joy and love of music, Eddie and Meaghan Fuller, with the help of friends, recently finished a 14-month-long project of turning the former log — dubbed the Cosmic Soul Factory drum — into a musical instrument. For the love of each other, they hope to eventually sell the drum to help them grow their family.

“The whole reason we made it is so I can get an operation so that we can have kids,” Eddie said.

Last year as Eddie and friend Rick Meyers were driving through the area, they noticed a recently fallen walnut tree.

“It’s just this beautiful chunk of wood laying on the side of the road,” Fuller said. It piqued his interest and after some thought, Fuller who had refurbished drums before but hadn’t taken on a project of this magnitude before, decided to go for it.

The owner of the tree, whose surname happens to be Wood, told them that a tree service had accidentally cut down the wrong tree, a tree Wood said he recalled as a little boy. He gave the men the go ahead to use the tree.

So they collected about seven chunks of wood, each weighing around 500 pounds.

“I didn’t really have the confidence in myself to think that I could make drum out it,” Fuller said, but Meyers, a woodworker, lent his encouragement and expertise.

The drum weighs about 260 pounds and is 3-feet-7-inches high. Its goatskin drumhead is about 20 inches across and is secured with nylon cord bound to 14 railroad spikes. Fuller describes the drum’s sound as most closely resembling a djembe. A djembe is a commonly used African drum.

An Army veteran of the Iraq War, Fuller is an attack survivor. Struck in the shoulder in September 2004 by a rocket-propelled grenade, he says he began drumming as a way to rehabilitate his body and mind. A Detroit native, Fuller left the military and made his way to Virginia, where he met his now wife at the Virginia Renaissance Faire. They married in 2007.

“We used a chainsaw for a month or so, then a grinder, then we switched to a sander and smoothed out the body, then we let it sit to dry for a while,” Fuller said.

Artist and friend Len Bell handled much of the carving and artwork on the drum, which includes some subliminal messages about the drum’s genesis — small carvings of babies hidden amongst the intricate patters and colors.

“Watching him all day, everyday…that’s what he’d do,” Fuller said of watching Bell at work.

“It really was way more work than I thought it was going to be,” Fuller admitted. “I didn’t realize it would be 14 months of effort.”

Fuller plans to create about six more custom drums with the remaining walnut wood. In the meantime, he and his wife, both self employed in computer services, are continuing to find joy in music, playing in bands and also lending their talents to Reynolds Memorial Baptist Church in Sperryville.

Want to know more?

To learn more about the Cosmic Soul Factory drum and other the Fuller’s other projects, visit gypsywagon.biz.