One of the cleverst I've seen was the guy who walked into camp with a sack full of sticks. - Threw two on the ground and laid the others on top of them, sort of like a ladder. Then he beat on them with a 7/8 inch box end wrench - and made some pretty good xylophone noises. I think the key was - you have to hit pretty hard to make a 2x4 "ring."

"I won't be doing the story for a while, and if I talk my editor into it, maybe I can get detailed instructions from you and some photos?"

Then you'll maybe have time to check out some of these additional "background" places? - or maybe others who've been following the thread might like to look:

Folk Music Instruments
Washboard Org
Banjo Building
How to play spoons, bones, washtub base, washboard
Thread: Plans for Instrument Building
Thread: Strange Instruments
Thread: Gutbuckets and...
Thread: Washboards
Thread: Washtub Bass
Thread: Kazoos
Thread: Spoons
Thread: Musical Saws Festival

"an accompanying piece on "Jam etiquette," or something related"

You might want to check out:
Thread: un favorite instruments
and - if you get into "rythm" instruments, you're obligated to include - at least as a sidebar - the lyric from:
Thread: Spoons - a cautionary tale THE SPOONS? MURDER

A tongue-in-cheek but informative book on etiquet is , Barry Foy, Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1999, ISBN 1-57098-241-4. Aimed at a particular kind of session, it is pretty much applicable to any music situation - and is entertaining as well. Recommended even if you don't use it for your article. ($12.95 about a year ago).

If this is for MEN, readers might relate to citations of:

Foxfire 3, Eliot Wigginton & his students, eds, Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1973, 1974, ISBN 0-385-02272-7, pp 121 - 207, Banjos and Dulcimers,

Foxfire 4, Eliot Wigginton & his students, eds, Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1973, 1977 ISBN 0-385-12087-7, pp 106 - 125, Fiddle Making.

Other of the Foxfire series have similar stuff - but these are the ones I had handy.

From personal observation - others may disagree:

1. Simplest to make: "Found" instruments - pots, pans, sticks, stones & such. Beat on them or knock them together and you've got music. Stick them together and you've got an instrument.

2. Next easiest to make: Probably drums of some more sophisticated construction. It's not that easy to make a drum that really sounds good, but getting the basic parts to go together isn't all that hard.

3. Next step: possibly simple whistles or flutes. At this stage of complexity, don't expect to be able to get a "standard tuning," although "Helmholtz" whistles - think ocarina - are pretty easy, especially out of clay. They don't have to look like a 'possum.

4. Next step up: Probably simple stringed instruments. The key here is that you can mark finger positions or place frets so that you can be fairly sure what note you'll get. Construction needs to be good enough to hold a reasonable tension - so you get a note and not just a "flub."

5. Flutes and whistles that actually play "in tune" come at the end of the list - simply because it is very difficult to get the tuning "right" without trial and error. There are good plans available, so if you follow one it should be easy to get decent results. Significant changes in materials, tube dimensions and proportions, etc can really affect the tuning though. Plan on making one for practice, and then one that works - unless you use a good existing plan.

Actually, anywhere in the list, you should have enough fun to make the trouble worth while.

John