Snake, Rattle and Roll

My next guitar accessory will come from the animal kingdom. Turns out that part of my problem is that I don't have a rattlesnake rattle in my guitar.

Nowadays the music industry mostly uses rattlesnakes to provide trousers for legions of heavy-metal heroes but they once had a more interesting role. Old bluesmen would drop rattles down the sound hole to give their guitars a little more mojo. Borrowing from a fiddle tradition, other folks used the rattles to keep mice and spiders from nesting inside while still others claimed the rattles gave their guitars a buzz that fleshed out their sound.

I'm not sure if my local guitar shop carries rattlesnake parts. Currently all I have in my Alvarez are a couple of small dust balls, although every now and then I accidentally drop a pick in. Neither provides much mojo, though.