Handmade Music Factory. Mike Orr
TEA CHEST
RESONATOR.
18
Pinch the spring eye closed.
Use pliers to pinch the
end of the spring closed.
MUSICAL STICKS
If you have any spare thick dowel rods or thick branches lying around, you have
the makings of a musical percussive instrument! The most common way to
play is to hit a couple of sticks against each other. However, you can even get
into pitches by thinning parts of the sticks, or by drilling holes through them.
Experiment and see what you can create!
ATTACHING THE CORD
17
Attach the spring
to the eye screw.
Stretch the spring
and hook it onto the
eye of the screw.
19
Drill the cord hole.
Mark and drill a hole about 2"
(50mm) from the top of the neck for the cord. The
hole should be big enough to let the cord through.
27
FRITZ RICHMOND
Fritz Richmond (1939–2005) was king of the washtub bass. He built his first
washtub bass in the late 1950s, using a tub, broomstick, and rope. In the sixties,
Fritz played washtub bass for Eric Von Schmidt, Geoff Muldaur, Tom Rush, The
Charles River Valley Boys, and others. He was a founding member of Jim Kweskin
& The Jug Band; after learning to play the jug, he gained nationwide attention
by appearing on
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
and other national
television shows. He went on to perform with The Doors, Bonnie Raitt, Bob
Dylan, The Grateful Dead, and many others. He also appeared on Garrison
Keillor’s
A Prairie Home Companion
. The Smithsonian has one of his washtub
basses in its collection.
PHOTO © JOHN BYRNE COOKE, WWW.COOKEPHOTO.COM
20
Attach the cord.
Tie one end of the
cord to the eye
bolt in the center of
the tub. Feed the
other end through
the hole in the
neck and tie a knot.
28
Handmade Music FactorY
One-String washtub Bass
HOW TO PLAY THE WASHTUB BASS
To play, stand with one foot behind the tub. Place
the other foot on the rim of the tub, toward the
front, over one of the legs. Putting your foot here is
necessary to hold down the front of the tub while
you’re putting tension on the center with the string.
You could also sit down and hold the tub with your
feet on the rim. Hold the top of the neck with your
back hand, and use your front hand to pluck the
string. To get different notes, adjust the pressure on
the neck
—
putting more or less tension on the string
will change the pitch.
If you’re concerned about your volume, be sure
that your foot is resting on the top rim of the tub only.
If you’re playing with acoustic guitars only, and using
a riser, with no microphone, you can be heard just
fine for about 10 yards. The washtub bass will sound
very different on a carpeted floor than on a hard one.
Some players carry a bass base with them. This is
an approximately 36" x 36" (915 x 915mm) piece
of plywood covered with carpet, or not, depending
on the sound you want. A scrap piece of carpet the
same size will also sound pretty good on a wood
floor. I suggest experimenting to find the sound that
fits you.
29
Player Les Claypool
pioneered the use of
THE WHAMOLA,
an instrument
descended from the
washtub bass.
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