And so, now to Mr Miles,

Hi ya Reggie, the results weren't really that surprising, once I had the ideas, I kind of knew they were all going to work - see above - it was the little things like smoothing out the clicks and clacks and applying reinforcements and stuff that took the experimentation.

As for being more technical, well again, not really reggie, tying those strings together takes a lot less technical know-how and ability than it does to skin a drum.

I'm not trying to be rude to you or your friend who's case you so earnestly make but only to try to let you see that:

Although you are right on every count in re: drum head basses producing a better sound, wider range of notes, easier portability, more exact touch and feel and an overall nicer betterness than trying to plonk on a piece of wood or metal.

It's just that:


1) Jim's not the first to use a drumhead / skin combo,
* I did it myself many years ago - and also put my cross strings through the sides of the drum as well, so I could play it with a double-resonator ie: strings & skin together yee-haw!! or either way up ie: a double-double-single-string bass - (:

* Studio Stu has been getting paid lotsa $$$ for playing his own drum head bass for many years on the NY jazz circuit.

* The original Inbindi (Earth drum) was made by African tribes-people by stretching an animal skin across a hardened hollow - ie: making a drum - and attaching a "string" to the centre of the skin and the other end to a tree branch so they could "Play the Earth" daddi-o (and how does that work please Robin?).

* An Indian Ek-tara (One-String) is often made by stretching a goat skin across a hollowed out portion of coconut tree-trunk, a thin wire is attached to the skin and a slightly pliant bamboo stick which is also attached to the outside of the trunk. This instrument is held on the lap and played sitting down to produce a high pitched drone similar that from a sitar.

* You can cut a hole in your bass and attach a piece of skin to use for the resonator like I did with my four-drum cross-string bass - see above - which does as good a job as a real drum but because they are tensioned by the cross-strings, the skin(s) don't need to be pre-tensioned like on a drum.

2) My real point though is that to my way of thinking, as a "Player", unless you first make your own drum-head or bass box yourself, or fan-dangle it from a non musical piece of something else like a tea-chest or washtub, it just ain't the real thing!!

So OK this is a personal opinion but I think other players - maybe even Jim - might share with me.

Now even though I love the sound and portability of my little tom-tom bass, I can't escape the knowledge that the majority of the instrument was made by the Trixon Drum Making Company of Germany and my input into making the instrument was merely a bastardisation of somebody else's art.

Maybe I'm being a bit too purist but I only use this bass as part of a novelty act in my show, just to show what's possible and yeah let people see how easy it is to get started if they've got an unwanted drum head floating about.

Or want to go and buy one.

But that's my point on this, it's like turning a saxophone into a kazoo!!

The greatest kazoo in the world - perhaps but…

There's just something slightly, effete is the best word I can think of, and to me that word seems to fit people like Studio Stu and the whole jazz world too - about using a professionally produced instrument to produce a what was it Robin? "cheap and nasty folk instrument".

Well I don't quite go with that - tho there have been a lot of cheap and nasty basses made, most of the good ones are good and a hand made instrument made by the hands of the player is just so inherently different and from an artist's point of view should be more personally satisfying and from an artistic point of view more ENTERTAINING!! yeah? than plucking on a Premier™ Box.

So with all respect to your friend and the sound he gets, to my mind there will always be something lacking and a true gutbucketeer (if I may borrow your nom-de-plume sir - and hope you may re-join this discussion soon) would and should, I think, look to create an instrument that bears their own full personal stamp.

So sure, go ahead and make one Jim, a hand-made drum-head bass is a thing of beauty and wonderment but also blooming hard to make.

But, my cross-stringing technique which I outlined in my earlier message kind of creates a virtual drum-skin in it's own right - issat right Robin? - certainly when used with skinned holes as per my 4-drum/cross hair bass.

This technique produces just those kind of snappy notes, and gives the player a sophisticated technical touch as exact as that produced with someone else's drum-skins.

It can be used to make any style or size of bass - I've made one with a dixie-cup and lollipop stick and I want to make one using a gasometer or grain silo - whoo-hoo!!

Which makes it even more portable than carrying a drum-head!!

With the Magic Stick™ there's not even a box to carry!!

That all said, there's a lot to be said for helping to produce cheap and easy starter models and the drum-head bass is a good starter no doubt, but that to my mind is all it ever will be, a pointer in the right direction, irrespective of how technically superior it may be.

I have though designed a prototype of a professionally made one-string bass (The STICK-IN-A-BOX™) to help young children learn the rudiments of gut-thumping (and sound) - far easier than forcing piano, violin or guitar lessons on em methinx.

It would be made from rigid and moulded plastics and use the 4-drum cross-string method of resonation and have a built-in active pick-up, wired into a small MIDI voice controller, loudspeaker and headphone/line-out port - with a MIDI-out on the pro-model.

So it can be set to produce different instrument voices - guitar, piano, trumpet etc and fun voices - telephone, spaceship, moo-cow, duck-quack etc etc… - toned to wherever they pull the stick and hit the string.

This could in fact be made into a serious professional instrument.

So if there's any skiffle-crazy venture capitalists out there who'd like to help me make this become a reality - preferably with Robin's help if you're interested? - I need about £25-50K of seed capital and then, and then…

hahahaha

"Wash Tub's Take Over The World" hahaha -(:

Or somebody just gissa paying/playing job!!

Gee-Whiz, I didn't realise there'd been such a gut-bucket revival while I've been sunning myself out here with the hippies.

But I'm heading west soon, UK, Europe, USA maybe…

So if'n anybody out there knows of a regularly gigging (and getting paid for it) done-gone-groovy jug/blues/skiffle band, who might be needing a certified One String Super-Star with'n the nicestest, bestestest, coolestest, most incredibly amazingly wonderful god-durned Gut-Bucket Bass in the World!!- probably…

Then do please pass my details onto them pronto - paulvis@fastmail.fm - or their's onto me.

Or here of course at this here mudcat thing, which I guess I'd best sign up to as a member, if'n this here old rickety dial-up internet connection I'm having to use out here in the wilds of Goa, will let me get through.

Hmm, I think that's happened, already.

Ok dokie, that'll do for now, I'll leave all that technical wrangling as to the why's and wherefore's etc to the rest of you'se all.

But I sure would like some more feedback in re: Bass-Ek Instincts and a gig or a job or an investor would be nice too.

In the meantime, I'm gonna have me a damn good pluck on my Magic Stick™.

Hahaha…

See y'all

Paulvis - yee-haw!!