The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #65392 Message #3114761
Posted By: NervousPaulvis
16-Mar-11 - 04:05 AM
Thread Name: Washtub Bass: What kind of string & why?
Subject: RE: Washtub Bass: What kind of string & why?
And Hi again Reggie,
Like I said I'm not knocking the achievements of your friend - tho t'would be interesting to hear his take on these discussions - and I'm sure his discovery of the drum-bass concept was just as much a "stroke of genius" as was mine - tho my cross-string idea seems to be a first and for that reason has to be counted as even more geniusistic.
It's not even mentioned in the Inbindi Family Tree pic from inbindi.com which I've put up at - http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff28/paulvis/?action=view¤t=T-Chestfamily_tree_small.jpg - for yours and other's elucidation.
Of course you're right to suggest that not many people are going to rush off to a luthier's workshop to order, or build a hand-built Strad-Box like mine.
But that project came to fruition only after 30 years of me making all different kinds of these things from scratch, wooden boxes, metal tubs, plastic buckets, broom handles, different strings and a sharp knife.
Not really beyond the means of anyone, certainly not someone who can knock up a drum-head bass.
My point about drum basses is that whether they are made from new, old, junked or partly destroyed drum heads, they were at one time professionally made pieces of musical kit, designed and built in a factory and were sold at least one time to somebody for lottsa $$$ - as too of course are double bass strings - in re: my points to Bill above.
Now even though I do possess THE BEST TEA-CHEST BASS IN THE WORLD!! - probably.
I'm still experimenting and thinking up new designs - and want to try out other types from around the world too.
The Indonesian instrument I mentioned in a previous post is called a Dan-Bau and imposes a precise degree of Zen concentration to the art of single-string thumping to produce tones bordering on the celestial.
I want, but can't afford, a Whamolaâ„¢ Stick - so if there's any generous patrons out there with $500 bucks to spare - just pop along to - www.whamolalab.com - and do the needful - cheers!!
So now, having sort of mastered the art of playing these kind of single string instruments I'm inherently intrigued by the possibilities of the so many different stick/box/string/combinations available to a player and really I just want to play them ALL!!
I would expect the majority of other tub-thumpers to share this urge of forever striving for better and/or different ways to create an ever wider range of sounds and tones.
So I dig that Jim's drum-head is a real cool part of the world of tub-thumping but there's so much more to it too.
So happy tub-thumping and keep experimenting and exploring.
Yee-Haw