Great Thread Gents! Mahalo!
I play electric bass guitar for a ukulele band here in Kona on the Big Island, and one day two of our ladies come in and say Richard we saw two aunties playing ukes and this uncle was playing this washtub bass and it sounded good. Could you make one?

I was thinking that there is no way its gonna sound very good, but to satisfy my curiousity and keep the girls happy -- well, why not. Like I tell my son, 'see that smile on your mother's face? That means we're happy". So I'll make a good effort, then I could go back to a real bass.

A trip to Ace started the journey. Tried weedwhacker .95 & .105 but too stretchy and took too long to come back, but surprised me with a pretty good sound, then Ace plastic covered clothesline wire, better but not great sustain, finally at Home Depot a 1/16th cable with a thin green plastic cover - bingo. Easy on the hands, good sustain, nice deep sound. Holy shit, now I'm starting to worry.

Put the 74" pole end on a stick that was lying across the washtub bottom, so the end was about 4"-5" from the tub center so I had a lot of mechanical advantage, and now the string was pretty close to the pole so it could be fretted. Put the tub up on some short legs - 1" 1x2s - with some felt on the bottoms for anti-rattle, and on the front put a rim notched 2x2 2-footer across outside the drum with a couple of 3/4" pegs sticking up. This lifted the front of the tub. Stuck some 10# barbell weights on the pegs and don't have to hold the tub with my foot. Two small pillows inside the tub tamed the mids.

Damn thing sounds as good as my Warwick, but more appropriate for the Hawaiian with the pedal steel sort of feel.

Hey, I put on some country and some bluegrass music and started working out some basslines, and damned if this instrument isn't about the most fun in the whole damned world. The uke group is loving it, and so am I.

One thing that may have helped to get the great tone. I played it for about 3 weeks, then I saw a small crack starting next to the eye bolt. Cut a 3"x3" galvanized sheet metal patch, flattened the center of the tub and put the patch and a fender washer under and a fender washer over. Temporarily bolted it together and soldered the washers and patch, then removed the bolt and put the eye bolt back. This made the center a bit heavier, and the tone had the perfect level of fundamental. Its easy to play, and sounds a lot like an upright. My Warwick is downright indignant.

Also, this thing - on its own - is as loud as I play with the warwick against 10-15 ukuleles and vocals. And the tub is punchier if i dig into it. What a well kept secret.

Another thing I learned. If you ever do want to plug this thing in, take a pair of headphones with pretty good bass response, wrap them up in a small towel so they don't rattle and stick them under the tub and plug them into the input of a bass amp or a PA. They make a great pickup if you need the extra volume for on stage. I don't think you could buy a better one.

Mahalo again for all the help and ideas.
Richard
Grass Shack Records
Kona, Hawaii