Skiffle Bass

Ya vot s detstva lomayu sebe golovu naschet etogo instrumenta. Vo vseh upominanijax pro Quarrymen govoritsya pro kakoj to Tea Box Bass, t.e. bas, sdelannyj iz chajnogo yaschika. U menja net ni malejshego predstawlenija, kak vyglyadeli chajnye yaschiki v Britanii v 1950e, a takzhe mozhet kto nibud' znaet, po kakomu princypu funkcioniruet etot instrument? Mozhet est' fotografii ili sxemy etogo T Box Bass v internete?
A na oblozhke odnogo Creedence'ovskogo al'boma est' fotka kakogo to basa, sdelannogo iz koryta, no eto naverno ne to?

Net, eto kak raz to samoe. S Willie and the Poorboys. Na Poorboys shuffle ego kak raz otlichno slishno:-)

Da, no vse taki koryto i Tea Box ne sovsem odno i tozhe.

Ya polagayu, chto chajnie yaschiki w to wremya delali iz celnih kuskow faneri (bez schelei). drugoj material maloweroyaten. w ostalnom konstruksiya takaya zhe.

Vot ja koe chto podyskal po etoj teme. Dumaju chto vsem budet dovolno lubopytno:
or tea-chest bass) owes its origins to Africa, where its ancestor was the earth bow. This consists of a shallow hole dug next to a sapling tree, an animal skin stretched over the hole, and then connected to the top of the sapling by a long animal sinew."
The washtub bass -known also as a tub, sometimes a gutbucket- is used to provide the bass tones for the group. It is an inverted washtub (or appropriate substitute e.g. tea-chest), to the centre of which is attached a cord; the other end of the cord is attached to a broomstick, the free end of which is braced against the lip of the tub so the string is taut. Plucking, or slapping the string produces a musical tone, with the tub acting as a resonating chamber.

Pressure against the stick varies the tautness of the cord and produces different tones. The tub player usually stands with one foot on its edge to keep it firmly on the ground. Sometimes a second player beats a rhythm on the metal "drum-head". The ancestor of the washtub bass is found not only in West and central Africa but also in Afro-American communities in the West Indies.
The African device was an apparent development of the spring snare, used for capturing small game. In its more primitive form, the resulting instrument was an earth-bow, constructed in the following manner. A hole was dug in the earth next to a small green sapling, or a green was embedded in the ground next to the hole. The hole was then covered with a bark or hide membrane. which was pegged down at the edges. The sapling was bent over the hole and fastened by a cord to the centre of the membrane covering. The taut cord was played by rubbing, plucking and tapping, and a second player sometimes beat a rhythm on the membrane with sticks. A portable version used a wooden box instead of a hole in the ground for a resonating chamber.
The morphology of the American washtub bass leaves little doubt of its African ancestry. ..........

COMPONENTS
Washtub, tea-chest, oil drum or similar.
Broom pole with rubber cap at bottom
U-Bolt
String

PLAYING THE WASHTUB BASS
One foot is placed on the EDGE of the tub or chest to hold it down. More volume can be obtained by placing an object under the rim so there is a gap between the tub and the floor, especially if the floor is a hard surface. Alternatively you can fit three rubber feet round the rim. I cut two large holes in the side of the tub to try to avoid lifting the rim but it didn't work. However it does look like a large pair of eyes.

The tub sounds loudest and deepest when the string is plucked at the mid point. The pitch of the note (higher or lower) is varied by pulling the stick to slightly tighten or slacken the string.




THE STRING needs to be reasonably thick to avoid snapping, and seems to be hard to find these days. We have tried a wound bass string (first, or thinnest) which broke quite quickly. We also tried the nylon line for grass cutting ("strimmer", 2.5 mm) which gave a bad tone. Marine suppliers stock a range of woven nylon cord. Experiment until you get the best sound

a ya razwe tebe ne to zhe samoe goworil?:-)

Mne kazhetsja ja sdelal otkrytie!!!!!

Esli postavit' bas-gitaru(nevkluchennuyu) na pustuju derevjannuyu tumbochku, ona budet zvuchat' kak kontrabas!! Takoj klassnyj zvuk!!

Ona budet zwuchat gromche, chem obichno, no daleko ne kak kontrabas.

Я предлагаю продолжить эксперимент с тумбочками различных кубатур и пород дерева.

В школе слышал про этот инструмент. Папаша моего приятеля, также заядлый битломан, называл это дело - швабробас. Швабра прислоняется к пустой коробке (или тумбочке), к ней привязывается веревка (как писали выше, резиновый шнур), и на слух изменяя натяжение шнура отклонением палки швабры в вертикальной плоскости, добиваемся ровного, мощного, ни с чем на сравнимого звука скиффл-баса.