"Washtub": One Word or Two?

After being called out on this website, Bob and Rob have independently been scouring all known Aluminum double bass sources. So far no luck, but we will be ready when one comes on the market. We will not be denied, even if we have to trade the Big Daddy Skillet with Hudson and the Hoo Doo Cats to get one.

There is a happy solution in the meantime, though. If Kirly's garage can temporarily halt pre-production of the '06 Derby car, there's no reason a good Washtub bass can't be built before the fall float trip. We're not giving up on the full metal jacket upright, but a Washtub bass has its own appealing features. For example:

- It can be disassembled and packed into a canoe

- It can be used to ice beer

- We can make as many as we want...



- Riparian landowners in rural Tennessee will be more friendly towards us...

But it was the following testimonial that really sold us: "To be sure, the over-tones are not as rich, but in general it is a good-sounding and quite interesting instrument, and when compared to a friend's full size conventional string bass, the wash tub special is decidedly louder" (emphasis added).

Building a wash tub bass does not look that hard. All things are revealed on the internet (thank you, Al Gore) so we have our choice of DIY plans available to us for a good tub bass, or even a good nuclear warhead (Warning: RRCC members who click on this link may lose civil liberties under the Patriot Act).

Here is a self-described "simple"design:




But this one looks way simpler:









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(Notice that cheap import tubs are not allowed)

And while a nuclear bomb requires things like highly enriched plutonium, a Washtub bass only requires: a washtub, string, four cable clamps, a soup can lid, hose clamps, and a stick ("a 1 1/4 inch diameter dead aspen stick from the forest", according to the directions).

Detail of neck at peg head

Detail of inside tub

1990's tub thumpers:

Next up: How to build a $20 Hurdy Gurdy just like Sting's.

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Here is audio of a Hurdy Gurdy playing "En Roullant Ma Boulle" - a very old French-Canadian Voyageur's paddling song. Because this is a canoeing web site!