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AIRCRAFT CABLE STRING

I picked up some more good ideas on gutbucket design from Jimmie Fadden of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. (Although his fans probably know Jimmie for his stellar harmonica work—particularly his performance on "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"—he used to play the tub bass back when the group was just a fledgling jug band!)

The key feature of Fadden's instrument design is the use of 1/16" stainless steel aircraft cable for string. The strong filament—which can be bought "readymade" with a steel ball attached to one end—is secured to the tub bottom by means of a scrounged bicycle brake adjuster. First, drill an appropriate-sized opening in the center of your washtub's bottom. Then pass the aircraft cable through the open shaft of the bike part . . . and fit that tube into the hole. The unit is attached to the bottom of the tub with a two-inch-diameter plywood washer and a matching felt washer that are glued together. Last of all, tighten the whole assembly—on the "outside" of the tub's floor—using the nut that came with the brake adjuster (see the drawing for details).

At the opposite end of the cable—near the top of the instrument's neck—Jimmie uses a length of small-diameter copper tubing to reinforce the hole where the string passes through the neck. And, to make a secure "tuning machine", the musician employs a bolt . . . with a hole drilled in its center large enough to accommodate the cable. Two nuts are fastened onto the bolt (one on either side of the cable), and the whole unit is screwed into the side of the neck. Then when the musician tunes his bass, the string will wrap around the bolt and stay clamped between the nuts. This creates a fairly permanent situation . . . as opposed to the commonly used "wrapped and knotted" clothesline method, with which the string tends to slip and even has to be retied occasionally.

While we're on the subject, I'd like to add a word or two about strings: In my original column on washtubs, I said that —among other choices of materials—you could use a regular gut D string. Well, since then I've seen musicians using G's and A's, too. The pitch, therefore, doesn't seem to matter much . . . just as long as the string is noncoated. The size of the string will be up to you . . . and will probably depend on how large a tub your instrument has.

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