Homegrown Music... and Musical Instruments!

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A further warning: If you're going to play tub bass during along jam session, you might want to wrap your plucking fingers with adhesive tape to keep them from blistering. During his gutbucket stomp days, Jimmie also wore a heavy canvas glove on his nonpickin' hand, with pads of thick leather sewn across the fingers at the point where they touch the string. He says that a groove quickly wears into the leather, making it easy to maintain that same point of contact. (If you use this technique, you might like to follow Jimmie's example further, and cut off the ends of the glove's fingers for natural air conditioning.)

THE LATEST ON WASHBOARDS

As I've mentioned in this column before, Billy Hults and I are working on a book about washboard construction and playing technique. In the course of our research, we've had a chance to speak with some of the best designers and players of the homegrown instrument . . . and we've learned a great deal from the conversations.

For instance, I originally reported to you that brass scrubboards have the best tone. Well, since that time I've heard all kinds played . . . and I've come to the conclusion that—as far as sound is concerned, at least—your choice of materials should be purely a matter of taste. (Even the bass models don't all sound the same, partly because of differences in back bracing.)

In fact, Jeff Hanna (another member of the Dirt Band) swears by his own enameled steel model, which has a sharper tone than brass and—according to Jeff—lasts longer than do boards made of any other material. (All the fulltime washboard players I know wear out their brass models in fairly short order.) I also discovered that—contrary to my earlier opinion—glass washboards can produce good percussion effects. (This revelation came from Rich Kuras of Corvallis, Oregon, who plays his unusual scrubber with plastic guitar picks.)

NIMBLE THIMBLES

As you may know, the most common method of playing the washboard is with thimbles . . . but many performers find it difficult to keep the little finger-protectors in place. Some folks actually tape them onto the ends of their fingers so the "digit guards" won't fall off in the middle of a fast song! However, that method just isn't convenient for multi-instrument musicians.

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