John’s Washtub Bass
John’s washtub bass was built
by a former member of our original band - The Deadwood Casket Company (circa
1972) - an old hippy from Tolstoy Farm named Able Fortune, who also made my
guitar banjo, in a kiosk during Spokane’s Expo 1974 Folk Life Festival.
John’s bass is actually
acoustically engineered with special feet and sound holes to maximize tone and
sound, and uses an actual bass string from an orchestral standup bass.
John learned the basics of washtub from Able
Fortune, and later excitedly called me one day to say he had signed up for advanced study at the Peabody Institute
of Thudology.
John thought it was the
prestigious Peabody institute associated with John Hopkins University,,,,
But it turned out to be Mr. Peabody of the Rocky and
Bullwinkle show.
That was the last time John
signed up for educational
courses he read about on a match book cover ,
John later signed up for a musical
apprenticeship with Pavarotti, but again John had misread the ad ..... and it was with Fat
Tony Pavarotti who’s actually a garbageman in Hillyard who moonlights in a
bluegrass band.
Despite these minor setbacks,
John has evolved from his primal beginnings as a master of the dull thud, now
35 years later ..... to being
a Maestro of the dull thud.
It’s great to playing again
with a guy whose choice of musical instrument is not only unique, but in an
emergency we can all take a bath in it.