Tea chest bass

A tea chest bass is a home-made musical instrument that uses a wooden chest of the type once used to deliver tea as the resonator for an upright stringed bass. The instrument is made from a pole, traditionally a broomstick, placed into or alongside the chest. One or more strings are stretched along the pole and plucked.

Related Topics:
Musical instrument - Tea - Bass

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In Europe, particularly England and Germany, the instrument is associated with skiffle bands. In Australia it was traditionally used to provide the low end for "bush bands", though most such groups today use electric bass or double bass.

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In the U.S., where tea chests have not been common for centuries, there is a closely related instrument called the washtub bass, which uses an upturned metal washtub as a resonator.

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