WHALE BONE BASS, Acoustic, Fretless, Folk Washtub, Drum A 22" New Elegant Washtub Bass with 3 1/2 Octave Range Start Price USD 499.95 Current Price USD 499.95 Time Left 9 days 6 hours 53 minutes Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, October 02, 2008 End Time Monday, December 01, 2008 Location Up State, New York See more about 'WHALE BONE BASS, Acoustic, Fretless, Folk Washtub, Drum' Description You have selected: "THE WHALE BONE BASS"TM A new Bluegrass, Jug Band, Folk drum bass.Also great for Jazz, Rock, Poetry, and Rap! "If You Win This One, Get Ready for Some Serious Fun!"                                             "If You Win This One, Get Ready for Some Serious Fun!"                                             "If You Win This One, Get Ready for Some Serious Fun!"                                             "If You Win This One, Get Ready for Some Serious Fun!" If you are receiving music with this page it's Bob Grawi's "Skinny Dippin'"Bob's also playing the Whale Bone Bass on the track! Click on the pause button below to stop the background music. The "Whale Bone Bass"TM is a rare elegant refinement of the funky washtub bass type instruments. It is also musically an extremely flexible and beautifully sounding instrument. Because the "Whale Bone Bass"TM has only one untuned string it has the amazing and rare quality that it can be played in any key immediately and with equal ease, great for jamming with anybody. It is a highly intuitive instrument, there is almost no learning curve. It has a wonderfully open naturally feeling technique, and you will soon find that all you have to do to play well is to listen well. Although it has only one string it still has over a three-octave range, much greater than the home-made broom stick and washtub versions. This is due to the extended length and its uniquely curved neck, which has the shape of a whale's rib bone, hence "the Bone." This original design gives super low notes and at the same time allows easy fingering access to the two higher octaves. It's range is nearly that of a classic four string acoustic stand-up bass, and it's sound is warm, sweet and strong. This is a brand new original musical instrument. The 22" maple wood bass drum shell has a clear natural wood finish. The drum comes with a specially reinforced Remo tuneable drum head with 8 quality drum lugs and chrome tensioning rods. All hardware is high quality chrome metal. The comfortably large wooden foot rest also has a non-skid rubber surface. There are four permanently attached wooden legs with rubber end caps, and a handy off-duty neck holding attachment. It comes with a "Certificate of Authenticity" signed by Bob Grawi the creator. Also included is an easy instruction manual, a drum tuning key, and for the neck a light protective foam traveling case. A standard bass drum case can be used for the drum. The neck, which can be seen in the close up photo, is made of anodized aluminum with a bonded ebonized wooden head and foot. (Please Note: The instrument in this auction has the wood and metal neck and the lighter drum body, and the partially transparent Remo Controlled Sound head as in the gallery and close-up photos.) The cowgirl pictured below is shown in the playing position with an earlier model no longer available. Dawn playing our original "Whale Bone Bass" model. The "Whale Bone Bass"TM is great fun to play with friends, they'll all want to try! It is easily played by right or left handed players with no adjustments necessary. It's also a great teaching tool useful in the ear training of young musicians! The pitch of the notes is made by holding the string against the neck and varying the tension of the string by applying lateral force to the neck. A good basic playing technique is to hold the string to the neck with your whole hand where plucking at moderate tension sounds the root note of the desired chord. Then the third and fifth of that chord are easily made by continued plucking and pulling laterally on the neck without repositioning your hand. Accurate fingering is not very important as the final pitch is determined by neck tension. With this technique you need only move your hand at the chord changes. You can easily play very fast passages and conserve a lot of energy in this way! The better you listen the better you'll play. Your playing on "the Bone" will soon become as natural as singing or whistling. There are many ingenious things that will occur to you while playing. Some of our favorites are the foot vibrato and the guest brushes player! You'll figure out more! If you can sing in the shower (sense of pitch) and dance in the dark (sense of rhythm) you can play "The Bone." If you ever thought you wanted to be a bass player here's your pass! It's also great for home recording. NEW "Electrify your Bone" with our new Piezo String End Piece designed only for the "Whale Bone Bass"TM, for sound samples and more information go to The Gravikord Home Page. For some more interesting information about playing the instrument go to our "Manual Updates" page. "THE WHALE BONE BASS GALLERY" The "Whale Bone Bass" at Rest. Bridge Pin and Neck Close-up Detail. Drum Body w/Controlled Sound Head, Close-up Detail. Drum Tensioning Key with Instructions. What You Get: Drum & String, Neck & Case, Instructions, Key & Certificate. Why wait - You'll not find this instrument in music stores or anywhere else! Liberate the bass player within! Have endless fun playing along with Paul Simon, Van Morrison, Dr. John and your other favorite CDs. No need to be a bass player already, though they like it too. Only slightly harder to play than air guitar, it's a gasss! Use it professionally, it will stand up to the stand-up bass but is much easier to take along! "The Whale Bone Bass is a sweet new magical instrument. Once you're attuned, it will soon lead you into an amazingly fluid realm of musical performance and instant composition. You won't be satisfied with a simple thumping bass line like most bass players. The range and fluidity you can achieve with this instrument is truly amazing. For focused Whale Bone Bass players, the instrument will soon "disappear" and there will only be you and the music. Isn't this a very fine feeling?" - Bob Grawi, musician/inventor Join us on this new musical adventure,It's your ticket for the trip of a lifetime.We guarantee you'll have a good ride! Unsolicited Comments from new Whale Bone Bass Owners: "I LOVE the Whale Bone Bass. Delightful! Very well made and carefully thought out." - Jaron Lanier - Sausalito, CA. (originator of the phrase "virtual reality") "KILLER! Muchos gracias. Whalebone = a good time!" - Andy Taub - Brooklyn, NY. "Thanks for such a Great Instrument. Its a Blast to play & Expertly Crafted!!!" - Steven Pomponio - Bronxville, NY. "Good Luck, Listen, and Get Ready for Some Serious Fun!" The "Whale Bone Bass"TM is an original hand made beautifully elegant instrument. We make them from scratch. We don't import them from China, or job lot them...The high quality parts and materials alone cost us over $200.00 per bass before any work is done... Everybody on eBay is looking for a deal... The deal here is a beautiful unique rare musical instrument that wouldn't otherwise be available... We can't afford to sell these for less than the opening bid - no reserve!... It's almost a labor of love as it is...And believe it or not it's a very good deal! We've sold many instruments, check our feedback, bid with confidence, often there will be no counter bids! The "Whale Bone Bass" is a trademark of White Bear Enterprises, all rights reserved. The Whale and Waves logo design is copyright by Bob Grawi 2001, all rights reserved. The instrument is under patent pending protection. Direct all inquires to the eBay member above. Q: What gives (breaks) when you're playing this a long time? The string or the head? A: I've been playing my instrument for over four years with no problems. Nothing breaks! The drum head is very strong and is reinforced at the hole which is made in a special way that introduces no weakness to the head. The string is a specially selected tough nylon that sounds good and is easy on the fingers. If you should have any problems we supply parts at the above link. Place a Bid!