Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by bairfoot cajun on February 1, 2009 at 10:06am

smojo just add them to the side of the stomp box in a row on both sides but they must be loose like you said and if you can put two on the same screw so they rattle against each other for more effect like on a tambourine. if you want to get technical make holes on the side of your stomp box and put the caps in the holes with the screw in the top of the hole where the shaft of the screw goes through the cap and put two caps in each hole with a washer for a spacer between them. look at tambourine construction and you will see what i mean for the technical version of this idea. same principal with good results. or just get a tambourine and deconstruct it and use the metal parts in the tambourine for your stomp box and drink more beer while you are working on the switchover and save the caps for a later stompbox beer cap version.ha ha hope this helps you my friend.

Permalink Reply by smojo on February 1, 2009 at 10:16pm

Thanks Brian, that's given me some food for thought and some ideas to work on. I was thinking I needed some sort of levered movement to get them really rattling rather than just relying on the vibration of the box when I stomp it. Would I get enough volume from bottle tops? I think I need to try a mock-up first.

Permalink Reply by Doc Oakroot on March 18, 2009 at 3:43am

I have 3 bottle caps loosely on a screw on one of my CB basses so I can pluck the string for a "thump" and hit the box near the screw with my thumb for a backbeat "chirp". I have to tap very lightly to keep the chirp from totally obscuring the thump through the piezo.

I think it would work better if you flattened (or mostly flattened) the bottle caps, but I haven't tried that.

Permalink Reply by Tres Seaver on August 5, 2009 at 5:16pm

David Holt's page on prim rhythm calls the device you saw a "stump fiddle":

http://www.davidholt.com/music/stumpfiddledetail.html

He gets down / back beat by thumping the thing on the floor, and then tapping the top
with another stick on the upbeat.

Permalink Reply by Wil Rogers on August 5, 2009 at 8:10pm

"Stump fiddle" eh? Leave it to us hill billies here in NC to come up with something like that. :)

Anyways, check out this video of a little foot shaker. This would not be hard to make. Basically one foot pedal moves an egg shaped shaker up and down. (You could make the egg part out of an altoids tin with bbs in it.) And the other foot pedal has finger cymbols clapping down against each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqnno2VTTTs

And if you really wanted to be a crazy footdrummer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEyIZygy6CE&feature=related


I know that last video is a bit much. But it's cool to see musicians pushing the envelope with something that's actually pleasing to the ears. . . . .

Permalink Reply by Rickshaw Ron on December 11, 2009 at 10:54am

Sounds like a Newfoundland Ugly Stick. There are a couple of good videos of'em bein' played on youtube. If you google it, you'll find some good info on'em. Got a rubber boot on the bottom that you tap up and down. Beat it with a serated dowel and rake the dowell across it for more sound. I hope to build one someday.

Permalink Reply by c# merle on December 11, 2009 at 9:12pm

anyone tried threading the beer caps on a bolt inside a resonator tin?

Permalink Reply by Nick on January 4, 2010 at 3:00pm

o hey, i forgot to mention, i built one of those stick things a while ago.
here's a pic:
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/stumpf-fiddle?context=user