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Elliott's Diddley Bow "The Ell-Bow" |
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Many of the original blues greats started playing music on crude homemade instruments. In its simplest form, a "diddley bow" was a single string stretched between two nails, played with a bottle to slide across the stings to make different notes. Often, diddley bows were made out of cigar boxes and broomsticks and looked more like guitars. Inspired by Richard Johnston's mind-boggling blues played on the Lowe-Bow (a 4-string electric diddley bow created by Memphis luthier, John Lowe), Elliott started experimenting and building his own 4- and 5-string diddley bow cigar-box guitars. He has been using his "Ell-bows" in a band setting to play some swamp/funk Mississippi blues. The diddley bow pictured above is one of Elliott's hand-built creations used on 4 tracks of the new "Voodoo Stew" CD. |
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| © Elliott and The Untouchables |
