"Diddley Bo" Oil Can Guitar
The diddley bow (aka "jitterbug") is a one-stringed instrument of the American South, with origins in West Africa. In its simplest form, the diddley bow consists simply of a wire strung between two nails, with a rock or a bottle placed under the string as a movable bridge. It is usually played using some kind of slide, like a bottleneck guitar. In both Africa and America, the diddley bow was a child's instrument; a "starter guitar," if you will. Most of the great American blues guitarists got their start on the diddley bow, and many contemporary musicians have rediscovered the haunting sound of this simple instrument. The musician Bo Diddley (born Ellas Otha Bates), one of the originators of rock & roll, took his stage name as a sly reference to his humble musical origins in the Mississippi Delta.
Portable diddley bows such as this were created by combining the single-string slide with the architecture of the cigar box- or oil can guitar. Cigar box guitars (also banjos, and fiddles) trace their origins back to the 1860s, while oil can guitars are another African invention. The resonator of this diddley bow is unusual in that it is an olive oil can, rather than a motor oil can. The can, and presumably the instrument, date from the 1920s ("Romanza" was a brand of the Pompeian Olive Oil Company; this can was produced prior to the company's move to Baltimore in the late 1920s.). The neck, carved in the form of a sylized owl, is also unique. All-in-all, a remarkable piece of early African American musical history!
Check out Justin Johnson playing his electrified diddley bow and explaining its finer points here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EoxxXX4EheY
The diddley bow (aka "jitterbug") is a one-stringed instrument of the American South, with origins in West Africa. In its simplest form, the diddley bow consists simply of a wire strung between two nails, with a rock or a bottle placed under the string as a movable bridge. It is usually played using some kind of slide, like a bottleneck guitar. In both Africa and America, the diddley bow was a child's instrument; a "starter guitar," if you will. Most of the great American blues guitarists got their start on the diddley bow, and many contemporary musicians have rediscovered the haunting sound of this simple instrument. The musician Bo Diddley (born Ellas Otha Bates), one of the originators of rock & roll, took his stage name as a sly reference to his humble musical origins in the Mississippi Delta.
Portable diddley bows such as this were created by combining the single-string slide with the architecture of the cigar box- or oil can guitar. Cigar box guitars (also banjos, and fiddles) trace their origins back to the 1860s, while oil can guitars are another African invention. The resonator of this diddley bow is unusual in that it is an olive oil can, rather than a motor oil can. The can, and presumably the instrument, date from the 1920s ("Romanza" was a brand of the Pompeian Olive Oil Company; this can was produced prior to the company's move to Baltimore in the late 1920s.). The neck, carved in the form of a sylized owl, is also unique. All-in-all, a remarkable piece of early African American musical history!
Check out Justin Johnson playing his electrified diddley bow and explaining its finer points here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EoxxXX4EheY
The diddley bow (aka "jitterbug") is a one-stringed instrument of the American South, with origins in West Africa. In its simplest form, the diddley bow consists simply of a wire strung between two nails, with a rock or a bottle placed under the string as a movable bridge. It is usually played using some kind of slide, like a bottleneck guitar. In both Africa and America, the diddley bow was a child's instrument; a "starter guitar," if you will. Most of the great American blues guitarists got their start on the diddley bow, and many contemporary musicians have rediscovered the haunting sound of this simple instrument. The musician Bo Diddley (born Ellas Otha Bates), one of the originators of rock & roll, took his stage name as a sly reference to his humble musical origins in the Mississippi Delta.
Portable diddley bows such as this were created by combining the single-string slide with the architecture of the cigar box- or oil can guitar. Cigar box guitars (also banjos, and fiddles) trace their origins back to the 1860s, while oil can guitars are another African invention. The resonator of this diddley bow is unusual in that it is an olive oil can, rather than a motor oil can. The can, and presumably the instrument, date from the 1920s ("Romanza" was a brand of the Pompeian Olive Oil Company; this can was produced prior to the company's move to Baltimore in the late 1920s.). The neck, carved in the form of a sylized owl, is also unique. All-in-all, a remarkable piece of early African American musical history!
Check out Justin Johnson playing his electrified diddley bow and explaining its finer points here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EoxxXX4EheY