The Humbone Redux

I woke up Monday morning and the Fallen Angel was hip-deep in the piecework sewing she does. I decided I'd go out and look for a stand for the Humbone.

First I thought I'd look around at thrift stores and such but after careful consideration I decided I could very well be spending several weeks haunting the places -- with all the attendant burning of petrochemicals -- and not save very much money.

Not to mention being without the Humbone for all that time.

So I decided that since Guitar Center was the closest music store to my house -- a several minute drive -- that, if they had one for under $20 (after sales tax), they win.

They did and I bought it. Of course, that means that I actually spent more for the stand than for the Humbone itself, but that's the way life goes sometimes. The whole shebang still cost me less than $35 and I think it was a worthwhile investment.

I then took the stand, Humbone and my National uke over to my friend Thad's place where we whacked at it -- the stand, that is -- with a sledgehammer and a big-ass screwdriver until the little "tunnel" of metal that holds the lyre (where the music actually sits) to the stand proper came off. We then bent the top of the stand post over a bit more than it already was so that the Humbone wasn't facing the ground quite so much and Thad held all three parts together -- Humbone, "tunnel" and stand -- whilst I busily duct taped the thing together.

The "tunnel" was designed to fit against a flat surface rather than the curve of the Humbone so that last bit was a little trouble. But the upshot is I can set the stand up and just slide the Humbone onto it and it holds it firmly in place until needed, keeping my hands free to thrash away at the ukulele (or washboard or whatever).


Here I am playing a stirring Humbone solo for "If You'se A Viper" (aka "Viper Drag"). You can buy a recording of this tune (and nine others) done by Snake Suspenderz (but with real bass trombone doing the solos).

Several of you have asked for a better pic of the Humbone itself so here's a close-up of it. Hopefully how the kazoo is jammed into the whole thing is a bit clearer here.

And it is just jammed in there. The duct tape just keeps it from being knocked loose... at least, not easily knocked loose.

Since the stand is adjustable for height I can use it both standing (as I mostly do for busking or in the jug band) and for sitting (which I mostly do while doing solo inside gigs or with Snake Suspenderz). I have it at its tallest possible setting for standing and, as you can see from the earlier pic, only have to bend over a trifle to get to it.

Since these pics were taken (by Thaddeus Spae again, BTW) I've added further wraps of duct tape around the "tunnel" part to tighten things up a bit. The only duct tape that Thad had was white, all I had was black. The silver stuff came from Jim "The Emergency Folksinger" Nason, tub player for the Emerald City Jug Band. A team effort.

The stand is a folding one and goes quite small. My sweet Fallen Angel has said she'll sew me a carrybag for it so I should be able to hang it over my shoulder and tote it around much easier in the near future. Meantime, I have one of those paper shopping bags with the handles on it and that'll just have to do.

I was going to go out and busk with it today but I ended up taking care of a few things around here, blogging a lot, reading some and napping some. I'll let you all know how the first public appearance goes just as soon as there is one to report on. Maybe I'll do an open mike with it, just to scare the singer/songwriter types.

And yes, there'll be an mp3 of the little monster in action as soon as I can get something together in that department.