$95.00
Not much is known about One String Sam, an eccentric street musician who walked into Joe's Record Shop on Hastings Street in Detroit in 1956 and recorded two odd and unforgettable tracks, "I Need a Hundred Dollars" and "My Baby Ooo," on a fretless, one- string instrument that was essentially a diddley bow, consisting of a wood plank with a piano wire stretched between two nails, augmented with an electric guitar pickup.
A tribute to the lost legend, One String Sam, this electrified diddley bow is a folk art instrument by Shane Speal that mixes Sam's original design with the art deco look of old National lap steels.
*** See demonstration video at end of this description***
The "Metropolitan Sam" diddley bow features a plywood body with a tobacco burst finish, antique bottle bridge and folk-art painted fretboard. The instrument wields a biting 30" scale length and is string with a low E guitar string. The growling pickup is custom made by Ted Crocker, using antique wood from the the cotton gin at Hopson's Plantation.
The tone of this beast falls somewhere between the primal blues of One String Sam's historic "I Need a Hundred Dollars" and primal scream of Soundgarden's "Blow Up the Outside World." With the long scale length and low string, it can fall easily into the bass range if needed.
Each Metropolitan Sam diddley bow is signed and dated by Shane Speal.
One String Sam
