An electric washboard? Meet the Woogie Board…
| Posted in Music Technology
The Woogie Board – not a name that many musicians are likely to recognise without employing a Google search, but one that is nevertheless causing excitement, confusion and delight in equal measure right now all over the internet, as news of the launch of the world’s first mass produced electric washboard reaches the far corners of musicianship.
Yes, you ready that correctly, it’s an electric washboard. What’s more, the company behind it, Saint Blues Guitar Workshop, is promising that when run through a wah-wah, it can produce a sound “that God never intended”. Here at DV247 Blog we’re used to hearing marketing hyperbole, but even we’re slightly taken aback by that statement.
So what actually is it? The answer lies with Cody Dickinson, member of US country blues bands the North Mississippi Allstars and Hill Country Revue, and the inventor of the washboard in question. Dickinson is also the son of producer Jim Dickinson, who encouraged his son to try the washboard after he had already mastered the guitar, drums, and piano. Cody, however, decided to add a pickup and his pedal board to the equation. The resulting sound quickly won over a legion of blues rock fans, picking up a momentum all of its own online, until Saint Blues Guitar Workshop entered the picture and transformed Cody’s prototype into a production-ready design.
Now the Woogie Board is set to arrive in the UK, with each model having been handmade in Memphis. The boards are built from solid Mahogony and finished with a hand-rubbed tung oil. Dual Piezo pickups are employed to create the unique sound that Cody has become known for, with a three-way pickup selection switch, a volume control knob, and an output jack housed in a tele control plate.
Saint Blues Workshop is also very quick to point out that the Woogie Board offers more than the sound of a regular amplified washboard, declaring that it can produce effects that “have to be heard to be believed”.
Cody Dickinson even goes so far as to compare it to everyone’s favourite guitar god: “When I plugged it into a wah-wah pedal and a delay, I realised it sounded like Jimi Hendrix, and it blew my mind. It’s psychedelic, it tickles that part of the brain.” With effects playing such a significant part of the Woogie Board experience, it’s no surprise that Saint Blues Workshop is now also working on an accompanying custom effects pedal.
Whether or not the UK is ready for the reinvention of washboard-led country blues, or perhaps even an explosion of grindcore skiffle bands, this is one unusual product that has won our attention here on the Blog. We’re already pulling out our pedal boards in anticipation of giving it a full review so we can let you know whether the Woogie Board cleans up, or just washes out.
About Barney Jameson
A contributor, editor and in some cases creator of more music and pro audio magazines than he cares to remember, Barney Jameson is a veteran of writing about gear, and a pretty keen singer songwriter to boot.
Having started his musical education reading old copies of the Melody Maker while riding the tube to University in the mid-nineties, Barney once sang in a band called Sugarstone, troubling record company chequebooks not quite enough to make it a career option. Instead, he achieved his goal of starting a music magazine of his own when he founded Playmusic in the early noughties. Later on, having exploited VIP access to as many festivals as possible, he wrote about the pro audio industry throughout Europe and the Middle East, travelling to far-flung destinations such as Dubai, Doha and Muscat (nice mountains).
As the latest addition to the DV247 team, Barney has big plans. But when he’s not plotting online domination of the musical instrument world, he keeps himself busy writing songs on a battered old acoustic guitar and playing them to audiences in his home town.
Tags: Cody Dickinson, electric washboard, North Mississippi Allstars