Blues. Jazz. Rock. Folk. These styles of music and most others all share a common resonance: bass.

The bass has taken many appearances – from the Wash Tub Bass (American) to the "Babatoni" (South Africa) – through history, but one form of the instrument has piqued a Ballard man’s interest, and he is reviving an old American and British folk sound by reproducing the Tea Chest Bass.

Mark Mollan is founder of Funky1Strings at 1132 NW 45th St. in Ballard, and he has been making the Tea Chest Bass for over two years. He said that the instrument was the primary bass resonator in Skiffle music. Skiffle is a type of music with jazz, blues, and folk roots and usually the band uses homemade instruments. The style of music evolved in the U.S. during the early 1900s and then later in the U.K. during the 1950s where the Tea Chest Bass was used. Some influential groups like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles had Skiffle influences.

“It’s really a nice folkie, acoustic style of music, and I thought the box (tea chest bass) would be a really good instrument to bring back. It’s unconventional,” said Mollan.

The box - as Mollan calls it - is very similar to the American version, the Washtub Bass. It is basically an old wooded tea case with a nylon or cotton string threaded through the top with a knot at the end to keep it in place. The string is tied to the top a broom or axe handle, and the handle leans on the top of the chest. The bassist kneels on the box and plucks, slaps or strums the string while pulling or pushing on the handle, which changes the pitch of the sound resonating in the chest.

“I pull the string against the stick, but friends - they’re Brits - they push the string against the stick. It’s a technique you can refine over time.”

Mollan is from Chicago, and after high school he found himself traveling through Europe. Mollan was living in Copenhagen in Christiania, a neighborhood that attracted musicians and artists, when he first encounter the instrument.

“I found myself in Europe just looking for freer thinking places, and I found a good place for who I was and what I represented me at the time.”

Mollan became friends with musicians from Liverpool who were busking in tourist areas. They were playing Skiffle music and specialized in playing the box.

“I picked up what I know about the box from them and brought it back here thinking that the Washtub Bass is American and cool as it is, but it doesn’t seem to have as much flexibility as this instrument does.”

Mollan moved to Seattle in 2006 and settled in Ballard. He said as soon as he got here he tried to find a tea box from a tea store at Pike Place Market.

“They don’t ship in these boxes anymore, so they are really hard to find. … People usually just use them for decoration.”

Mollan’s chests have other objects on them like the top of a pepper grinder and other metal objects that make different sounds to accompany the deep bass resonance.

“I like simplicity. People ask me ‘Why don’t I do this?’ or make a hole in it, and I say, “Why don’t you?’ It really is a personalized instrument because there are no rules. Anyone can do anything with it.”

Mollan has made about 20 boxes since he started and offers them to musicians or the plain curious for sell or trade. He said he recently sold the first chest he ever made to a woman going to Burning Man.

“The nuance of what comes out of the materials is what’s interesting when you make a box. I just experiment.”

Mollan said he is trying different materials with the tops of the box to see how it affects the sound. The tops are usually thin plywood, and Mollan tries to source wood from old furniture. He has plans for using heavy leather as the top or he might make a version of a Tea Chest Bass out of a barrel.

“It really is a kind of drum. It’s kind of a timpani buy used in the orchestra. You can tune it as you’re playing – a tunable bass buy. … It’s really a dowser, a rhythm dowser, and it’s therapeutic because you beat it with a stick. It’s pretty cool – get your yeah yeahs out, you know?”

Mollan said that the box would go well with any acoustic musical style, but he said the box is versatile and opens the door for experiments in sound and music.

Mollan also makes different smaller boxes so kids could play it, too.

“It’s really good for any person who is trying to approach music – anyone, even if you can’t get your leg up onto it.”

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