Fotdella is a foot-operated

string bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

musical instrument. Invented and constructed by Jesse "The Lone Cat" Fuller, an American

one-man band A one-man band is a musician who plays a number of instruments simultaneously using their hands, feet, limbs, and various mechanical or electronic contraptions. One-man bands also often sing while they perform. The simplest type of "one-man ban ...

musician, who needed an accompaniment instrument beyond the usual high-hat (foot-operated cymbal) or bass drum favored by street musicians.

History

Fuller developed the instrument the early 1950s. It was a large upright box with a rounded top, shaped like the top of a

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

, with a short neck on top. Six bass strings were attached to the neck and stretched over the body. He later made five more models of various designs.

Playing

To play the instrument, there was a homemade set of

pedals A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to: Computers and other equipment * Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse * In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control ...

, each pedal bringing a padded hammer to strike a string when depressed, like the action of a

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

. With these six bass notes, Fuller could accompany himself on the

12-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

in several keys. Fuller's wife took to calling it a "foot-diller" (as in the then-current expression, "killer-diller", meaning exceedingly good); and later, it became shortened to just fotdella. One of Fuller's later fotdella iterations is available for viewing at a museum in Seattle, Washington. Dave Harris, an active one-man-band and author of 'Head, Hands, and Feet,' a comprehensive encyclopedia of one-man-bands, has designed and had built for him several fotdellas. Harris performs with them in Victoria, British Columbia. After having seen one of Harris' performances in 2001, members of the band Frog & Henry built one of their own in 2010 in Ontario, Canada. They made the instrument from a double-bass, piano hammers, drum stands, and found materials.

External links

Jesse Fuller playing 'San Francisco Bay Blues'

Photo of Fuller playing his fotdella
* Video o
a busker playing a fotdella on the streets of New Orleans

of the "Tuba Machine" fotdella, and
video
of it in operation. * "Folk Fotdella" built by Jesse Fuller, in the collection of the

Smithsonian National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...

.
Photos of Folk Fotdella, catalog no. 1994.0053.02
{{Experimental musical instruments Experimental string instruments Double basses Keyboard instruments