Check Out My Dumbull

Posted by Marcy Paulson on July 20, 2014 at 8:02am

The dumbull Jeff and I made is about as primitive as it gets, so I thought I'd post a video here for y'all. We learned about them from a gentleman teaching kids to make them with tin cans at FCF's Mountaineer's Festival. He called it a "bear call" which was what gave me the idea to incorporate it into our version of Ole Slewfoot. Dumbulls may have worked in hunting bears. I know for sure people still use coffee can dumbulls to call moose, and used to use gourd dumbulls when hunting jaguar. People also used them to frighten trespassers off their property. Mostly though, I think these dumbulls were great for pranks on a dark night. They're pretty fun, however you decide to use them.

I'm collecting stories about dumbulls, so if anyone made them back in the day or had relatives who made them--I'd sure love to hear from you.

Here's how one sounds...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8rMhQUynPQ

 

 

 

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Tags: banjo, dumbull, harmonica, ole, slewfoot
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  • Marcy Paulson July 20, 2014 at 12:01pm

    Ron, I love that article. I spoke with the editor of that periodical a while back but was disappointed to find Mrs. Dunn passed away several years ago. That's a fascinating magazine compiled by highschoolers and is for the Ozarks much like Foxfire is for Appalachia. All the issues are available on line and I highly recommend them as a fun read.

    Yeah, Jim, I haven't let my kids near my CB fiddle yet. Dumbulls can be obnoxious, but on the bright side at least they're fairly indestructible--especially the tin can variety.

  • Marcy Paulson July 20, 2014 at 10:47am

    Thanks, my kids made quite a commotion with their soup can dumbulls. The sound reminded me of squawking chickens.

     

    • Jim Morris > Marcy Paulson July 20, 2014 at 11:09am

      Ha! No way I'm gonna make any for my grandkids! They would drive me crazy. Just kidding- it would be a fun thing to make with 4 year old Bobby. He broke the cookie tin uke I made so we need another instrument. I couldn't find any other examples of dumbulls on youtube. Maybe they go by a different name sometimes?

    • Ron "Oily" Sprague > Jim Morris July 20, 2014 at 11:34am
      http://thelibrary.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/fa76k.htm
  • jabes July 20, 2014 at 9:31am

     great video and song ..what a remarkable sound,

    My Grandma made my cousin and i one each out of soup cans when we were kids(60 years ago), i'd completely for gotten about it, thanks for reminding me. i'll have to add them to my recycling workshop..

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