Tea chest bass

A tea chest bass is a home-made musical instrument that uses a tea chest (a wooden chest of the type once used in the shipment of tea) as the resonator for an upright stringed bass. The instrument is made from a pole, traditionally a broomstick, placed into or alongside the chest. One or more strings are stretched along the pole and plucked.

In Europe, particularly England and Germany, the instrument is associated with skiffle bands. In Australia it was traditionally used to provide deep sounds for "bush bands", though most such groups today use electric bass or double bass. It was commonly called a "bush bass".

In the U.S., where tea chests have not been common for centuries, there is a closely related instrument called the washtub bass, which uses an upturned metal washtub as a resonator.