Was this ever used, or was it just intended to inspire melancholic remembrance of times past?

This brass bed warmer (one would fill the brass container with glowing cinders from the open fireplace, and then slide it under the duvets to chase away damp and cold) looks like it was maybe not intended for use, but rather made at a time when such devices were mostly hung on the wall to remind oneself how romantically poor one’s own grandparents once were. However, Annette Sheppard whom it belonged to, found it neither attractive, useful or very interesting hanging on the wall.

Same shape, different function.

The shape however, with its long neck and round body, reminded me of an instrument, so that’s what I decided to make of it. Granted, a very simple instrument, but still one that worked. Instrument builder and musician Casey Miller gave me an electrical pick-up that I installed inside the body just under the bridge to catch the vibrations of the string (a brass wire for hanging paintings)and a left over tuning key from a cannibalized electric guitar made it possible to put tension in the string.

Very simple but surprisingly sturdy and well tuned.

I had Casey, who advised and assisted me on my different instrument projects for this repair shop, test it, and he was very happy with the result. Maybe it performed well because it was so simple. Without frets it could only be played as a slider, or a one stringed bottleneck, but when played so it produced a full and balanced bass tone that one could pluck along on, perhaps as accompaniment to some other brass instruments.

Casey Miller testing the brass-band bottleneck.

Object no. 46