Dark brown guitar with plate (pickguard) and bridge. Pickguard covers most of body, except space below strings between base pick-up and bridge. On plate are small wood block, base pick-up with 6 screws, volume and tone knobs calibrated from zero to 10 and marked "V" and "TONE" and a plug socket. Guitar has 4 strings. Brown and black strap with floral motif is attached to guitar at bottom and top left of body. Bottom end is stamped: Bobby Lee/NO SCRATCH GUITAR STRAP/[patent numbers]/SOTTILE MFG. CO. PATTON, PA. Top of strap has same information in gold coloring. Small metal plate at top of back has relief words: MADE IN JAPAN.
This electric bass guitar was used by Floyd Jones in 1960.
Curatorial Statement
This guitar was used by Floyd Jones and helps to document one of Chicago's most significant musical traditions: the electric blues. Floyd Jones was born in Arkansas in 1917 but grew up in the Mississippi Delta where he learned to play the blues guitar. In the late 1940s, Jones moved to Chicago, where he played on Maxwell Street and in local clubs on a regular basis. During the post World War II blues craze, Jones cut several records with other blues artists, including Sunnyland Slim. Jones also recorded his own hits, "Dark Road" "Stockyard Blues" and "Ain't Times Hard." He continued to perform in clubs across Chicago until shortly before his death in 1989.
