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Bottle Cap Washboard Gloves, deluxe leather pair

Clanky Dog Deluxe Leather Bottle Cap Washboard Gloves
Premium-quality Bottle Cap washboard gloves deliver dampened moderate tone & they're gentle on your washboard rub surface. Perforated leather gives you superior support plus firm sturdy grip...keeps hands cool.


 
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World's First Commercially Manufactured Washboard Gloves
Just slip them on and scratch your ax!

Special Features for Washboard Players—
  • Bottle caps deliver dampened moderate tone.
  • Round pan-bottom shape gentle on your washboard rub surface.
  • Positioned on your finger pad for comfort and solid control.
  • Securely Mounted - Bottle caps won't fall off.
  • Innovative compression-mounted precision natural acetal (similar to nylon) seating disks provide comfort and dependable resonance.
  • Perforated leather lets your hands breathe...keeps them cool.
  • Elasticized cuff gives comfortable fit.
  • Hook & loop wrist pull tab provides firm secure fit.
  • Professional look and feel makes you sound good and play better.
  • 3 Sizes: small, medium, large. Pictured gloves are medium.
Check out all 3 washboard glove styles—
  1. Air Mesh Bottle Cap Washboard Gloves
  2. Deluxe Leather Bottle Cap Washboard Gloves
  3. Thimble Washboard Gloves (Still in development)

Why Choose these Gloves?
If you want premium-quality washboard gloves that give you superior support plus a firm sturdy grip; Keeps your hands cool; Generates a dampened moderate tone; Gentle on a vintage washboard's tin rubbing surface; Feels like a million bucks...and a good value, then these gloves are for you.

Here's What You Get:
One pair of gloves.

Deluxe Leather Bottle Cap Washboard Gloves
Specially perforated leather gives you superior support plus firm sturdy grip...keeps hands cool. Strong steel bottle caps gentle on washboard - generates dampened moderate tone.
Finally, professionally designed ready-to-wear washboard gloves. Just slip them on and scratch your ax!

Here's what Makes Clanky Dog Washboard Gloves so Special:
  • Keeps your hands cool
  • Makes washboard easy to play
  • Firm comfortable fit
  • Quick & easy to slip on, take off
Should I get the Air Mesh or Deluxe Leather Gloves?
Get Air Mesh if you want gloves that feel lighter-than-air and keep your hands extra-cool at a budget price. Air Mesh gloves keep your hands the coolest. But note that drumsticks and other hand-held objects might slip from the slick net-like air mesh material. Get Deluxe Leather if you want tough durable gloves that give you extra support plus a firm secure grip - and feel like a million bucks.
Great for Drummers!
Drummers will definitely want the Deluxe Leather because it's tough and durable and gives you a firm grip on drum sticks.
10 Good Reasons to Get these Deluxe Leather Bottle Cap Gloves
  1. Delivers dampened moderate tone
  2. Steel bottle caps are strong and durable
  3. Pan-bottom cap shape gentle on your washboard rub surface
  4. Lightweight leather won't wear you out or slow you down
  5. Tough durable leather provides superior support
  6. Perforated leather lets your hands breathe & keep cool
  7. Supple leather surface provides firm sturdy grip
  8. Recycled bottle caps environmentally green
  9. Extremely rare premium-quality specialty product that's somewhat pricy but a good value - and made no place else
  10. Professional design makes you sound good, look good, and play better
Demo of Air Mesh Bottle Cap and Thimble style prototype washboard gloves.


Should I get Thimble Gloves (in development) or Bottle Cap Gloves?
The choice depends on how you play the washboard. Thimble gloves enable you to play the washboard effectively using your fingertips. Bottle Cap gloves enable you to play the washboard effectively using your fingerpads.

As a rule, fingertips generate a more powerful tone than fingerpads. So if you want the loudest most clamorous sound, then get Thimble gloves. Your fingerpads, however, generate relatively mellower tones than fingertips. So if you want to tone it down, then consider Bottle Cap gloves.

Traditionally, the vast majority of players prefer Thimble gloves over Bottle Cap gloves. Of course, the only practical way to know for sure which you like best is to try them both. But if money is a factor, then Bottle Cap gloves are more economical than Thimble gloves. So Bottle Cap gloves are the better choice if you are watching your pennies - especially if you also want a more subdued sound.


Washboard Gloves are Essential for Jug Bands and Skiffle Bands
The gloves are also great for Jam Bands, Garage Bands, Folk Artists, Street Musicians, Drum Circles, Family Gatherings and Traditional Old-time Music.

Try Washboard Gloves with Almost any Kind of Toe-Tapping Dance Music—
  • Ragtime
  • Cajun
  • Gospel
  • Dixieland
  • Blues
  • Bluegrass
  • Reggae
  • Pop, Rock & Rap too!
The Story Behind the World's First Commercially Manufactured Washboard Gloves Clanky Dog
A lot of thought and energy went into the making of these washboard gloves. They were designed and developed by Scott Miller (that's me), an award-winning traditional old-time percussionist who holds a master's degree in product design. I've been talking about the idea of producing ready-to-wear washboard gloves with musician friends for years. But it wasn't until 2009 that I began collecting glove samples and research data to develop some working prototypes. My good friend Steve Litsios of Rattlebrained Designs tested the first rough prototypes in 2010 with his blues band, Swamp Train. He also designed the Clanky Dog logo. If you subscribe to the monthly BULLETIN, then you know it took more than one full year to engineer and manufacture the glove blanks - and then another few months to specify, test, and assemble the custom hardware. The Air Mesh gloves entered the inventory in May 2012. The Deluxe Leather version about a year-and-a-half later in September, 2013. So I hope you like the finished products.

Of course, the market for washboard gloves is teeny-tiny. That's why no other company has bothered to design and produce such a product. So it's no wonder these are the world's first (and only) commercially manufactured washboard gloves.

But with a little luck and a brace of blessings from the stars above, maybe enough players will help this line of products rise and flourish. And as these first washboard gloves evolve, we can look forward to more improvements in the future. So with your help and support, Clanky Dog Washboard Gloves will become even better in the years ahead. Okay, that's enough talk about the gloves. Let's get jamming!


What is Your Glove Size?
What is Your Glove Size?



Tip
"Get the smallest size glove you are comfortable with," says blues percussionist Steve Litsios. That's because gloves stretch over time. You will get better results if thimbles or bottle caps "are tight on your fingers, especially during energetic playing," Steve adds.


Item# Item Name Only Qty Add
135-01-BC-05-02-5-S Bottle Cap Washboard Gloves, deluxe leather, small
$39.99
(Out of Stock)
135-01-BC-05-02-5-M Bottle Cap Washboard Gloves, deluxe leather, medium
$39.99
(Out of Stock)
135-01-BC-05-02-5-L Bottle Cap Washboard Gloves, deluxe leather, large
$39.99
(Out of Stock)
Check the items you wish to purchase, then click


Features:
  1. Real Bottle Caps: Delivers dampened moderate tone, gentle on your washboard rub surface.
  2. Bottle Caps on all 5 Fingers: Provides maximum tone control.
  3. Recycled Caps: Helps save the environment.
  4. Securely Mounted: Bottle caps won't fall off.
  5. Positioned on Your Finger Pad: Provides comfort and solid control.
  6. Innovative Compression-mounted Seating Process: Provides comfort and dependable resonance.
  7. Precision Natural Acetal (similar to nylon) Seating Disks: Non-toxic, won't irritate your skin.
  8. Perforated Leather: Lets your hands breathe, keeps them cool.
  9. Expandable Finger Fabric: Provides strength and firm fit.
  10. Full Leather Top and Bottom: Offers superior support and firm sturdy grip.
  11. Elasticized Cuff: Gives comfortable fit.
  12. Hook & Loop Wrist Pull Tabs: Provides firm secure fit.
  13. Professional Look and Feel: Makes you sound good and play better.
  14. Three Sizes: Fits most hands.




Specs:
Figures are approximate (but pretty darn close)—
  • Sizes: Small, medium, large
  • Hardware: Recycled bottle caps
  • Fittings: Precision natural acetal (similar to nylon) compression mounts
  • Composition: Leather, expandable fabric
  • Leather: Natural top grain aniline cowhide
  • Color: Black
  • Glove blanks made in Pakistan, bottle cap hardware assembled in U.S.A.

Price per pair...


Average Customer Review: Average Customer Review: 5 of 5 5 of 5 Total Reviews: 1 Write a review.

  0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
5 of 5 Top-notch bottle cap washboard gloves November 14, 2013
Reviewer: Steve Litsios from Switzerland  
A month or so ago I received a pair of medium sized Deluxe Leather Bottle Cap Washboard Gloves, the leather equivalent of the air mesh Bottle Cap Washboard Gloves that I reviewed last year.

Unfortunately every time I tried them my finger tips would go numb after 15 or so minutes of playing; the medium size was simply too small for my hands. I stress this point because "medium" is the size I usually use and would still choose if I where to order another pair of the air mesh bottle cap gloves...

On both types of gloves the attached bottle caps shorten the length of the fingers, which isn't much of an issue with the air mesh gloves because the elasticity of the material absorbs the finger tip to wrist "glove tension". However the sturdy thick leather of the Deluxe gloves has none of that elasticity and my fingers where really pushed up against the bottle caps. This would normally be a good thing for washboard playing but in this case caused me way too much pressure for comfort.

So although both pairs of gloves are the same size (I checked), the leather ones don't fit your hands in the same way as the air mesh gloves and in that sense are smaller.

Having informed Scott of this matter he was quick to send me a pair of Large sized gloves which I have been using for a couple of weeks; and I am quite pleased with them.

These new gloves are made with a thick black leather that really seems heavy duty and is thicker than the drummer gloves I've tried. They are comfortable, and even with the larger size my fingers are snug in the bottle caps. This is possibly due to the fact that the finger tips are reinforced and remain tight even though the rest of the L size glove is looser than the M's, as you would expect.

I was able to use them during the last warm weather I'll probably see this year and didn't find them all that cool, but now that winter is beginning they're perfectly fine (I've worn them for a couple of hours pretty much every day of the last two weeks).

The leather also definitively removed the "snagging on old dry washboard wood" problem I have with the air mesh type gloves.

I ended up using pliers to remove the bottle caps from the thumb and little finger of both hands to suit my playing style - which sometimes involves playing the washboard and drums at the same time (and yes it is possible to put them back on with the help of pliers and a small hammer too, but be warned that you greatly risk loosing the evenness of the bottle cap's edge). A shame, but I need a free thumb to hold a drumstick. It worked ok although thimbles do get less in the way than bottle caps and remain preferred, so I'm not totally sure it was worth it yet.

IMO, these glove are a big improvement over the air mesh gloves if like me you use old dried up washboards and tend to brush the washboard's side with your palm, as well as also making it a lot easier to hold drumsticks and brushes if you need to.

However, if you have long fingers or a hand size that is in-between Medium and Large (mine are 9-1/2 on the glove size gauge), you may be better off with the Large size gloves. The Mediums were much too tight for me in any case, although (and I tested this) without the bottle caps they fit perfectly.

Bottle caps do sound more mellow than thimbles, so one doesn't really replace the other, and the comments for the air mesh gloves about the weaker tone you get hitting bells with them stand here as well. However, with practice one does find ways to overcome most of the limitations, and having less volume can have its advantage. In smaller non amplified venues and even larger ones with very reflective walls, the washboard can easily become a bit overbearing so toning it down a bit can't hurt. I plan to use these gloves the next time I get to play with an acoustic band. The sound they give should fit right in.

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