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Post new topic Infinite sustain for steel guitars.
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Author Topic:  Infinite sustain for steel guitars.
Gareth Whittock

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 30 May 2020 4:13 am    
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Hi all, I'm an inventor of musical devices and thought you'd be just the sort of guys who would appreciate it. I've already had feedback from some steel players which seems to be very positive but I've noted that some would like a slide made from metal. I'm working on this but any, (polite) feedback would be great as naturally, I want to appeal to you lot. Here's the kickstarter link if you're interested: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vibraslide/vibraslide?ref=project_build

Thanks all and stay safe!

Gareth
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Jim Cohen


From:
Philadelphia, PA
Post  Posted 30 May 2020 5:14 am    
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That looks very cool. Maybe an idea for someday in the future, can you make the slide wireless, like wireless guitar systems with a transmitter inside and receiver in the box?
Good luck with this neat project!
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Dave Hopping


From:
Aurora, Colorado
Post  Posted 30 May 2020 8:21 am    
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IMO this can get some traction among six-string slide players... if someone can,as Jim says,make it wireless,and hollow,so it fits over the "slide finger". Winking
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Gareth Whittock

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 31 May 2020 2:57 am    
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Thanks for the input guys. Interesting that you say you'd like to have it hollow. I thought steel players didn't play that way, you just held the tone bar/slide..
Wireless has some advantages - not lead for one, though in practice no-one who's played it has had an issues with it so far. Problem is, as soon as you battery power something you have the eternal issues of it running down. A wireless/bluetooth solution might not be very reliable on stage either. I appreciate your comments though.. Thanks, Gareth
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Brad Bechtel


From:
San Francisco, CA
Post  Posted 31 May 2020 3:29 am    
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This is a great idea and I wish you you luck.

The tone bar/control unit appears to be larger than most steel guitar bars. Can the light color be disabled or have the color modified in some way?

What’s your target price?
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Lee Baucum


From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
Post  Posted 31 May 2020 5:48 am    
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This will be a great device for those who create ambient music.
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Dan Kelly


From:
Boston, MA
Post  Posted 31 May 2020 3:19 pm    
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Kinda like an eBow on steroids... but only better!
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Travis Toy


From:
Nashville, TN, USA
Post  Posted 31 May 2020 6:57 pm     Re: Infinite sustain for steel guitars.
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Gareth Whittock wrote:
Hi all, I'm an inventor of musical devices and thought you'd be just the sort of guys who would appreciate it. I've already had feedback from some steel players which seems to be very positive but I've noted that some would like a slide made from metal. I'm working on this but any, (polite) feedback would be great as naturally, I want to appeal to you lot. Here's the kickstarter link if you're interested: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vibraslide/vibraslide?ref=project_build

Thanks all and stay safe!

Gareth


Wow Gareth. This is very cool.

-t
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Gareth Whittock

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 31 May 2020 10:31 pm    
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Brad Bechtel wrote:
This is a great idea and I wish you you luck.

The tone bar/control unit appears to be larger than most steel guitar bars. Can the light color be disabled or have the color modified in some way?

What’s your target price?


The slide in the demo is 24mm outside diameter. I thought that was pretty standard. Is that not the case?

Yes the light can be disabled via an internal jumper but it can be set that way before shipping to save you having to do it yourself.

The final price will be around £200 fo the complete system but the Kickstarter campaign allows for a discount to get us going with production..

Thanks all, Gareth
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Gareth Whittock

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 31 May 2020 10:34 pm     Re: Infinite sustain for steel guitars.
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Wow Gareth. This is very cool.

Thanks Troy Smile I've been working on it for some time. I'm making another video today to show more features.. It'll go up on Youtube and the Kickstarter page mentioned above..
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Brett Lanier

 

From:
Madison, TN
Post  Posted 3 Jun 2020 8:21 am    
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Very cool!

7/8" is standard for a pedal steel bar (22.225mm)
and 3 3/8" length
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Gareth Whittock

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 3 Jun 2020 10:17 am    
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Brett Lanier wrote:
Very cool!

7/8" is standard for a pedal steel bar (22.225mm)
and 3 3/8" length


Well I didn't know that. I'll see what I can do.. Thanks for the tip!
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Jeff Mead


From:
London, England
Post  Posted 3 Jun 2020 1:14 pm    
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Hi Gareth,

Just to let you know, I've already signed up for the kickstarter.

I'm in the UK too. If you need any more beta testers, I'd love to get involved.
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Jeff Mead


From:
London, England
Post  Posted 3 Jun 2020 1:17 pm    
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BTW - I agree with Brett that if the bar could be the same as a "standard" steel bar (around the size he quoted is fine), that would be brilliant.

I actually think the light freature is very cool!
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John McClung


From:
Olympia WA, USA
Post  Posted 3 Jun 2020 2:47 pm    
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Innovative idea, Gareth, good luck with this project!
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Gareth Whittock

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 3 Jun 2020 8:21 pm    
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Jeff Mead wrote:
Hi Gareth,

Just to let you know, I've already signed up for the kickstarter.

I'm in the UK too. If you need any more beta testers, I'd love to get involved.

Thanks Jeff. Whereabouts are you in the UK? I'm just outside Bristol.
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Gareth Whittock

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 3 Jun 2020 8:31 pm    
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Brett Lanier wrote:
Very cool!

7/8" is standard for a pedal steel bar (22.225mm)
and 3 3/8" length


Hey Brett. the 3 3/8" dimension - is that the length of the barrel, (the flat section) or the length butt end to the tip of the cone? Hope that makes sense..
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Gareth Whittock

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 3 Jun 2020 8:31 pm    
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John McClung wrote:
Innovative idea, Gareth, good luck with this project!

Thanks John. I appreciate the encouragement!
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Brett Lanier

 

From:
Madison, TN
Post  Posted 4 Jun 2020 8:47 am    
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Pretty sure the 3 3/8ths is the total length (to the very end). I just pulled those numbers from the standard bar size on the BJS website, which is probably the most commonly used bar. Not really sure how to calculate the curvature of the end.

I would definitely consider buying this. I use an ebow quite a bit with one of the groups I play in (if we're ever allowed to play again...) Getting that effect across all the strings would be amazing. I can see the light feature being very useful too for finding the bar when the lights are low. A lot of the time the only things we can see are those things with lights attached to them.
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Gareth Whittock

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 4 Jun 2020 12:02 pm    
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Brett Lanier wrote:
Pretty sure the 3 3/8ths is the total length (to the very end). I just pulled those numbers from the standard bar size on the BJS website, which is probably the most commonly used bar. Not really sure how to calculate the curvature of the end.

I would definitely consider buying this. I use an ebow quite a bit with one of the groups I play in (if we're ever allowed to play again...) Getting that effect across all the strings would be amazing. I can see the light feature being very useful too for finding the bar when the lights are low. A lot of the time the only things we can see are those things with lights attached to them.


Yeah, I thought the lights would be useful onstage but I'll make them optional. I think they're a bit showy for some folks. So the glass slide I'm using is actually very close to 85mm and is 24mm outside diameter as opposed to 22.25. Not much in it but I reckon I could get it down to 22mm if it makes that much difference. Thanks for your input Brett - I'm learning a lot..
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Ken Byng


From:
Southampton, England
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2020 2:34 am    
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Hi Gareth
This device has a huge amount of potential. What is the voltage required to drive the bar?

Thank you.
KB
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Jeff Mead


From:
London, England
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2020 5:33 am    
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Gareth Whittock wrote:

Thanks Jeff. Whereabouts are you in the UK? I'm just outside Bristol.


I'm in London.
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Gareth Whittock

 

From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 5 Jun 2020 6:03 am    
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Ken Byng wrote:
Hi Gareth
This device has a huge amount of potential. What is the voltage required to drive the bar?

Thank you.
KB

Hi Ken, The slide is driven from the pedal and that takes a standard 9volt DC supply..
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Johnie King


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 16 Aug 2020 6:42 pm    
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I say this would be cool demoed by Robert Randolph he depends on sustain for his style of playing!
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Paul Strojan

 

From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 21 Aug 2020 8:14 pm    
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I am curious about how the vibraslide would work with chromatic tunings or bar slants where we don't want all the strings to ring?
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