What are the pros and cons of different tonebars in your opinion(s)? I guess this is something very much down to personal taste, but do you have any comments in general?
I use a Stevens steel (on electric lap steel), which I like, mainly due to the slotted shape for the finger which I think gives better control. However, I am under the impression that bullet bars are the most popular, and I read somewhere thet the Stevens steels are used mainly by dobro players. What can a bullet bar offer that a Stevens steel can't?
As always, thanks for your patience and all advise is most appreciated!
Fred,
The Bullet Bars offer more sizes than that of the Stevens bar ....You can get various diameter's and length's ....The nose on one end of the Bullet Bar is also rounded unlike the Stevens ....Sometimes the weight of a bar will be a factor to some players whereby the Bullet Bar has the extra heft to it ...I think my Bullet Bar plays a little bit smoother, but I can move around faster with a Steven's bar....It' s all a matter of preference ....The slot's on the side of the Stevens are easier for some to hold also .....To others it doesn't matter
Buy both !!.....You can NEVER have too many bar's in your collection.....Having 2 bars is just the beginning !!.....
Hope this helps......Jim<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by James Quackenbush on 01 November 2005 at 02:11 PM.]</p></FONT>
In short,- better tone (usually) and more control of slants, especially reverse slants.
Personally I have gone from Stevens bars to Shubb SP-2 bars (nice compromise) to bullet bars, but I'm not quite as comfortable with bullet bars as with the SP-2 yet. So I do all my practicing with a bullet bar, but still use the SP-2 for most recordings and gigs, it just feels 'safer'...
Steinar, I too, have just started using the SP-2, and it's the best thing about playing since I started in 1948. I use it for both the Dobro and lap steel. I love the weight and balance of it. George
What Steinar said. Including the part about practicing with the bullet but feeling "safer" with the SP-2 (where does all that sweat come from when one plays in front of a crowd?).
I use both, but I use 2 7/8 by 3/4 bullet bars the most. I think you have more control (once you get used to it) and it's way better for slants. Ever try a reverse to forward slant with a Stevens type bar? Or a split-string slant? You wind up using your wrist to do slants with it. Once you get used to a bullet bar, slants can be executed smoothly and accurately.
But it just depends on your style I guess - Jerry Douglas and David Lindley don't seem too limited by their Stevens bars . .
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Postby Mark Eaton »
If Jerry were using a Stevens bar he would be limited-that's part of the point. I'm pretty sure Jerry uses the Scheerhorn/Tipton bar.
The word is Mike Auldridge still uses an actual Stevens-more power to him if that's the case.
Bullet bars are all pretty similar with the exception of the dimnensions.
The newer "sculpted" bars, like the Smith, some of the Shubbs, and the Scheerhorn/Tipton, are evolved versions of the Stevens bar and are sort of a next generation improvement. I can't see myself going back to the Stevens except as a backup if I misplaced the Smith or the Shubb.
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Mark
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 01 November 2005 at 05:53 PM.]</p></FONT>
<SMALL> Ever try a reverse to forward slant with a Stevens type bar? Or a split-string slant? You wind up using your wrist to do slants with it.</SMALL>
I'll agree if you're talking about a Stevens bar with the straight back, but the cutaway of the SP-2 makes it a lot easier to control. Reverse slants are still difficult to execute fast, I definitely prefer bullet bars for that.
Never had a problem doing split-string slants with the rounded end of an SP-2 though, works great for me (uh, perhaps it would be closer to the truth to say that they both work equally bad, in my case.... ).
I'm certainly no expert but I also have settled on the SP2 for stuff with slants and the Lap Dawg for stuff without slants. I use the lap dawg for pull offs, a lot... I miss it when I use the SP2 since I have gotten used to doing pull offs as a part of my technique and you can't do them with a round nosed bar. I tried a lot of different ones including the black rajahs, which I started out with as a preference; I have spent a lot of time practicing with bullet bars and for what I play they are impractical.
Turn the bar around and you have a point on the SP2. I like the SP2 for everything except reverse slants. A piece of cork in the little groove on the pointed (back) side helps though.
Slants is the issue for what bar you use. Buying both is worth it. I'm up to 4 (Stevens, SP2, JB, Broz-O-Phonic) and I've got plans to get a couple different ones too.
The bullets are the most versatile, but doing single string (like in open D) with the SP2 seems to work better for me.
Jerry Douglas rarely, if ever, uses slants. He's admitted this in a couple interviews I've read. I also saw him a couple of summers ago and he never once slanted his bar.
The SP2 is a great bar , I just wish it's bullet tip was a little bigger , it seems there's not a lot of weight/mass at the tip and it effects the tone
Besides the obvious slanting advantages, another positive side effect of playing with a bullet bar - to me - is that it makes me feel more like a 'real' steel guitarist.
How silly is that??
Could be either a GS Swallows bar or an original Oahu tone bar. It's hard to tell with all those fingers in the way. The lap steel looks like a Magnatone, but I could be wrong there too.
------------------ Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
That's one of your diamond cut flatties with epoxy, right Rick?
C'mon, y'all--it's two-finger Rick. One finger, two-finger Rick. Rick burnt out that middle finger in his wild youth. <font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Mike Neer on 04 November 2005 at 08:56 AM.]</p></FONT>
