Marco Schouten
From:
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
|
Posted 18 Dec 2019 10:35 am |
|
| Larry Bell wrote: |
When I first started playing steel in 1975, I loved the silky feel of nickel/steel strings. I had several bars of varying sizes and that allowed me to home in on the most comfortable bar size to fit my hand. And drag or ‘sliding friction’ was not an issue. Shortly thereafter, I realized that my salty, sweaty hands were killing a set of nickel strings within a couple of weeks. I tried several brands of stainless strings which were usable for several months before starting to degrade. HOWEVER, those stainless bars dragged like crazy. I met Bill Stroud (Mr. BJS) at Scotty’s in the late 70s and he verified my suspicions: STAINLESS STRINGS AND STAINLESS BARS are not a good combination. In the ensuing 40 years, I found that to be the case. OVER AND OVER. I have used chromed bars exclusively on THOUSANDS of gigs and still have my original BJS. I like the Hughey 15/16†size and, when those were available, I asked John if I could try his and, sure enough, it was ideal for me.
Moral of the story: If you prefer nickel strings and don’t mind the shorter lifetime, any bar that feels right in your hands will be fine. For stainless strings, a coated / chrome plated or ceramic bar like Basil’s will reduce the friction substantially. That’s my take on it, anyway. Your mileage may vary. |
I can't feel a difference in drag between a stainless and a BJS bar on my stainless strings. My zirconia bar is a bit smoother, but in real world playabilty it doesn't make a difference.
_________________
----------------------------------
JCH SD-10 with BL XR-16 pickup, Sho-Bud Volume Pedal, Evidence Audio Lyric HG cables, Quilter Steelaire combo |
|
