What bullet steel has indent at base to facilitate slants?

Joseph Lazo · From: Wisconsin, USA

I feel like a real dunce. The backward slant I thought I could do without going near the base of the bar is actually a forward slant moved backwards toward the low end of the fretboard. I was thinking that was a backward slant. It's not. In other news, I figured out how to do a proper backward slant and, yes, my thumb goes to the base of the bar. The small lip on the 920 bar is perfectly adequate for doing a backward slant. So, in my mind at least, everyone who said a concave base isn't really necessary for backward slants is vindicated.

Rick Aiello · From: Berryville, VA USA

Billy Robinson is another master slant style artist. In this video he is using one of the Ed Packard/Bill Stafford Zirconia bars ... they had no lip or indent ... and as you can see ... it's doable but it isn't easy.

https://youtu.be/vbyMAnhFyl8?si=rTxHfYxS0TtueZzr

I have one of those first run Zirconia bars and as great as the bar is ... it's tough to throw a reverse slant fast ...

I also have one of the "Zirctone" zirconia bars that were made a few years ago. The Zirctone bar has a lip ... and it makes reverse slanting not nearly as scary Laughing

BJS, Pearse, Dunlop, Basil's bars, etc all a lip.

Latch Lake , lots of old "case candy" bars ... as well as custom bar makers like Jim Burden and Bill Groner all made/make bars with a nice cup on the backside.

Moral of the story, something on the backside of your bar that helps you grab that reverse slant ... is a good thing Laughing

Joseph Lazo · From: Wisconsin, USA

I have two bullet bars now. A 920 with a small lip at the base and a shorter one with a pretty pronounced indent. I'm finding the shorter bar is much more maneuverable, and while the big indent helps I think the shorter length is what really makes reverse slants easier.

Steven Wilson · From: Oregon, USA

I'm a little surprised that nobody has brought up using a dobro-type bar. I started with dobro and as I move more into lap and pedal steel, I find the bullet bars hard to move and slant. The bars I am used to have indentations for the fingers on the top and sides. I noticed on a recent video of Robert Randolf that he was using one on the pedal steel, and he is a great player. It's different than the round bullet bar, but maybe better for some things. There are many designs including one with a round nose. https://www.bigmusictent.com/product/scheerhorn-stainless-steel-bar/

Joe A. Roberts · From: Seoul, South Korea

Jerry Byrd on Dobro bars:
"Stevens Bar – The Stevens bar is an absolute piece of junk.
The dobro players use them because a dobro player can get away with murder, it doesn’t make any difference what they play with.
Players who use them lay their index finger on the trough on top of the bar and all that does is immediately put your hand in a position that if you want to make a quick slant you have got to turn your whole hand and that finger and by then it’s too late and you can’t do it fast enough and you can’t do it accurately.
I have had students come to me with these Stevens Bars and I tell them to take the bar to a machine shop and drill a hole about half an inch from either end and use it for a fishing sinker out here in the ocean because it ain’t worth a d--- to play steel guitar with as far as I am concerned.
Anyone using one should get rid of it because there is too much you can’t do with it and nothing you can do with it.

The Shubb-Pearse bar is much the same. They are trying to make a Stevens bar into a bullet nose but the trough and finger laying in it is still the problem.
You do not lay that finger on top of the bar, it immobilizes the whole operation going into slants."

Someone responded:
"The words of somewhat who obviously hates dobros don't really cut it when it comes to criticising instruments/styles he doesn't even play.
Whatever JB's standing is in the Hawaiian music scene, it's absolutely zero in the bluegrass scene ...
I remember when that post was put on the Jerry Douglas message board; didn't go down too well!"

https://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/003357.html

I wonder if the Jerry Douglass message board is archived...

Joseph Lazo · From: Wisconsin, USA

Fred · From: Amesbury, MA

I learned to play with a Stevens bar. I can do forward slants including split slants. Reverse slants are a nightmare. A bullet bar is so much easier for everything. Once you learn how to hang on to it.

Now when I play a dobro it's with a bullet bar. I don't play bluegrass. Might still need a Stevens bar to do that convincingly.

Robert Randolph and many other sacred steel players use stevens type bars. Many don't.

A bullet bar sized for my hand, not for the number strings, with a bit of a lip at the back just works for me.

Peter Funk · From: Germany

My first Lapsteel was a Dobro, so I started with a Stevens bar (still don't want to miss the opportunity to hammer on/pull off!) On the other hand, I sometimes need to "fret" two adjacent strings and play open strings simultaneously. This can be done with the "round nose" of a bullet bar. So, when a friend asked me, what would be my ideal steel bar, we came up with the following design:

For me: Best of both worlds, since you can use it both ways. And: (forward) slants are no problem (backward slants are a bit slower ...)

Lloyd Graves · From: New York, USA

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