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Author Topic:   Slipping Bar
Richard Brandt
Member

From: Waymart, Pennsylvania, USA

posted 19 June 2005 05:28 AM     profile   send email     edit
At times does your bar slip out of your hand.For years i used a 2- 3/4 by 3/4 bar and at times when my hands were very dry or wet from sweat the bar would slip out of my hand.I switched to a 2 and 3/4 by 7/8 and felt a lot more comfortable.All hands and bars are not equal. (Keep Steelin)
Ron Victoria
Member

From: Metuchen, New Jersey, USA

posted 19 June 2005 07:27 AM     profile   send email     edit
Since I switched over to the black Phoenix, the problem is solved. This and the red Rajah literally sticks to your hand.

Ron

Rick Alexander
Member

From: Florida, USA

posted 19 June 2005 04:14 PM     profile   send email     edit
The Boyett's lead filled glass bar sticks to the hand very well, even if it gets a little sweaty.
It also has great sustain, and it isn't as heavy as a stainless bar.


RA

Larry W. Jones
Member

From: Kingwood, Texas, 77339 The Liveable Forest

posted 19 June 2005 07:03 PM     profile   send email     edit
I had the same problem, especially when lifting the steel to play an open string. Now, I have no problem with this eBay item for $9.95 from "extramusical":
"Stevens Steel Hawaiian Guitar Dobro Pedal Slide Bar"
George Keoki Lake
Member

From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

posted 19 June 2005 07:51 PM     profile     edit
Larry, in my humble opinion, those STEPHENS bars are the pits. If ever you are playing a fast phrase whereby you have to push the steel across the strings single note style, the flat edge will prevent this common manouver. In later years, STEPHENS did make an improvement and rounded off the front edge which, though I still don't care for the bar, I would find to be more acceptable. I much prefer a round bar.
Larry W. Jones
Member

From: Kingwood, Texas, 77339 The Liveable Forest

posted 19 June 2005 09:07 PM     profile   send email     edit
No problem. I play so slowly, I never make a mistake! Actually, I appreciate the evaluation and will probably try others as I progress. But right now, I'm quite happy with it. Keep the critiques coming. I need 'em.

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Return to paradise with Island Song Lyricsover 3700 island themed songs500 songs per volumeonly $15.95return to paradise with Island Song Lyricsreturn to paradise with Island Song Lyrics

It ain't got that FEELIN' if it ain't got that STEELIN'
Don Kona Woods
Member

From: Vancouver, Washington, USA

posted 19 June 2005 10:31 PM     profile   send email     edit
The stickum and no frills solution for the rounded bar and without any costs is your own saliva.

Please licka the index finger and the thumb, and no moh droppa the bar.

Larry W. Jones
Member

From: Kingwood, Texas, 77339 The Liveable Forest

posted 19 June 2005 11:27 PM     profile   send email     edit
Sounds too easy to be true (too cheap too). George, why didn't you think of that. Don, Mahalo nui loa. I guess this means I shouldn't loan or borrow any steels!
Paul Arntson
Member

From: Bothell ,WA (just outside Seattle)

posted 20 June 2005 12:38 AM     profile   send email     edit
I always try to play over a carpeted floor and out of range of my other instruments. The dog and cats learned on their own to move away when the bar comes out...
Seriously, I am a beginner with a wide variety of different steels. When I use a particular one for a while I drop it less. I've been using a 3/4 brozman on my teacher's advice. When I picked up a 7/8 this weekend **Whoops** first thing it shot out of my hand. I think you get used to how hard to pinch your fingers underneath to keep hold. Reverse slants are always the most ballistic with me.
basilh
Member

From: United Kingdom

posted 20 June 2005 06:41 AM     profile   send email     edit
An alcohol based aftershave/deodorant sprayed on the palm and fingers..
BTW the "Stevens" bar isn't for electric steel ..NO WAY Jose'...An easy way to develop BAD bar technique..I think resonator only for this design of "Steel Bar"

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quote:
Steel players do it without fretting


http://www.waikiki-islanders.com

Bill Leff
Member

From: Santa Cruz, CA, USA

posted 20 June 2005 06:50 AM     profile   send email     edit
As much as I detest the Stevens bar, I have to say the Sacred Steel guys do a great job with it.
Robbie Daniels
Member

From: Casper, Wyoming, USA

posted 20 June 2005 08:03 AM     profile   send email     edit
Try "Gorilla Snot". Not a joke it is usually available at most violin stores. I use it when my picks or the bar gets slippery on my hand or fingers.

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MSA D12, MSA S12, 1956 Rickenbacker D8, Evans FET 500LV, Evans SE200, Peavey Transfex Pro

Roy Ayres
Member

From: Starke, Florida, USA

posted 20 June 2005 09:46 AM     profile   send email     edit
I agree that "Gorilla Snot" is a great solution. I once dropped my bar while Alvino Rey was standing about two feet from me watching me play back in the 50's. At that moment I would have given a month's salary for just one application of Gorilla Snot. (Musicians Friend carries it.)

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Visit my Web Site at RoysFootprints.com
Browse my Photo Album and be sure to sign my Guest Book.

Les Anderson
Member

From: Rossland, British Columbia, Canada

posted 20 June 2005 10:15 AM     profile   send email     edit
Larry W. Jones,

I use the same bar that you use for my D8 and have never lost the bar.

What happens sometimes however is that because the bar has flat ends, I sometimes haveu the strings popping off the bar's ends: especially when I am playing an up tempo melodly or in the process of moving from a bar slant back to a straight on position.

I also used get the bar hung up on the strings when sliding the bar back and forth across the neck. Do you have this problem now and then?

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(I am not right all of the time but I sure like to think I am!)

[This message was edited by Les Anderson on 20 June 2005 at 10:19 AM.]

Larry W. Jones
Member

From: Kingwood, Texas, 77339 The Liveable Forest

posted 20 June 2005 10:51 AM     profile   send email     edit
OK Richard Brandt, you started this can of worms. Mixed with GORILLA SNOT!, maybe you can live with your current steel. Thanks all yooose guys! If Ron Ayers endorses GORILLA SNOT!, then how can I possibly say anything against it. I just hate to ask the nice lady at the music store in Humble, Texas for GORILLA SNOT! I think I'll get me a rounded nose steel with handles.

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Return to paradise with Island Song Lyricsover 3700 island themed songs500 songs per volumeonly $15.95return to paradise with Island Song Lyricsreturn to paradise with Island Song Lyrics

It ain't got that FEELIN' if it ain't got that STEELIN'
Roy Ayres
Member

From: Starke, Florida, USA

posted 20 June 2005 02:14 PM     profile   send email     edit
Larry -- you don't even have to talk to the lady at the music store. Jusk click HERE

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Visit my Web Site at RoysFootprints.com
Browse my Photo Album and be sure to sign my Guest Book.

Larry W. Jones
Member

From: Kingwood, Texas, 77339 The Liveable Forest

posted 20 June 2005 03:28 PM     profile   send email     edit
Thanks for the MusiciansFriend link Roy. It's even on SALE. $4.99 for GORILLA SNOT! has got to be a bargain.

[This message was edited by Brad Bechtel on 20 June 2005 at 05:56 PM.]

Larry W. Jones
Member

From: Kingwood, Texas, 77339 The Liveable Forest

posted 20 June 2005 03:29 PM     profile   send email     edit
Well, SNOT! Messed up on the images.
[img]http://img3.musiciansfr iend.com/dbase/pics/products/42/428010.jpg[/img]
George Keoki Lake
Member

From: Edmonton, AB., Canada

posted 20 June 2005 03:32 PM     profile     edit
This is the first I have ever heard of "Gorilla Snot"...I doubt JB ever heard of it either. As far as the STEPHENS bar is concerned, I wouldn't use it on my DOBRO or TRICONE. It's a loser IMHO. If you learn proper steel technic from the beginning, a dropped steel bar usually happens very rarely and is purely accidental. Larry, go for a bullet end round bar and forget about those olde fashioned flat bars...they went out with Joseph Kekuku.
Travis Bernhardt
Member

From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

posted 20 June 2005 04:25 PM     profile   send email     edit
Use whatever you prefer, there is no right way--but also definitely give the bullet bars a real go, so that you have a proper basis for comparison. Each has their advantages.

-Travis

Rick Aiello
Member

From: Berryville, VA USA

posted 20 June 2005 04:49 PM     profile   send email     edit
I was "raised" on a bullet bar ... 2 3/4" x 3/4" ...

But it wasn't till I found a very unorthodox way of using a Shubb SP1 ...

Did I even get close to what I kept hearin' in my mind ..

I then discovered that Flat Hawaiian bars ... enabled me to get even closer to what I wanted to hear from myself ...

Now I'm back with the SP1 ... takin' the stuff I learned from the "flatties" ... and usin' it ...

To each his own ...

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Aiello's House of Gauss


My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield

Larry W. Jones
Member

From: Kingwood, Texas, 77339 The Liveable Forest

posted 20 June 2005 05:07 PM     profile   send email     edit
I've got the round nosed steel. I got it when I got the guitar. (just kept dropping it and had a hard time getting it out of the way to play open strings) Maybe I'll just use Super Glue until I get the GORILLA SNOT!
Todd Weger
Member

From: Safety Harbor, FLAUSA

posted 20 June 2005 05:45 PM     profile   send email     edit
I use either the 2-3/4" x 3/4" JB Dunlop bar, or the slightly longer 2-7/8 x 3/4" version. I always take those plastic caps out of the ends, so that there's a nice, deep indentation to put my thumb for slants.

I also do the (admittedly unhygienic) thumb, middle and index finger lick to provide a little stickiness. I have a harder time hanging on to the bar when it's really dry. Fortunately, here in Florida, that's not very often!

TJW

Don Kona Woods
Member

From: Vancouver, Washington, USA

posted 20 June 2005 11:11 PM     profile   send email     edit
All you guys come up with such sanitary solutions.

Please forgive my unsanitary remarks.

Aloha,
Don

basilh
Member

From: United Kingdom

posted 21 June 2005 04:25 AM     profile   send email     edit
Travis said
quote:
Use whatever you prefer, there is no right way

Continue to think that way and you may never learn another thing..
The "easy way out" is just that..Check out how many "REAL" pros use the flat type of bar..
As George says
quote:
If you learn proper steel technique from the beginning etc.

The general consensus would/should indicate the "Right Way" or preferred way..
colinmcc
Member

From: Vancouver, BC, Canada

posted 21 June 2005 03:22 PM     profile   send email     edit
A squirt of the old lady's hair spray on your hand provides just enough 'stick' to hang onto that bar.. As told to me by a teacher years ago, while I was perfecting my 'drop the bar half way through a tune and watch it roll under the sofa/down a heating vent'technique.

Steve Dawson who now teaches both Travis and I in Vancouver plays his Weissenborn with a Stevens bar, with square ends, no problem.. But the guy is so talented he could probably do just as well with a bolt!

Larry W. Jones
Member

From: Kingwood, Texas, 77339 The Liveable Forest

posted 21 June 2005 04:00 PM     profile   send email     edit
I read on one of these forum threads where someone said a Sears Craftsman 11/16" socket made a fine steel slide. The lip of the socket opening fit securely at the base of his finger. And, if he broke it while playing, Sears would replace it for free. (He didn't say whether it was a 6-point or 12-point or thinwall.)
basilh
Member

From: United Kingdom

posted 21 June 2005 04:29 PM     profile   send email     edit
I can't speak for other full time pro's, but for myself, I never have had a problem with the bar slipping out of my grip, EXCEPT when I was a beginer..for the first 15 to 20 years or so !!. After that initial period, it became like second nature to hold it securely..
Baz
basilh
Member

From: United Kingdom

posted 21 June 2005 04:33 PM     profile   send email     edit
I didn't know that Sears were into surgery, and so inexpensive too.
quote:
The lip of the socket opening fit securely at the base of his finger. And, if he broke it while playing, Sears would replace it for free.
Larry W. Jones
Member

From: Kingwood, Texas, 77339 The Liveable Forest

posted 21 June 2005 05:31 PM     profile   send email     edit
Yeah, if he broke his finger, Sears would pay the doctor bill!
Michael Breid
Member

From: Eureka Springs, Arkansas, USA

posted 28 June 2005 02:05 PM     profile   send email     edit
Although I use a BJS bar on my steel, I prefer the Gary Swallows/Shubb wood/steel bar for dobro. I used a Sheerhorn for awhile, but because of my small hands the GS bar works best for me. Some say it's just a gimmick, but like I say, it works well for me. It's got a more pronounced angle cut and is great for pull offs and hammer-ons. I thought it would be too bulky when I saw it, but it fits the hand very well. Thanks to the bluegrass group(didn't get their name) whose dobro player told me about the GS bar. It's been a real boon to my dobro playing.

Michael Breid
Eureka Springs, Arkansas

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