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Topic: Your tone above the 12th fret.... Could be your bar? |
David Hartley
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 11:45 am |
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I have recently had 2 players come over here for some tuition and picking around. They both had different guitar and both had a wierd tone sounding from the steel guitar when playing above the 12th fret. It was something I have never heard before. We discovered it was their bar! Upon handing over to them a BJS bar, this problem with their tone was eliminated. Although their bars were shiny and steel of course, I would have never believed it.
Has anyone else came across this?
David Hartley |
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Jack Ritter
From:
Enid, Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 12:06 pm
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Dang sure had the same experience, but not since I got my BJS bars some time ago. Took care of the problem immediately! Jack
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Zum D10 8x5,rev pre-amp, TC M300, Split 12, n-112, IZZY, Hilton vp, Geo L, BJS Hughey, Live Steel |
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Larry Bressington
From:
Nebraska
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 2:02 pm
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Or your eye, 
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A.K.A Chappy.
Last edited by Larry Bressington on 8 Jul 2009 9:51 am; edited 7 times in total |
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Charles Davidson
From:
Phenix City Alabama, USA
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 2:52 pm
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Does this happen to EVERYONE that does not have a BJS bar ? just curious. DYK?BC.
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Hard headed, opinionated old geezer. BAMA CHARLIE. GOD BLESS AMERICA. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST. SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC ! |
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 3:56 pm Now, that's very interesting.................
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NEVER experienced 'anything' like that in more than
66 years of play a wide variety of steel guitar brands.
ARE WE SURE...........about this? Has this been verified on SNOPES? or whatever? |
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Archie Nicol R.I.P.
From:
Ayrshire, Scotland
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 3:56 pm
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Never use a WTF bar.
Arch.
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I'm well behaved, so there! |
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Hook Moore
From:
South Charleston,West Virginia
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Robert Harper
From:
Alabama, USA
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 4:45 pm Curious
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Was the Weiht of the bars appoximately the same? Did the playes execute differently with the two different bars? Was it by any chance Placebo effect. i imagine, if I were setting in front of you and you offered me a different bar, I would have to change something, cause you noticed my poor performance as I moved up the neck. Seriously there had to be omething different.
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"Oh what a tangled web we weave when we first begin to deceive" Someone Famous |
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Bob Hickish
From:
Port Ludlow, Washington, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 4:55 pm
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Dave
something like that happened - but I discovered it was the Amp
settings -- it was OK on one guitar but made an odd sound on the
other in the high register -- I know the old bakalite bars made my
old Rick sound even better ( IMO ) , so there may be something in what you say .
Hick |
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Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 5:33 pm
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| BJS are the best sounding bars out of all I have tried. Haven't tried WTF. I'll try WTF the next time I am changing strings, and the sharp end of the third string pokes me in the finger and causes blood to flow. I hate that. |
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Dave Ristrim
From:
Whites Creek, TN
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 5:39 pm
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| Sometimes it turns out to be tired strings. But a good bar, and BJS is my favorite, will help things for sure. |
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Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 7:21 pm
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| Might be bar handling! |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 7:46 pm
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Anything's possible. Especially if you have a really bad, beat up or cheap bar, I suppose.
I never discount any phenomenon or theory...however, I have spent many an hour sitting at my guitar swapping gear, cables, electronics, fingerpicks, thumbpicks, bars....any and everything for comparison but I've never found any sonic differences among major brand bars. Dunlop, George L's, Jim Burden's Bullet Bars, Sho-Bud, and the BJS.
I'm not knocking the BJS, there is no finer gentleman than Bill Stroud and no finer product than those he produces. Absolute bend-over-backwards customer service and a warranty unsurpassed. You could not do better. I've just never found any real differences among them.
Being an admitted gearhead and constantly searching for the ultimate trick, next time I set up I'll do the comparison above the 12th fret. If I'm wrong, I'll be back to revisit this thread. |
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Randy Gilliam
From:
San Antonio, Texas, USA
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Posted 7 Jul 2009 8:38 pm Bars
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I Had A Light Bar Sounded Like Crap past The 12th Frett, Also made My Left Hand Go Numb a Lot faster Pressing Harder On The Fretts, My BJS Bar Is Heavier and Does Sound better, and I Dont Have To Put Much Pressure On it, Randy G.  |
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Billy Carr
From:
Seminary, Mississippi, USA (deceased)
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Posted 8 Jul 2009 4:57 am bars
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| I've used several lighter bars such as a Dunlop in the past but since I'm using a BJS and CARPBAR back and forth, don't seem to have any problems above #12. |
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Don Drummer
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 8 Jul 2009 9:49 am
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| OK that's it I'm getting a BJS bar. Don D. |
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Derrick Frank
From:
Berkshire, England
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Posted 8 Jul 2009 10:19 am Will the bar make a diffrence above the 12th fret?
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| Don't think I've ever run into this problem,but I bet the makers of the BJS bar will be pleased when their sales go up if everyone bites. |
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George McLellan
From:
Duluth, MN USA
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Posted 8 Jul 2009 10:58 am
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I was just starting out on steel back in 84', and Russ Wever was still at Scotty's. I asked him what was wrong everytime I was at 12th fret and up. He took one look and said I was raising my left hand slightly off the strings behind the bar at that point causing the "nasty sound". It had nothing to do with the bar, just the way I held my left hand, since then no problem.
Geo |
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Ray Kedge
From:
Middlesex, England
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Posted 8 Jul 2009 1:33 pm
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What did we all do before BJS bars came about, all have a "nasty" tone above the 12th fret,if you tell people something for long enough they'll believe it.
As an engineer I made my own bar from non magnetic stainless steel in 1972 still using it to this day and as far as I'm concerned non of the guitars Iv'e had have sounded bad above the 12th fret,it's down to technique.
Do these bars have some unexplained quality, it's just a piece of metal for goodness sake. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 8 Jul 2009 1:46 pm
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I've had times I've played with a spark-plug socket or a shot glass (because I forgot my bars). Sustain was lower, and noise was up a little, but the tone remained basically the same. I have noticed that large bars (1" and up) tend to make the strings "sizzle" on some guitars, but adjusting the pressure and changing my pick-point seems to cure that up.
I'd like to hear a recording of the alleged "differences", a before-and-after demonstration to see if I could hear what (some) others claim to hear. |
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Rick Campbell
From:
Sneedville, TN, USA
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Posted 8 Jul 2009 1:56 pm
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I figured this all out along time ago. I use one bar for playing below the 12th fret, and a different kind for playing above the 12th fret. Yes, it does restrict me a little, but I make up for it by not playing on top of the lead player.  |
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Bill Stroud
From:
Dresden, Tennessee, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 8 Jul 2009 6:51 pm Sound & Tone
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When in Dallas this year Gerry Walker tried one of my bars along with his and he could not believe the difference he got without changing his amp settings, maybe he'll see this and give his take on it.
Thanks to all that's using the BJS Bars, thanks David hope your back is better.
Bill |
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Bill Stroud
From:
Dresden, Tennessee, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 8 Jul 2009 6:56 pm Tone
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I guess the best answer that I could possibly give to this, is when our beloved steel player Papa John played up in Hughey land (above the 12th fret) there's nothing else that could be said, he had it all.
Bill |
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Don Brown, Sr.
From:
New Jersey
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Posted 8 Jul 2009 7:16 pm
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Hi Bill,
Tell them what size Bar John used. Then they'll know a little more.
I happen to have one of John's BJS Bars, for a project I'm working on.
Don |
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Charles Davidson
From:
Phenix City Alabama, USA
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Posted 8 Jul 2009 7:47 pm
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I have no problem playing above the 12th fret,even with a 19.95 Earnie Ball bar,Think I know why,I play a 76 MSA CLASSIC. DYK?BC.
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Hard headed, opinionated old geezer. BAMA CHARLIE. GOD BLESS AMERICA. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST. SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC ! |
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