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Post new topic Lap Steel With a Bow
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Author Topic:  Lap Steel With a Bow
Alan Brookes


From:
Brummy living in Southern California
Post  Posted 11 Oct 2009 10:41 am    
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Has anyone ever tried playing a lap steel with a violin bow ? (To get at the centre strings you would have to modify the bridge.)
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Ray Montee


From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
Post  Posted 11 Oct 2009 2:59 pm     Alan, you do have an inquisitive mind!
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Since I was just a kid, the older, adult musicians were always figuring out how to tease me on dance nights.

The fiddle player once rubbed rosin all over my strings. WHAT TERRIBLE NOISES that PRODUCED! AND, it didn't come off easily.

Now, about that bow................
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Bryan Daste


From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
Post  Posted 12 Oct 2009 12:34 am    
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I did once just for a sound effect in a song. It was pretty cool, but not very musical.
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Billy Wilson

 

From:
El Cerrito, California, USA
Post  Posted 12 Oct 2009 5:24 pm    
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One of Tom Bradshaw's magazines's has, I think, Gary Hogue doing this though It may have been Pedal steel.
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Jamie O'Connell


From:
Medford, Massachusetts, USA
Post  Posted 12 Oct 2009 7:06 pm    
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It would probably be easier (and cleaner) with an eBow -- you know those electronic devices that stimulate the strings with a magnetic field. I wonder how hard it'd be to hold while wearing picks? Thanks for the idea!
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Steinar Gregertsen


From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
Post  Posted 12 Oct 2009 7:41 pm    
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Jamie O'Connell wrote:
I wonder how hard it'd be to hold while wearing picks?


I've used an Ebow live, no problem at all.
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Mark Bracewell


From:
Willow Glen, California
Post  Posted 12 Oct 2009 10:29 pm    
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In one of the magazines you can get when you become a forum member there's an article about a pedal player who used a bow for some effects - can't recall the name of the fellow, maybe the guy from Flying Burrito Brothers?

I make bows, there's a bunch lying around here, I never used one on a lap steel, maybe for the same reason I don't like going to the dentist Smile



I guess the technique would be not unlike the Daxophone ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RmKTASJufc ) I make those too - I played one at the Maker Fair last year - a little girl said "Mommy, what is that thing, and why is it making that horrible noise?"

Made my day.
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Roman Sonnleitner


From:
Vienna, Austria
Post  Posted 12 Oct 2009 11:14 pm    
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Jamie O'Connell wrote:
It would probably be easier (and cleaner) with an eBow -- you know those electronic devices that stimulate the strings with a magnetic field. I wonder how hard it'd be to hold while wearing picks?


Bill Elm from Friends Of Dean Martinez uses an EBow on his lap steels a lot of the time.
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Ulric Utsi-Åhlin

 

From:
Sweden
Post  Posted 13 Oct 2009 12:21 am    
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Interesting experiment,but beware of that rosin
residue...it counteracts a Steel player´s optimal
string surface condition by creating severe fricton.
McUtsi
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Anders Eriksson


From:
Mora, Dalecarlia, Sweden
Post  Posted 13 Oct 2009 12:40 am    
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It's been done on a regular guitar, so why not on a lap?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRfR8AIVVAg

// Anders
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Mark Mansueto


From:
Michigan, USA
Post  Posted 13 Oct 2009 5:23 am    
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Like Alan mentioned, you woould only be able to play the outside strings since the bridge and nut are flat on steel guitars. Even the slight arch of the strings on a regular guitar allow all strings to be played.
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C. Brattain


From:
Balch Springs, Texas, usa
Post  Posted 13 Oct 2009 10:42 am    
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I thank that would realy sound great if you put a lot of soap on the bow?? Chuck
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