Zirconia bars...batch III

ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

Once upon a time there were ZIRCONIA bars. The first batch was a total of about 165 pcs. These were designed by Ed Packard, made by Bill Stafford at the factory of Leo Kennedy, and sold mostly by Bill Stafford.

Leo's factory was sold and Leo retired.

Leo tried a second batch. Material was a problem.

There is now a possibility of a third batch using another material source. The evaluation looks promising so far. IF the decision to make them is made, it would be nice to know how much raw material to order. I ask your help in this.

The batch would be 15/16" dia, 3 3/8" long, full radius front, blend radius back, white.

How many would want one? If yes, send me an EMAIL. You may include a preferred length also just in case. I will keep the list and you will be given first in line IF the decision to proceed is made.

This is not a commitment to purchase, and will be used to decide how much material to order. The sales price will be kept as close to US$150.00 as possible.

Thanks for your help.

Donny Dennis · From: Atlanta, Texas

Ed,

I just sent you an e-mail.

Donny

Al Vescovo · From: Van Nuys, CA, USA * R.I.P.

Ed, if it happens, I would like to get one. I heard they make you play better. Than what, I don't know

ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

Hey Al...you play well enough now...you are a defination of a monster!
Thanks for the show you put on in Phoenix.
Ed

Billy Woo · From: Los Angeles, CA, USA

I ordered one of these bars almost 5 years ago and to date, I still do not have one. Not being difficult here but just persistent. I'd like a 15/16 bar also with name engraved if possible.

Thanks,

Billy Woo
Los Angeles, CA

ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

Billy...Thanks for your patience. I was not part of the second batch except to provide a list of folk that wanted one to Leo.

Looks promising this time, so we will try again if enough folk want one. will keep all informed of progress.

Edp

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Billy 5 years? OMG I've been waiting 2 .If it were a pizza we'd starve to death.Sign me up for a 15/16th standard length. Laughing

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Dale Tiemessen · From: New Hampton,Ia. U.S.A.

Ed---I'd sure like to get one if you decide to do a batch.

ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

Dale...just send me an email = saves me a lot of work.

Jerry Lee Newberry · From: Prim, AR USA

I still have the list from a few years back. I talked to Leo this week and I think when he gets the bars he is going to get with me to try and figure out who the bars go to first.

Donna

ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

See the post after Albert...the ice fisherman (if he remembers the joke).

Albert Svenddal · From: Minneapolis, MN

I sure do like mine. It was the first one made in production.

Albert aka C.T. Allen

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ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

THE EVOLUTION OF THE TONE BAR:

For the techies, here is a blurb that was done re bars and materials many years ago when we started batch 1. Wow, how time flies when you are having fun!

I may add the photos etc. of the Zygo traces re smoothness comparison between the Zirc and the Chrome plated Steel bars...if I can dig them up.

By Ed Packard, 9-10-97

What makes a good tone bar? Lots of types of bar have been used since the famous “railroad spike”, or “pocket knife” of Hawaiian tradition. Brass, steel, stainless steel, tool steel, chrome plated steel, solid, hollow, glass, Pyrex, plastic coated, powder coated, and now ceramic. The shapes have been flat, round with flat ends, tapered, contoured, and cylindrical with one end rounded, and cylindrical with both ends round. The sizes have varied with the player’s style, the size of the instrument, the type of the instrument, and the size of the player’s hand.

The bar has had to deal with acoustic instruments, resonators, solid wood, solid aluminum, Bakelite, laminated wood, metal frames with wood decks and necks, and wooden frames with wood decks and necks. The bridges have been wood, bone, and several types of metal with and without coatings. The strings have been bronze, stainless steel, piano wire, flat wound, round wound, not wound, round core, hex core, cryogenically treated, and even boiled (is stir fried next?).

The picks have been plastic, German silver, steel, brass, silver plated, chrome plated, and gold plated.

One player about tears the strings off of the instrument, the next is unbelievably gentle, and Speedy West slapped the tar out of the strings. Some want the bar to lie flat and touch all the strings without having to push down on it. Some want to pick the back up and noodle on one or two strings. Some want to do backward and forward slants. Some want to bounce on and pull off selectively, while most of us want to do it all.

One player wants a sharp tone, another a mellow tone, one doesn’t want string noise, another wants sustain.

It is doubtful if there was or is any one bar that would fit every circumstance and preference. The most popular bar at this point in time seems to be chromium plated cylindrical steel bar with a rounded front and blended back. It is quite heavy, and has reasonably low string drag (coefficient of friction). It is available in a variety of sizes.

The criteria for the new tone bar:

A good tone bar for the present generation of pedal steel players and their instruments will have certain attributes of common interest to the majority. These attributes will include good feel, good tone, wear resistance, and chemical resistance. The bar will not ding, chip, or break if dropped or otherwise abused. The bar won’t slip out of the hand, will have low string drag and low string noise. It will be heavy enough to bring strings into plane without large hand pressure, and light enough to allow rapid positioning. It will allow slants without loss of control. It will have a front end contour that will allow one and two string noodling. It will have a back end contour that does not catch on the fat strings; and it wouldn’t hurt if it was non-magnetic.

Tone, wear, and material properties:

Most of us would give up one or more of the above criteria if it meant getting a better tone. What “better tone” means is somewhat subjective, but will herein be defined as having no less harmonic content, and no less sustain than the best available alternative tone bar; further, that advantage should not diminish with the passage of time.

The tone issue appears to boil down to three bar parameters; Weight per unit volume (density), surface hardness, and surface finish.

If lots of weight per unit volume were the determining factor, a lead bar, or better still, a gold bar would be great. Lead has a density of 11 grams per cubic centimeter, and Gold is 19. They both go “clunk” when used, and wear quickly.

If less weight per unit volume were the determining factor, an Aluminum or Glass bar would be desirable. The density of Aluminum is 2.7, and Glass is 2.5. They don’t quite go “clunk” (maybe “clink”) when used, and do scuff up quickly.

Surface hardness is important, but “beauty is only skin deep”. If the surface is a coating of a “hard” material, it must be very thick, or the body must also be of a hard material. If it is not, it may dent when dropped. On the other hand if the coating or the body is hard but brittle, it may chip or break when dropped.
Abrasion resistance is the key to long life with lots of rubbing against the strings.

The surface finish is critical to avoid damping the vibrations of the strings, avoid generating excess string noise, and having a “low coefficient of friction” against the strings (slides easily). This will also remove less material from the surface of the strings. You usually do not see this with a metal bar because the colors match, but it happens, and the surface of the bar changes slightly.

Introducing the next generation tone bar:

Is there an advantageous alternative to the chromium plated tool steel, or stainless steel bar? We think so. It is a space age ceramic, of the type used for hip joint replacements in the human body, and in critical devices for space exploration. It is a form of Zirconia (not the cubic kind or your wife would want to wear it). The comparative parametric properties of bar materials are:

Density, Tool Steel/Zirconia = 7.5-8/6
Hardness, Tool Steel/Zirconia = 9-14/13
Mod E, Tool Steel/zirconia = 30-34/29
Flexural Strength, Tool Steel/zirconia = ?/650

The density, hardness, mod-E, and flex strength are indicators of tone and physical toughness. Zirconia has good numbers. There are several key parameters not shown above. Abrasion resistance, chemical resistance, and polished surface finish are also of great importance. Zirconia has even better numbers in these categories. It is chemically immune, non magnetic, and highly abrasion resistant. It will take and hold a surface finish one fifth as rough as the best chromium plated metal bars.

By comparative trace on Zygo equipment, the Zirconia finish had a Ra of 0.22 millionths of an inch, the metal bar was 1.33 millionths of an inch (less is better).

Forget the science, put it in plain English:

Ok, here it is; it won’t scratch, it won’t dent, it won’t rust, It has lower string drag, it makes less string noise, it is not slippery to hold. The front end is shaped for best noodling, the back end is shaped to avoid catching on the strings. The bar is serialized, it has your name engraved, and it has a lifetime guaranty. The raw material in the bar costs more than the best chromium plated metal bar sells for, and that is the reason for its cost. In our very biased opinion, This is a lifetime bar, and there are no better bars yet made.

Who says so?

A commercial for the Packard automobile stated, “ask the man who owns one”; We suggest that you ask the folk that use one.

The list starts with Bill Stafford, Bobby Black, Pee Wee Whitewing, Albert Svendahl (aka C. T. Allen), Herb Remmington, Ralph Mooney (he tossed it off the stage at the international convention to see if it would be damaged).

And for the graphic oriented amoung us, some techie traces of surface finish:

ZIRCONIA.

CHROME ON STEEL

Or go here for the "rest of the story".
http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/edpackard/PSG%20STYLE%20%20MIGRATION/

Dean Parks · From: Sherman Oaks, California, USA

OK, I'll get one so I can play like Al.

DeWitt Scott · From: St. Louis, Missouri, USA * R.I.P.

Hi Ed - I have two bars from Bill Stafford. One is for the 10 string pedal steel and one is for my 6 string Rickenbacker Frypan. Or at least I used to have the bar. I was in Japan at a rehearsel and all the players in attendance wondered about the bar. I put it on a table and told them that could view the bar and now I don't have the bar anymore. When I first seen Leo and when he showed me the bar I ordered my size bar for my Rickenbacker. That was many years ago. I seen him one time after that and asked him about it but still no bar.

I too was among the very first to order the bar. The size is 4.5 oz 3/4" X 2 3/4" amd is the bar that was recommend by Jerry Byrd for the 6 string guitar. I would still like to have the bar but I see where the bar will be for the 10 string guitar only. I still have a bar from Bill and it is working OK but just a little too round and I have no trouble with it. It seems to stick on my hand which greaty eleminates a possibility of dropping and just glides over the strings. Does Leo plan to make this size of bar later on? Scotty

Colm Chomicky · From: Kansas, (Prairie Village)

Ed,

ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

Colm; The material source that I found for the first batch, for some reason would/could not supply more. I guess the tooling was lost as there was a big time lag. Leo searched for another source. This is a high tech material, so small lots of good material are not easy to come by. Looks like we have found one that we can work with.

Those small darker flecks have to be reduced...but it is just cosmetics.

J. R. McClung · From: Oklahoma, USA

Yes Sirree, Ed,

I WILL buy one of the zirconia bars when they become available.
Would prefer a 15/16 X 3.25, but could learn to love a 3 3/8.

Advise where I should send the money.

See ya.....Joel
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Leon Brannan · From: Royal Palm Beach, FL

I ordered and paid for one about 2 years ago from Leo. No word yet,patiently waiting.

ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

If this works out, we will provide Leo bars to "fix" the delinquencies...if he is so inclined.

Tom Mossburg · From: AZ,

Hey Ed I got my physics and math books out from back in the engineering school days to figure all this out, but I decided that the pictures do it for me so count me in for one.

ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

Tom...please send me a direct email...I don't harvest from the Forum...a simple direct email eases the list making.

Others:
I don't look in PM except by accident. Direct email is the best way.

Dave Van Allen · From: Souderton, PA , US , Earth

Ed- I clicked on the email button at the bottom of your posting. Is that the correct way to get an email to you?

ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

DVA...I got it...Thanks for the concern.

Jerry Lee Newberry · From: Prim, AR USA

Leo told me to send him the names that I have from a long time ago for bars. I am going to try and contact the names on my list to see if they still want the bars.

Donna

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