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Topic: stevens bar questions |
Ron Victoria
From:
New Jersey, USA
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Posted 28 Mar 2014 8:27 am |
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I've been a lap player for over 50 years using a round nosed bar. Recently, I hooked up with a bluegrass jam group and like playing that. I have a resonator guitar and see the other dobro players use a stevens bar. I have one that was given to me many years ago but is too short. I do hear the difference from using the round bar. I notice the ones used by the other players are slanted on the ends, not straight. Is this to make it lighter or for playing techniques? Where can I look online to purchase one?
thanks, Ron |
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Steve Lipsey
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 28 Mar 2014 8:59 am
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you use the sharp bar on a dobro to pick with your left hand - pull offs.
pick an open string with right hand, hammer down and pull off with left and you get lots of notes...I use a Scheerhorn. Everyone has their preference for how sharp the pointy end should be, some bars are even available in a variety of angles...
try http://www.jdmc.com/category/accessories-reso-guit-steels.html
they are available in lots of places, this is a pretty good one.
and yes, they also sound different somehow. and feel different...
I play my dobro with the Scheerhorn bar, and my lap steel - also tuned GBDGBD - with a Brozman bullet bar....
and the part you hold is slanted, I think, mostly so you can more easily turn it for slants...you can get one that fits your hand, many come in two sizes..
_________________
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Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor
Last edited by Steve Lipsey on 28 Mar 2014 9:10 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Nakos Marker
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 28 Mar 2014 9:05 am
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Last edited by Nakos Marker on 11 Aug 2020 7:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 28 Mar 2014 11:50 am
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| shubb pearse sp1. point and play. nice for single notes. easy to hold and lift with the cuts in the sides and top. everything i have posted the past years has been played with one. i wish i could find a longer one like this. the builders say there is not enough demand for a longer bar with the hook on the end to produce them, but i think they are wrong. |
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Norman Evans
From:
Tennessee
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Adam Nero
From:
Wisconsin
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Posted 29 Mar 2014 8:20 am
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| Bill Hatcher wrote: |
| shubb pearse sp1. point and play. nice for single notes. easy to hold and lift with the cuts in the sides and top. everything i have posted the past years has been played with one. i wish i could find a longer one like this. the builders say there is not enough demand for a longer bar with the hook on the end to produce them, but i think they are wrong. |
I like this bar a lot too, and use the rounded end sometimes for d8 playing (although I'm transitioning to a bullet bar) and the flat end for dobro playing...
I find it covers all 8 strings on every instrument I play -- any particular reason for wanting it longer? |
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John DeBoalt
From:
Harrisville New York USA
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Posted 29 Mar 2014 8:49 am
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I believe Don Helms used a Shubb bar when he played his Gibson console. For my resonator playing I use a Ron Tipton bar. It has the edges cut back like the Scherehorn for ease of the pulls, and hammers. The feel, and price are about the same, and I have a Scherehorn bar I wore the chrome off of. Dunlope makes a bar called the LapDog which is considerably less in cost than the other two, but has the cut back edges. I have one of those as well. The problem with the Stevens is the pull offs, and hammer ons are harder to achieve though you never would have noticed it the way Mike Auldridge played. John
_________________
Equipment: Carter D10, Zum Stage1,
Wechter Scheernhorn Reso, Deneve Reso, Fender Jazzmaster, Martin D16, Walker Stereo Steel amp, TC Electronics M One effects unit, JBL 15" speaker cabs,Peavey Nashville 1000,Peavey Revoloution 112, Morrell Lap Steel, Boss DD3 delay,others |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 29 Mar 2014 10:24 am
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| Adam Nero wrote: |
| any particular reason for wanting it longer? |
i have a 14 string..... |
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Adam Nero
From:
Wisconsin
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Posted 29 Mar 2014 10:45 am
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| Bill Hatcher wrote: |
| Adam Nero wrote: |
| any particular reason for wanting it longer? |
i have a 14 string..... |
I was waiting for something like that  |
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Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 29 Mar 2014 8:15 pm
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| Dom Franco wrote: |
Bill:
a 14 string?
Is it a homebuilt steel?
I am thinking of making a 13 or 14 string...
I am interested in seeing a picture of yours.
(sorry to hijack the thread)
Dom  |
i made it. not easy to find one...lol. i made mine keyless. very simple. i made it out of a piece of scrap maple that was once part of a shipping pallet. it turned out just fine. if i can find a pic of it, i will send it to you. i havent made a pickup for it yet. just have a couple of pickups wired together to cover all the strings. |
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Ron Victoria
From:
New Jersey, USA
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Posted 9 Apr 2014 7:36 am
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| Got a Shubb GS bar the other day and love it!!!! |
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Nakos Marker
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 9 Apr 2014 9:30 am
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| Ron Victoria wrote: |
| Got a Shubb GS bar the other day and love it!!!! |
I totally agree! I scoffed at the idea when I saw them in stores, but now I use a GS-1 almost exclusively.
I recently was given a Shubb SP1 and it just wasn't comfortable at all, so I went to my friend's shop and did a little shaping with a mill and a file:
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Stephen Gambrell
From:
Over there
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Posted 10 Apr 2014 12:37 am
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| I still use a Syevens bar, for dobro. The flat ends of the Stevens make life a LOT easier. I've seen a lot of people saw one end off a Scheerhorn, or Tipton bar, to make it easier to do those fast hammer-ons and pull- offs. Mike used a Stevens bar for years, but then switched to the Ergo bar. Very similar. Don't a lot of the Sacred Steel guys still use a Stevens bar? |
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Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
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Posted 10 Apr 2014 2:32 am
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I use a Stevens bar on my Dobro, and a round nose bar on my PSG.
I theorize the bar ques me in and helps me acclimate quicker since so many things are different like string spacing, scale length, tension, etc. I've found it challenging to pickup one instrument and immediately be proficient right after playing the other in a live performance situation. |
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 10 Apr 2014 8:51 am
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I only play acoustic these days. But I play more or less lap steel style with a Schubb Pierce SP-2. I like the rounded end for split slants (not that I use very many of them) and I also tend to get a straight edged bar caught on the strings as I'm moving from the bigger ones to the smaller. I almost never use hammer ons and or pull offs. But picking up the bar is something I like to do between positions. So the molded bar is better for this than a bullet bar. With the SP-2, you get the best of both worlds on an acoustic instrument. But my experience with electric instruments is that bullet bars are preferable.
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Amor vincit omnia |
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