| Author |
Topic: interesting idea for our hand-blown crystal tone-bars. |
Ian McWee
From:
Worcestershire, UK
|
Posted 27 Jun 2014 4:24 am |
|
Hi folks,
Just received this amazing glass bullet bar from my #1 glass blower, featuring another take on our 'velcro' strap securing idea ~ we'd be very interested in your feedback regarding thoughts on the playability of this piece - thanks for your time 
Ian McWee (Diamond Bottlenecks)
 |
|
|
 |
Mike Neer
From:
NJ
|
Posted 27 Jun 2014 5:03 am
|
|
That is really pretty cool, Ian. I'm sure that will come in handy for some folks. If you could make the hardware swivel, it would be even cooler!
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
|
|
|
Rick Barnhart
From:
Arizona, USA
|
Posted 27 Jun 2014 5:41 am
|
|
Another idea would be to imbed a second anchor point beside the original one, so the strap can be adjusted so the players finger actually contacts the bar. Just a thought. Great idea. 
_________________
Clinesmith consoles D-8/6 5 pedal, D-8 3 pedal & A25 Frypan, Pettingill Teardrop, & P8 Deluxe. |
|
|
|
Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
|
Posted 27 Jun 2014 6:17 am
|
|
| Definitely brainstorm this with the steel players with special bar-grip needs! It could be a major asset for such a person. Great idea! |
|
|
|
Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
|
Posted 27 Jun 2014 10:00 am
|
|
| It means that your tone bar will always be in the same position and wear in the same place. Without the attachment you can rotate the bar and even out wear, and it will last a lot longer. |
|
|
|
Bob Fraser
From:
Saskatchewan, Canada
|
Posted 27 Jun 2014 7:31 pm
|
|
Ian, I do work in hot glass, and have made myself a few bars out of borosilicate. I have not noticed wear on them.
Wear was mentioned above,
I'd be surprised if your lead crystal bars show wear.
Do you get reports of wear being an issue?
bob |
|
|
|
Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
|
Posted 27 Jun 2014 9:22 pm
|
|
| Bob Fraser wrote: |
| ...I ... have made myself a few bars out of borosilicate. I have not noticed wear on them... |
I haven't yet tried a crystal tone bar. My bars are either acrylic (Tribotone) or plated steel. I've noticed wear on them and I assume that all materials will wear in time. Maybe I'm wrong. I'll have to order one and find out.
By the way, one method of making tone bars slip-proof, and I've used this on Dobro-type bars, is to suspend them in Plasti-Dip, then, when they're dry, remove the rubber coating from the part that touches the string with an X-Acto knife. |
|
|
|
Bob Fraser
From:
Saskatchewan, Canada
|
Posted 27 Jun 2014 9:43 pm
|
|
| Well , I've asked Ian in my earlier post. We will see what he says. |
|
|
|
Ian McWee
From:
Worcestershire, UK
|
Posted 28 Jun 2014 2:27 am
|
|
Hi All!
Thanks for the feedback ~ always invaluable to our experimentation...mainly because i'm not an experienced lap-slider, so I can't be called upon as a 'problem-solver'  !
Hey Bob ~ good to see a fellow glass-worker on board! Yeah, we've made a bunch of bullet bars worked off solid boro rod, cut & shaped here in our workshop, and as you'll know, boro is a seriously strong glass.
It's a little 'swings & roundabouts' regard boro glass for bars - you gain a little more toughness because of the actual glass, but the feedback we received on our boro glass bars was mixed...."sweet tone ~ but the weight is too light".
We concentrated on leaded crystal to get the weight aspect correct, and all of our bars are annealed slowly to give strength and combat any serious wear issues.
All incoming feedback from customers has been 100% positive, but several tend to end with the sentence "..best bar i've ever owned...until it fell on a tiled floor & broke..."
This is why we've tried for the past five years to develop some kind of anchor to attach the bar onto the hand to stop 'bar spillage'.
Steve Bradley, my 'bar-creator' developed a double-strap velcro bar & fellow forumite Ron Ellison owns one of these (thanks for all of your input & expert advice over the years Ron - a good man ), but others felt the double-strap idea limited movement in the back-end of the bar for slanting...it was too rigid. This bought about the bar here which still has the anchor point, but leaves the back end free to move around.
Regarding wear issues, yes indeed, you'll only have one playing surface at your disposal with this particular piece, but it's an honor to say several 'name' lap-slide players have used & endorsed our glass bars for many years with little noticeable wear on their main bar - and if wear marks do appear in the playing surface causing the bar to be unusable we'll re-polish the bar for the cost of return shipping only  , so to answer the wear question, yes, in time your crystal bar will show signs of wear....but we're talking years of playing use, not several months.
Hope this answers the queries here and i'll be most happy to answer more questions if needed.
Thanks again for all of your input ~ much appreciated!
Ian. |
|
|
|
Ian McWee
From:
Worcestershire, UK
|
Posted 28 Jun 2014 3:16 am
|
|
Hi Mike!
Thanks for your kind words ~ we worked very closely with Ron Ellison back in 2009 in regards to a rotating swivel ring fused into the glass - it turned out to be 90% successful!
The actual swivel feature worked, but there was no possible way to secure the swivel ring inside the bar - Ron tested it out & the bar worked as it was designed to - until you lifted it off the strings and the swivel ring popped out of the bar 
If there was a way to securely sink some kind of socket inside the bar for the ring to clip into allowing a swivel when required.....WOW!!....any thoughts guys?
Ian. |
|
|
|
Ian McWee
From:
Worcestershire, UK
|
Posted 28 Jun 2014 3:25 am
|
|
Slightly off-topic here ~ hey Alan, what part of Brum?...i'm a Quinton lad
Ian. |
|
|
|
Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
|
Posted 28 Jun 2014 4:29 am
|
|
Hey Ian--understand that this idea will be of particular interest to people with specific physical needs or disabilities. It is an issue that comes up here on the forum on occasion. If you were to solicit participation of such players to help refine this, you might help provide a great solution for many such players.
For players with no such limitations, this really would not be recommended.
I am picturing in my mind's eye a key-chain with a swivel. That might be a crude starting point for visualizing the hardware for this. |
|
|
|
Bob Fraser
From:
Saskatchewan, Canada
|
Posted 28 Jun 2014 9:41 am
|
|
Hello again Ian,
Though I haven’t seen the “rotating swivel ring†that you mentioned with Ron Ellison tesiting, I can visualize it.
I have an idea that would probably work well, but would likely double the price of the bar insofar as labour.
After that careful annealing that you mentioned, you could diamond bore a hole anywhere you need it along the side of the bar.
Then with one of our modern glass adhesives you could insert a threaded female socket, to which you could thread your appliance.
You could even have different finger sizes, like finger picks have for the player.
On the other hand, it may well be that you have thought about this already, and rejected it due to cost and time.
And yes, though I found the Boro bar to be unbreakable in a normal drop, it is too light for me, too.
bob |
|
|
|
Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
|
|
|
|
Ian McWee
From:
Worcestershire, UK
|
Posted 29 Jun 2014 10:54 am
|
|
Thanks guys - all your feedback is much appreciated
Hey Bob ~ there are two downsides to the 'insert & swivel' idea, and you've nailed the first downside exactly ~ the labor time to drill the bar, glue the insert in place, and the cost of buying in the necessary hardware would make the final total scary indeed!
The other downside is that drilling a hole will make the bar much easier to break! Several years ago a very well known resonator slide player (no longer with us) requested a bunch of lead-filled glass bars - glass tone with extra weight. We duly obliged and shipped over 6 thin-walled lead-filled bars, sealed at the ends to contain the slug inside the bar. They all broke within a couple of weeks, and this proved to us the thin walls were too flimsy to take any kind of normal playing 'wear & tear'.
Drilling a hole into the bar will cause the same problem - creating a kind of 'fault-line' inside the glass, and you can guarantee when it cracks - it'll be exactly on this 'fault-line' 
I'll get a couple more photos taken & introduce them onto the 'New Products' page for players with bar gripping issues.
Very many thanks again guys ~ much appreciated
Ian. |
|
|
|
Chris Templeton
From:
The Green Mountain State
|
Posted 29 Jun 2014 1:09 pm
|
|
Hard to tell by the picture if it would effect the ability to use forward and reverse slants,. I would say that most do not use them anyway. A good idea to prevent dropping the bar.
_________________
Excel 3/4 Pedal With An 8 String Hawaiian Neck, Sierra Tapper (10 string with a raised fretboard to fret with fingers), Single neck Fessenden 3/5
"The Tapper" : https://christophertempleton.bandcamp.com/album/the-tapper
Soundcloud Playlist: https://soundcloud.com/bluespruce8:
Last edited by Chris Templeton on 29 Jun 2014 3:05 pm; edited 2 times in total |
|
|
|
David Matzenik
From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
|
Posted 29 Jun 2014 1:20 pm
|
|
The swivel ring bar was demonstrated at the 1986 HSGA convention by Walter Schuch of Germany. See the Lorene Ruymar book page 149.
_________________
Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother. |
|
|
|
