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Topic: Plastic play bars |
Tom Vollmer
From:
Hamburg, Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 13 Apr 2020 6:50 am |
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| Trying to get some info and/or feedback on plastic play bars. How do they work compared to steel, who sells them, etc |
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Larry Dering
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 13 Apr 2020 8:34 am
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| Tom, I don't know if you mean plastic, or the white bars that are available. I have 2, an original Tribo tone zirconia and an Ezzee slide. They are my favorite bars. I also have several steel bars. BJS, Dunlop and several powder coated bars. All are great in their own right but I find the zirc bars to feel warmer in my hand and smooth on the strings with not much tone difference. Hope this helps. |
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David Hodan
From:
Denton, Texas; USA
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Posted 13 Apr 2020 9:46 am T-Bro
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| Telonics provides a plastic bar for the T-Bro setting on their amps. It's pretty good but I could never get used to the (lack of) weight. |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 15 Apr 2020 1:19 am
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I don't think that Tribotone ever made a zirconium bar...Bill Groner makes great plastic bars,I have two of them and love them,I also have A Z-Bar"Zirconia"not plastic,and a black Telonics bar made from the stuff that bowling balls are made from...Haven't tried an EZ slide yet.
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 15 Apr 2020 4:32 am Re: Plastic play bars
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| Tom Vollmer wrote: |
| Trying to get some info and/or feedback on plastic play bars. How do they work compared to steel, who sells them, etc |
Well, on the negative side, they have less sustain and are a lot more subject to string wear.
On the positive side, they can be moved faster due to the lower weight and they're less costly. They don't feel as cold as metal bars, and when they're the proper size and weight, they can also give a banjo-like sound.  |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 15 Apr 2020 7:36 am
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Plastic bars are mostly used to get a dobro sound.
Erv |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 15 Apr 2020 7:58 am
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| Yes, if you have one of the emulator stomp boxes, or a graphic EQ, it will work for that too! |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 15 Apr 2020 8:04 am
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The Goodrich Matchbro came with one of those bars.
Erv |
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Ross Shafer
From:
Petaluma, California
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Posted 15 Apr 2020 12:26 pm
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A lot of the comments so far are focused on the plastic (only) bars used for resonator imitation.
I'm guessing Tom's initial query was asking more about the hybrid plastic/metal bars like Tribo-Tone, Ezee Slide and others. I've made quite a few myself. These are a completely different animal to the full plastic bars. They consist of a plastic (I and other's have used acetal plastic or "Delrin") sleeve over a metal insert. They can be made in many different weights depending on how thin the sleeve is and the size and material of the insert.
While very subjective: I feel bars like this have a bit warmer, less twangy tone than metal bars. They are warmer to the hand and can be easier to hold onto for some. They wear better than metal bars and have less drag and string noise, most notable on wound strings. Depending on weight to some degree (as with all bars) sustain wise, these hybrid bars lose nothing to metal bars.
The Zirconium bars are another thing altogether. They were made by Ed Packard and his cohort Vinh Nguyen. I've messed with these bars a bit but not enough to have formed a distinct opinion other than they work great!
stay safe y'all! |
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