round tone bar

Joey Gaskins · From: New Bern, North Carolina, USA

For Christmas I recieved a 919 Dunlop tone bar, 2 3/4" 4.5.oz for my pedal steel. However it's much to light for my use but lst night I tried it on my Morrell resonator and was playing single note runs like never before. It really played and sounded great. I've been using a scheerhorn which also does well. Anyone else use a round bar on dobro?

Lynn Kasdorf · From: Waterford Virginia, USA

My initial instinct when playing dobro was to use a light, round bar, since I'm used to that. And indeed I find it easier to move the bullet-nose bar around as compared to a stevens bar.

However, if you want to play real dobro-sounding stuff, especially bluegrass, I think you need the square end. Pull-offs are much more distinct when you slide the square end of the bar off the string.

But this is a real shift for a steel player.

What I use is a Scheerhorn bar with a rounded nose on one end and an extreme sharp end on the other, for bluegrass pull-offs.

It also took a while for me to stop damping with my right hand all the time like on steel.

Another problem with stevens type bars is that they are harder to slant, IMHO. But, unless you want to sound like Shot Jackson, it seems that slants are less important for a lot of dobro stuff. Jerry Douglas doesn't slant much.

So, when I practice and play dobro these days, i use a stevens type bar , even though a bulet bar is easier.

HowardR · From: N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville

Lynn, did you round off the Scheerhorn yourself?

Personally, I have not found any one bar that is the best of both worlds. I use both a Scheerhorn and a Jim Burden bullet bar.

When I need to move around quickly, and use hammer ons and pull offs, it the Scheerhorn. I find that forward slants are not a problem with this bar as the top groove is not so deep or long as to hinder me rotating the bar without using my wrist. Reverse slants are more difficult with this bar, but I'm sure that it's more "me" than the bar.

The Jim Burden bar, 3/4 X 2 3/4 is an easy handling bar for smooth playing. Forward and reverse slants are are a pleasure, especially the reverse slants. I use this in slower playing where I have more concentration on tone and don't need that biting sharpness. There's just something about a round bar that has the tone.

Unless of course you happen to be Mike Auldridge, then and everything I have stated above is a moot point.

Ron Randall · From: Dallas, Texas, USA

I use a 7/8 bar that Goodrich makes for their MAtchbro deal. Plastic bar with brass rod in the middle. Sounds good on dobro, and it is light/fast. Sounds terrible on Steel.

I use 7/8 bars, so the switch is easier.

Just turn that bullet nose around for pull offs.

[This message was edited by Ron Randall on 19 January 2003 at 04:18 PM.]

Gary Slabaugh · From: Scottsdale, AZ

I had been using a Stevens bar on an accoustic (non-resonator) and tried my Dunlop that I use on my electrics just last night. I was amazed with the improved tone compared to the Stevens, plus I could get a reverse slant. Not sure my hammer on/offs will know the difference.

mikey · From: New Jersey

I use the same bar for everything...3 1/8x 7/8" bullet...Red Raj for acoustics...Dunlop 920 for electric...just got used to it I guess...makes long slants easier...
Mike

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

I use a 3/4 X 2 3/4 bullet bar that has a nylon or delrin finger groove attachment that I got from Bev King of the Country Heritage magazine some years ago.... works great for me although I do not do all the pull-off's that I hear JD and some of the other true technicians of the instrument doing. I never liked the tone or feel of the Stevens and the reg 7/8 bar that I use for pedal steel just did not seem right either.

George Rout · From: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Joey, you can use whatever you want to get the sound you like. We used flat bars on the old Hawaiian acoustic guitars before we had the round ones. I still use a flat bar to demonstrate old style Hawaiian guitar on a couple of Stellas I have. On my lap steels, I use a round bar. On the Dobro I use a Stevens bar simply to stop people in the know from asking why I'm not. Since I play old style Dobro without hammer-ons or pull-offs, I can use a round bar quite comfortably on it. There's no law.

Bob Stone · From: Gainesville, FL, USA

Of course a bullet bar works well on acoustic reso. But if you really want to play what's become identified as the the "Dobro sound," which is loaded with hammer-ons and pull-offs , you'll need a sharp-nosed bar like a Stevens or Scheerhorn. I use a Sheerhorn and it has opened up a whole new way of playing for me. Love those pull-offs!

As for playing slants, I cursed the Scheerhorn many times in the process of getting used to it. But now I have no problem executing reverse slants and probably do more reverse slants than forward slants.

Howard, you're right. There's nothing like the feel of a bullet bar. But in my opinion, a bullet just can't give you the power for loud, clear pull-offs on an acoustic instrument.

By the way, if you ever leave your Sheerhorn at home by mistake and have a bullet bar handy, just turn it around and do pull-offs with the square end. It works.

[This message was edited by Bob Stone on 20 January 2003 at 06:25 AM.]

Todd Weger · From: Safety Harbor, FLAUSA

C Dixon · From: Duluth, GA USA

I have to agree with Jerry Byrd when it comes to the Stevens bar. I have always felt it was tantamount to being "training wheels" on a child's bicycle. I can't help but believe, that a round bar would further embelish the great players who use the stevens bar.

carl

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

You can't buy them anymore, but my favorite bar is a tapered, round bar. I have wore out a couple over the years. At the butt end it's maybe 5/8" in diameter and then tapers to approx. 1/2" at the nose. It really plays well.
Erv

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

I used my Dulop small round bar for a long time until a friend of mine turned me on to the Shubb/Pearse bar which is the best thing to happen to my Dobro playing in a long time. It's got a square end like a Dunlop Dobro bar with the "handle" but the other end is slightly turned up and comes to a rounded point. It's great as you can go from string to string without catching the front of the bar against the string in front of it. You can tip the thing up like you'd do for single note stuff on a steel and do your hammer ons and pull offs with the rounded end and it works great. They're around 40 bucks or so from First Quality Music or Stewart/MacDonald and worth the price. I can't stand those square nose bars as it screws up the left hand things I've done for years on Pedal or Lap Steel. Every time I use one I wind up digging the thing into the strings 'cause it won't slide forward with out being careful.

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

George Rout · From: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Hey Bob, I hope you're not telling me that early Josh Graves and early Brother Oswald didn't have a Dobro sound!!!!!!!!!!

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