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Topic: The heavier the bar the better |
Nathan Laudenbach
From:
Montana
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Posted 26 Jul 2016 4:54 pm |
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I just gotta say... Heavier bars are better!!! They just sound better. Better sustain, better clarity, better low end. I know there are a lot of bars out there made of different materials, but no poly, resin, whatever can beat the tone of my stainless steel bar.
Maybe i'm trying to stir the pot a bit here... But it's all about tone. Right? |
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Brian McGaughey
From:
Orcas Island, WA USA
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Posted 26 Jul 2016 5:33 pm
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| Until you need hammer on/pull off at bluegrass speed on a square neck dobro, then weight for tone is not so welcomed. Stainless I welcome. |
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Brian Evans
From:
Nova Scotia, Canada
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Posted 26 Jul 2016 5:34 pm
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| I thought it was all about music... |
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Guy Cundell
From:
More idle ramblings from South Australia
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Posted 26 Jul 2016 5:45 pm
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| No argument about the tone/sustain/mass relationship but the poly/resin necessarily being lighter assumption is not correct. I believe the makers use tungsten or somesuch to get the weight up. My Tribotone B is slightly heavier than a comparable stainless steel bar and I like the tone better. Not so 'clangerous'. I showed one to a luthier friend for the first time and he described the sound as being compressed. |
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Michael Maddex
From:
Northern New Mexico, USA
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Posted 26 Jul 2016 6:58 pm
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I don't like the tone of the stainless bars at all. I find their tone to be thin and dull compared to the tone of the plated brass bars. I don't like a light weight bar either, but the brass pretty much guarantees some heft.
To each his own. 
_________________
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." -- Arthur C. Clarke |
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Brian McGaughey
From:
Orcas Island, WA USA
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Posted 26 Jul 2016 7:24 pm
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I can't get the chrome plating to hold up for any length of time on a plated bar. I prefer "that sound" but on the Stevens style bar that I prefer the plating starts coming off after only several months of dobro playing.
Which leads me to stainless. |
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Michael James
From:
La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 26 Jul 2016 10:27 pm
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I play 6 string lap steel. I find I like a bar that is heavy enough that I don't need to push down on the bar much to keep strong string contact, but is light enough that I can get around quickly. I use a 7/8" X 3" stainless steel bar that was drilled out. It weighs about 5.5oz. That's as light as I'll go. I had it custom made by http://www.bulletbars.com
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 27 Jul 2016 7:43 am
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Still am undecided.
As Buddy and Tommy, Doug - Pedal
Leon Mcauliffe - Lap Steel Guitar
Didn't they all use heavy bars.
And their speed is second to none.
Heavier bar has all the bonuses - speed I don't know yet. Haven't tried technique at high speed with a heavy bar but it doesn't mean its not possible. The above named players are proof of that.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Posted 27 Jul 2016 7:55 am Stainless
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My original SHO-BUD Stainless 7/8 3.25 bar made by/for Buddy Emmons when he and Shot Jackson were still partners weighs 8.4 oz.
I now use and Recommend - Endorse the Burden Bullet Bars, Not sure what it means - he uses a Micro Grain Stainless.
My Burdon Bullet GeorgeBoards Model is 7/8 X 3.25 8.3 oz.
I learned my Slams Bounces and many more Bar Tricks directly from Buddy , Doug Jeff Newman Hal Rugg, and many others who led the path for many players. All of these Greats used Stainless Heavies.
Hope this adds to the discussion 
_________________
GeorgeBoards S8 Non Pedal Steel Guitar Instruments
Maker of One of a Kind Works of Art that play music too.
Instructional DVDs
YouTube Channel |
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Tony Lombardo
From:
Alabama, USA
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Posted 27 Jul 2016 11:52 am
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| I don't know what's heavy and what's light, but I use a Tribotone B Weight Bar, and it feels very natural to me. |
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Miles Lang
From:
Venturaloha
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Posted 27 Jul 2016 3:10 pm
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| My 3.35 oz bar is the right balance of tone and maneuverability for me but I have smaller hands. |
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Garry Vanderlinde
From:
CA
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Posted 28 Jul 2016 7:09 am Bigger Is Better
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It's gotta weight 50#. Talk about substain... 
I remember seeing this bar at Jeffran College in a display case.
Anybody else? |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 29 Jul 2016 1:14 am
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This comes up over and over, both for steel and in the notion that underarm guitars that sustain maximally are by definition "better." Timbre doesn't matter, tone doesn't matter; hopefully we could define "tone" not as something mystical & arcane, but simply as the proportion of various highs, mids and lows to each other. And in the underarm world, it eventually boils down to a continuum that ranges from Hi-Fi steely to warm 'n' woody, basically from a Travis Bean to an old low-powered Strat or 335.
Largely because magazine reviewers need stuff to talk about, sustain is often raised high upon the altar, but one MIGHT run into the question: Just how often do you have a musical need of notes that last 5 seconds or more? And there have been numerous great players who did NOT need or court sustain to play great music - Stevie Ray Vaughan was constantly double-picking notes, as sustain was not something he chased rabidly; Wes Montgomery?
Those category NAMES are as good as anything else used around steels, really. And if a lighter bar gets you woody, I wouldn't call it INFERIOR if being woody is what you want. If you start pushing some overdrive with a steely pedal steel, you generally have to attenuate both power and highs to make it work optimally with gadgets made for six-stringers. A light bar is a good thing to have around. Or if bar movement is REALLY important, the three-quarter-pounders are just not gonna get you there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=febMLpRoSy8
Better & worser, or just different? |
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