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Author Topic: Slides and steels
Double D

Posts: 195
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Post Slides and steels
on: August 10, 2012, 00:19
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I love getting those pesky frets out the way with a slide, or doing away with frets altogether on the steel guitars. My go-to slide is a thick-walled Dunlop (easy to replace in case of breakage or loss), but I keep a chrome slide around for use on darker instrument. I like brass, but find it a bit too dark for my taste; my buddy has a real nice one if I need it.
As far as the steel guitar goes, I love my Brozophonic bar (and it's namesake) a simple, machined rod with a bullet nose and a cup tail. Very nice for the bar slants. I miss my old Shubb bar though- it was my first. Where did you go, oh Shubb of mine?
What do you folks like to use? Any weird materials you prefer? Odd profiles? Let me know!
bear

Posts: 153
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Post Re: Slides and steels
on: August 10, 2012, 05:30
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I long ago settled on ceramic with a Dunlop Mudslide. Very, very smooth without, kind of like glass without the high whine but with more midrangey body. I don't play nearly enough slide anymore, though, so I haven't messed with anything different in ages.
EvilPun

Posts: 4
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Post Re: Slides and steels
on: August 10, 2012, 21:04
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I use an impact socket. It's a bit weighty but I think once you get used to it it gives you a fuller tone.
dasein

Posts: 17
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Post Re: Slides and steels
on: August 11, 2012, 21:13
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I use a chrome JetSlide. It's fairly light and doesn't get a lot of sustain, but that's OK with me... probably not a good option for traditional slide players.
Jeff_H

Posts: 47
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Post Re: Slides and steels
on: August 13, 2012, 13:45
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I have an ancient brass slide that's flared. I love the dark sound. I also have a brass jetslide - it's kinda cool for mixing slide and traditional tones.
el reclusa

Posts: 25
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Post Re: Slides and steels
on: August 13, 2012, 14:59
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I used a wine bottle neck I cut myself...but I can't seem to find it. I have probably 20 slides, from bits of conduit to a Coricidin bottle, but that wine bottle was the BEST!
Double D

Posts: 195
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Post Re: Slides and steels
on: August 14, 2012, 01:04
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Quote from EvilPun on August 10, 2012, 21:04
I use an impact socket. It's a bit weighty but I think once you get used to it it gives you a fuller tone.

Wow! That's pretty weighty! I'm to feeble to do brass... I have used one and loved it; the extra mass imparts so much more tone. (Thick bottom shot glasses are the glass equivalent,but not quite as east to fit to your particular finger dimensions). I play too physically to sustain that kind of weight without hurting myself; most of my gigs are three hours long. Do five of 'em in a week with slideable action and strings, and some sort of tone/ergonomics compromise has to take place.
Sockets are readily available in most peoples car trunks, gas stations and retail outlets of all sorts, so on the access/availability front, they can't be beat!
Caevan-
OShite

Posts: 10
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Post Re: Slides and steels
on: August 14, 2012, 15:40
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I love my Dunlop "Harris Slide", a big, flared, concave bell-brass slide; it's big, fat, full and warm sounding, but not exactly "dark". Its mass- particularly that of its larger, flared end- keeps the low-strings from rattling too easily, and its concave profile fits nicely with the radius described by the arc of the strings, which works exceptionally well for 'fretting-behind-the-slide' techniques (which I REALLY need to practice more!).

I also loved a blue ceramic Dunlop 'Moonshine Slide' that I used to have; also big, fat and warm yet clear and well-defined sounding. If it had been shaped similarly to the Harris Slide- flared and concave- it would have been even better, perhaps the ultimate all-around slide. Its unglazed interior always felt dry and comfy, never sweaty- an added bonus, for sure.

Not to continually plug Dunlop, but I also like the tone and feel of a thick-walled, somewhat large Dunlop Pyrex slide. It has a very smooth feel and tone, somewhat like the bell-brass Harris but different, perhaps just a little lighter in the lows and lower-mids. Again, it would be even better if flared and concave...

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~
_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _
Double D

Posts: 195
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Post Re: Slides and steels
on: August 17, 2012, 00:46
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It's kinda' hard not to continually plug Dunlop in this thread- they're the only international player in the high-stakes guitar slide game...
Interesting point about the flared/concave profile. My efforts at fretting behind the slide have always fallen flat, despite some pretty heroic action and strings. Maybe this is the key to unlocking that tricky door.
And I've still never tried the Mudslide/ceramic models, but all the raves here make me think it's time to go and "spend the fifteen bucks, already...geez".
Still no steelers showing up to the party? C'mon folks, you can't all be playing ukes these days...
Schrodinge-
rsgoldfish

Posts: 105
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Post Re: Slides and steels
on: August 17, 2012, 05:25
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My experience is such that the slide is still a novelty to me, something to just have some fun with, but when I tried out slides while shopping, I settled on the Harris slide, too. It really does help keep the rattling to a minimum.
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