| Author |
Topic: Lap Steel Tremolo Bar |
Garry Vanderlinde
From:
CA
|
Posted 31 Jan 2008 10:26 pm |
|
| Anyone remember the make of one of these? I saw one at a guitar show a few years ago on a lap steel and it had a tremolo or vibrato bar device of some sort. I though it odd at the time. Not the '30s Rickenbacher type, but a manual bar or lever system like a Bigsby or Strat. |
|
|
|
AJ Azure
From:
Massachusetts, USA * R.I.P.
|
|
|
|
Michael Johnstone
From:
Sylmar,Ca. USA
|
Posted 2 Feb 2008 1:54 am
|
|
| Steel players already have a tremolo unit - it's called a steel bar. |
|
|
|
Garry Vanderlinde
From:
CA
|
Posted 2 Feb 2008 1:54 am
|
|
The one I saw was a vintage instrument. Maybe late'50s through the '60s.
I hear ya Michael, but what do you do for the open strings? Think of a rake in C6th open for the A minor chord. How are you going to put a little tremolo on that? |
|
|
|
Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
|
Posted 2 Feb 2008 2:23 am
|
|
Here's a custom job from Asher:
Steinar
_________________
"Play to express, not to impress"
Website - YouTube |
|
|
|
AJ Azure
From:
Massachusetts, USA * R.I.P.
|
Posted 2 Feb 2008 2:26 am
|
|
| Michael Johnstone wrote: |
| Steel players already have a tremolo unit - it's called a steel bar. |
well firstly it's not tremolo. you can not do drastic things with the bar that sound anything like you can with any vibrato/bending arm. It adds one more sound to the toolbox. how can that be bad? |
|
|
|
Chris Walke
From:
St Charles, IL
|
Posted 2 Feb 2008 7:22 am
|
|
| Steinar Gregertsen wrote: |
Here's a custom job from Asher:
Steinar |
"Asher-caster." I like that. |
|
|
|
Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
|
Posted 2 Feb 2008 8:04 am
|
|
If you order a "Red Neck" from Loni Specter and put it on a Strat, you will have a guitar with a whammy bar.
You may have to add some additional springs to the whammy unit, however, to make up for the heavier strings. |
|
|
|
HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
|
Posted 2 Feb 2008 9:00 am
|
|
| Garry Vanderlinde wrote: |
The one I saw was a vintage instrument. Maybe late'50s through the '60s.
I hear ya Michael, but what do you do for the open strings? Think of a rake in C6th open for the A minor chord. How are you going to put a little tremolo on that? |
Pick it up and shake the tar out of it.....  |
|
|
|
Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
|
Posted 2 Feb 2008 9:21 am
|
|
It's a "StratocAsher"
Honestly, not trying to knock the guitar but I've been a Strat player for many years and so far I"ve not missed having a whammy on my lap steel. I do mimmick a whammy with the bar at times and the only thing I can't do are deep dives which standard trem's aren't real good at anyway (need a Floyd Rose for that).
If I were to mount an arm of some sort on a steel it would be to change the pitch of individual strings. That's stomething that you can't do with a whammy.
_________________
https://markmansueto.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/65dQ3EyZC2RaqawA8gPlRy?si=dOdqc5zxSKeJI9cISVVx_A |
|
|
|
Michael Johnstone
From:
Sylmar,Ca. USA
|
Posted 2 Feb 2008 10:19 am
|
|
I dunno. Yeah I suppose if you just got to have vibrato on open strings and you only had 6 strings you could do it and have some kind of argument. Other than that - I don't know about anybody else but it seems real easy to do anything a whammy bar will do and then some with just left hand technique. And there's an out-of-tune lap steel w/a Bigsby hangin on the wall out in my studio - I've tried it.
It just seems like another idea from the department of redundancy department. |
|
|
|
Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
|
Posted 2 Feb 2008 10:26 am
|
|
| The lack of vibrato is the reason I try to avoid open strings at all cost. |
|
|
|
Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
|
Posted 2 Feb 2008 11:16 am
|
|
I look for every opportunity to use open strings; some wonderfull voicings are only available using open strings.
And here's the Strat-o-Asher's companion .... the Tele-Asher
 |
|
|
|
Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
|
Posted 2 Feb 2008 1:25 pm
|
|
I built this one as an experiment several years ago. My idea was to rest my palm on the tremolo arm and add extra vibrato. I built it in a weekend. It's basically a plank with pick-ups. It sounds okay but the tremolo has very little use. I wouldn't build another one.
Check this previous tab out...
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/008935.html |
|
|
|
Garry Vanderlinde
From:
CA
|
Posted 10 Feb 2008 12:21 am
|
|
...but what do you do for the open strings? How are you going to put a little tremolo on that?
| HowardR wrote: |
| Pick it up and shake the tar out of it..... |
Thanks Howard! Funny as it seems, that really does work  |
|
|
|
Tim Carlson
From:
Arizona, USA
|
Posted 10 Feb 2008 1:34 am
|
|
For a mild vibrato on a single open string or a pair of unwound strings, you can bend the string behind the nut.
Make sure you use some nut-sauce or other bridge/nut lube when you string up, though.
Depending on set-up, you can sorta mimic a pedal steel or bar slant type sound. |
|
|
|
Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
|
Posted 10 Feb 2008 10:03 am
|
|
| Not to steal this post, but has anyone ever tried building a lap steel with pairs of strings, like a 12 string guitar has?? Sounds like something that's been done or tried. A mandolin type sound is really what I mean. |
|
|
|
Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
|
Posted 10 Feb 2008 1:49 pm
|
|
| Bill Creller wrote: |
| Not to steal this post, but has anyone ever tried building a lap steel with pairs of strings, like a 12 string guitar has?? Sounds like something that's been done or tried. A mandolin type sound is really what I mean. |
Yes. Been there. Done that. 
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=101032&highlight=double+course
I've built several over the years. At this moment I'm in the process of building a 16-string (8 course) lap steel for Basil Henriques. It's not finished yet....
Here's one I built a few years ago...
Here's one I built about 20 years ago.
 |
|
|
|
Jon Light (deceased)
From:
Saugerties, NY
|
Posted 10 Feb 2008 1:57 pm
|
|
Man--there's some stuff there worthy of comment but I'm coming up empty....
----on the subject of tremolo bar on a steel, several years ago I was in a band covering a tune that had a classic twang/surf guitar lick that I was trying to fill on PSG. I could get the (simple) lick note for note and I could get the sound pretty close but ultimately the bar just couldn't get the same effect that a trem has. So I'm sold on the idea that this isn't just for open strings. If I don't have a trem arm on a lap steel or pedal steel I'll survive ok but I surely don't scoff at the idea of one, for purpose of maximum available palette. |
|
|
|
Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
|
Posted 10 Feb 2008 7:10 pm
|
|
| Jon Light wrote: |
| ----on the subject of tremolo bar on a steel, several years ago I was in a band covering a tune that had a classic twang/surf guitar lick that I was trying to fill on PSG. I could get the (simple) lick note for note and I could get the sound pretty close but ultimately the bar just couldn't get the same effect that a trem has.... |
A lot of the surf sound was produced by using a heavy tremolo setting on a tube amplifier. Modern amplifiers don't often have tremolo, It's a sound that seems to have gone out of fashion. |
|
|
|
Drew Howard
From:
48854
|
Posted 13 Feb 2008 6:34 am
|
|
Vibrato and tremelo are two different things and get confused all the time. Vibrato involves pulsating pitch change and tremolo is pulsating volume change.
Putting a whammy bar on a steel guitar would appear to be redundant redundant. I don't see the benefits. |
|
|
|
Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
|
Posted 13 Feb 2008 7:09 am
|
|
Drew,
Only if you're playing open strings. |
|
|
|
Jon Light (deceased)
From:
Saugerties, NY
|
Posted 13 Feb 2008 12:23 pm
|
|
| Drew Howard wrote: |
Putting a whammy bar on a steel guitar would appear to be redundant redundant. I don't see the benefits. |
I repeat my previous post. The sound of a trem bar is distinct and unique. I can close-imitate it with a steel but I cannot replicate it. |
|
|
|
Steve Norman
From:
Seattle Washington, USA
|
Posted 13 Feb 2008 1:49 pm
|
|
_________________
GFI D10, Fender Steel King, Hilton Vpedal,BoBro, National D dobro, Marrs RGS |
|
|
|
Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
|
Posted 14 Feb 2008 7:27 pm
|
|
| Jon Light wrote: |
| ...I repeat my previous post. The sound of a trem bar is distinct and unique. I can close-imitate it with a steel but I cannot replicate it. |
..what's more you can introduce tremolo with your left hand palm on the whammy bar while simultaneously applying tremolo with the steel. It's an effect that cannot be replicated with just a steel.
By the way, you can introduce tremolo on any archtop guitar with a floating bridge, or a banjo, by vibrating your palm on the strings behind the bridge. |
|
|
|
