my day at Tribotone

Kevin Brown · Post by **Kevin Brown** » 30 Mar 2010 1:50 am

Hi folks, finally got around to a few jobs since returning. After Dallas I spent some time in Austin taking pics and hanging out. This year I was lucky enough to spend a a day at Tribotone with Eric Ebner where I actually got my make my own 'Tribo Slide' Eric is just a few tweaks away from creating yet another high quality product to be released shortly. Heres Eric in his shop

Myself fashioned a slide

The result

I always enjoy my time with Eric, we talk lap steel, recumbents, solar power, the state of the world ! usually over Catfish at the Manshack Fire station, wonderfull !

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 30 Mar 2010 9:06 am

Kevin,great pics!

Eric Ebner · Post by **Eric Ebner** » 30 Mar 2010 10:39 am

Kevin took to the lathe like a champ, a few more machine stations, and an hour or so later- he was making music with his brand new new Tribo-Slide! It's our new "Build Your Own Slide" service here at the ranch. [laughter]

Great having you here again Kevin Brown!!!

Mike D · Post by **Mike D** » 30 Mar 2010 1:10 pm

Ooh! Tell us about that slide!

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 31 Mar 2010 11:37 am

Do they also come metal filled for more weight? I like a hefty bar.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 31 Mar 2010 6:06 pm

Eric's a great guy. I was really impressed with his bars. I will buy one someday, I promised myself!

David Ball · Post by **David Ball** » 1 Apr 2010 3:07 am

The Tribotone bars come in different weights. I have a B weight and a C weight Byrd length bar. They're both great, and Eric is great to deal with. The B weight weighs about the same as a Dunlop, the C weight is heavier than any steel bar I've tried. They both have fantastic tone with very little string noise and they're easy to hold on to.

Fred Kinbom · Post by **Fred Kinbom** » 1 Apr 2010 7:06 am

Thanks Kevin for the pics and report!

Ron - Kevin's picture above is of Eric's soon to be launched bottleneck slides. The Tribo-Tone lap steel bars are solid bullet bars.

I have used the Tribo-Tone bars since Eric first launched them in 2007 - they are just great!

B-weight is my favourite.

Fred

Martin Huch · Post by **Martin Huch** » 1 Apr 2010 1:02 pm

These bars sound so great...but please: the world (ok, at least me..) needs a Tribo Stevens Style bar !!!!

thanks again for your great product !
Martin

Kevin Brown · Post by **Kevin Brown** » 2 Apr 2010 12:49 am

Dear Martin you might be interested to know that the possibilty of a tribo stevens bar did crop up during my conversations at theTribo shop. Maybe Eric could add a word or two here.

Martin Huch · Post by **Martin Huch** » 2 Apr 2010 4:49 am

Hey Eric and Kevin, thats good news !! Yezzzzzzzzzzzzzz !!
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Eric Ebner · Post by **Eric Ebner** » 2 Apr 2010 9:46 am

I would LOVE to build a Stevens/Lap-Dawg type TriboBar!!! I know many players use them and not only for Dobro. From the beginning I wanted to make 3 things: Steels, Slides, and Stevens. We’re about to release the Slides (bottlenecks) shortly. Building anything like this takes a lot of planning and investment to “tool-up” and run smoothly as well as a lot of time. I’m always aware that it is about music and am having a wonderful time teaching my boy to play steel at the moment [thanks for the lessons Kevin Brown]! I hope my version of a Stevens type bar can become a reality in another 1-2 years. Thanks for asking!

See you on the strings,
Eric Ebner

Edward Meisse · Post by **Edward Meisse** » 2 Apr 2010 12:49 pm

I'm very happy with my bar. I'm going to try a C weight though this year. I also need to try those pro-pik thumb picks. I too really like the heavier bars. My experience is that the Tribotone is excellent with my pedal guitar but not so much with the non pedal. I think it's the lack of weight. That's why I'm going to order a C weight bar. And as good as the Tribotone is with the pedal guitar, I still think the C weight will be better.

Martin Huch · Post by **Martin Huch** » 3 Apr 2010 2:39 am

Thanks Eric...but 1-2 years is not so good news.........I`m honestly thinking of cutting
by TriboBar lengthwise into two pieces and then
glueing some kind of "handle" on to it.
The reason is simple: The Tribo Bar is the ONLY bar
on the market, that eliminates these horrible hissing
when slinding the plain strings.....which I hate !!
Especially with acoustic instruments like Dobro and
Weissenborn it drove me crazy in the studio before
I started using a (miracle-like) Tribo Bar.
Electric lapsteels, bottleneck guitars or pedal steels is not a problem with a regular steelbar......
But the acoustics are ! And what is the mainly used bar for acoustic players ? Yes, a Steavens style shape.
So please, Eric..........................!!

best regards from Germany

Martin / Duesenberg Guitars