Jack Perkins - Vibra Tone Bar

[Bill Terry]

I played at 11St Cowboy Bar in Bandera on Saturday and was surprised to see my 'ol pal Jack Perkins in the audience. If you don't know about Jack there are some previous links below about his Vibra Tone bar.

I've known Jack for a lot of years, and as always, he insisted I try out one of his bars. I have one of his original Vibra Tone bars, but this was his newest design, with different 'tone thingies'. He tried to explain, but I didn't quite get it. Anyway, I ended up playing with his bar all night, and even though it was initially weird, (it's a 15/16" stainless bar compared to the BJS 7/8" bar I normally use) once I got used to it I liked it a lot. I can't speak for the physics of the 'tone thingies' that you hear rattling inside the bar, but I can tell you that it's a very light bar, with a great "smooth" feel on the strings, and I didn't hear ANY loss of tone or sustain. As you know, judging this sort of thing related to tone is pretty subjective, but I felt like with the lighter bar I was more accurate and crisp with the bar movements, and 'something' was really good above the 12th fret. I'm not sure quite how to verbalize it, it was just better. Bottom line, it really worked well for me.

So.. I bought it, and Jack asked me to post something about it here on the forum. If you're interested, I think his phone number is in one of the links below, but his address has changed.

Jack Perkins
2107 Dena Dr.
Kerrville, TX 78028

830-895-3253

Jack is one of those guys you really need to meet to appreciate, one of a kind, and I really like his new bar. Oh yeah, he's still doing the magnet thing too, you can read about that in the links below.

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... ea604ad8de

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... a86b9ff4d9

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... 4fc7670789

[chris ivey]

this made me think....wouldn't a playboy bunny's vibrator create some nice effects?

[David Munson]

Does he have a 12 string longer model? How about an email address?

David Munson
St. Louis

[Bill Terry]

David, I don't think Jack is online in any capacity, so the best thing would just be to call him up. He'd be glad to talk to you and answer questions I'm sure.

[Bobby Bowman]

I use and play with one of Jack's bars. I have a half dozen or more bars that I use from time to time. They are all good, but, I always seem to come back to Jacks "ting a ling" bar. It just gives me a better responce all the way up and down the neck and strings. And without a doubt, it's by far the most comfortable bar that I have.
BB