Mellobar Guitar

[Pete Storms]

Howdy Folks;

Does anybody know what the tunings are for a Mellobar guitar? I found one a few years ago and bought it. Problem is that I still haven't found out what the tunings are.
Although it's not a steel guitar, it is played with a bar and that's why I wanted it.


Thanks for any help;
Pete

[Brad Bechtel]

Are you talking about the ten string Mel-O-Bar standup steel guitar?
http://melobarted.blogspot.com/p/identi ... odels.html
Without knowing which model you're talking about, it's hard to say what the default tuning would be. You could contact Ted Smith through the blog link above and see what he'd say.

[Pete Storms]

Brad;

This is a solid body electric guitar and has either 8 or 10 strings, I can't remember because it's been in the pawn shop for awhile. The neck is at a 45 degree angle so that it can be played while standing. I believe it was manufactured in the early 60's.
Thanks;
Pete

[Al Szwarc]

I have one of the early 10 string Mosrite Melobars with the tuning printed on the fretboard. It appears to be in two sets of tunings. I also have the later model that had a metal bar between the two tunings

What would be the lowest: E G B D

Above that E B E G# B E (open E)

Now if someone would come up with a copy of the original instructions

we might make something of this tuning. al

[Pete Storms]

Al;

As I remember, my Mellobar has a kind-of small divider thing which I was told has to do with tuning that one string to a 7th.
Is the tuning which you have above the "standard" or most commonly used tuning for the Mellobar?
Do you know what the string gauges are for the Mellobar? I will want to replace the old ones.

Thanks;
Pete

[Al Szwarc]

I guess I've missed somehow. Try again

These are the tunings that are printed on the fretboard. It is a suggested tuning that Melobar has on this 10 string Instrument. The numbers are silk screened onto the fretboard of the instrument. There is some confusion due to the difference in string gauges. Holding the steel vertically with the tuning machines at the top and reading the tuning from left to right the notes are:

E G B D E B E G# B E.

These are the tunings for the open strings.

In the research I did there are other tunings and string arangements including a 9 string that is totally different from the 10 string tunings. I imagine that the tuning was more evolving than following a particular set tuning.

As I said I don't have the instructions for playing or using the bar that soundss like a modified capo. If you look you might find something but what is really needed is the instructions that explain the ideas and playing method Walt Smith had in mind when he developed the instrument.

Further, I will most likely set the one I have up as a 6 stringOpen E. The 10 string Melobar has the strings too close to suite me. I hope this answers your question. al

[Pete Storms]

Al;

Thanks for the information which you have posted. I will keep researching also. It would be neat if more Mellobar owners would step forward and add to our quest for useful information. I would really like to be able to play my 10 string Mellobar.

Thanks again;
Pete

[Jim Cohen]

It really doesn't matter what the "original" tuning put on it by the manufacturer was. You can use any 10 string tuning on it that you want to learn to play, including the one that's printed on the neck of the guitar itself (which appears to be a combination of Em7 and E7 tuning). No need to limit yourself to somebody else's answer to this question, as if it were the "right" or "only" answer; there are several reasonable tunings to choose from. Pick one and play!

My general point is that it is irrelevant that this is a Melobar; it could just as well be a 10-string standard lap-steel. The real question you should be asking is how to pick a 10- string nonpedal tuning to learn. There are lots of Forumites (better qualified than I) to advise you on that question.

[Bill Hatcher]

great advice jim!!

no standard tuning on any non pedal guitar. you picks your poison!

[Alan Brookes]

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... ar+skreemr
It's the eternal question, that keeps coming up. Check out the above thread. I've yet to find any use for the instrument. You can use any tuning you like, but you'll have to change the nut and bridge to do so, or you're stuck with the weird string spacing.



Even the angle of the neck makes no sense. It's wrong in both the sitting and standing positions. In the standing position, with a strap on, the angle should be much greater. As it is, the neck slopes away at an awkward angle, and all the unexplained hyroglyphics painted on the fingerboard can't be read.

The instrument originally came with a notched wooden rod, bolted onto the fingerboard. (Notice the hole in the second photo.) The idea was that you could feel the position of the frets and you would always be in tune. Most people removed it and threw it away, as has been done on the model in the photo.

The PVC body usually gets bent, and, once bent it will always have bend marks. In any case it's a weird shaped body.

To my mind, the Melobar Skreemr was a concept which didn't work, and the Smith family soon went back to regular lap steels.

Are you aware that there was an acoustic version ? They didn't sell and eventually dozens were dumped in the city dump. They used an existing 12-string guitar body, modified.



Pete, would you go back into your original post and correct the spelling of Melobar with only one l.
It may seem petty but when members in future sort for Melobar they won't find your posting.

[AJ Azure]

Had I the cash I'd offer to buy the skreemer from you in a heart beat my structural issues (wrist angle due to the severe arthritis) makes it work perfectly the way it's angled.

[Pete Storms]

Alan;

I would be happy to make a correction to Melobar on my original post, however I'm not quite sure how to do that.

Pete

[Steve Ahola]

Alan;

I would be happy to make a correction to Melobar on my original post, however I'm not quite sure how to do that.

Pete

If you look at the upper right hand corner of your message there should be a button labeled "Edit" (right between "Quote" and "X" for delete). I don't think that you will be able to edit the title of the thread...

BTW Jason Lollar (the master pickup maker) has tips in his blog on how to make up steel guitar bridges and nuts out of angle iron in his article on upgrading the $99 Rogue EA-3 lap steel with legs.

Steve Ahola

[Jim Cohen]

Yes, you can edit the title that way.

[Ted Smith]

Had a few people ask if I was mad at Alan for his comment that the Melobar neck was the wrong angle.
For the record...I agree with it somewhat but obviously a lot of pro's from Rusty Young with Poco to Troy Klontz with Brooks and Dunn did not agree with his conclusion that Skreemr's were not built right. However if you get serious about playing on stage and try to hang the guitar at the traditional height with the traditional strap...forget about it! All the problems mentioned will happen.

If you look at how David Lindley is playing Melobar on stage on the video on youtube (I linked it on the Melobar blog) you'll see he has a unique strap and has the guitar slung VERY low. At that angle and with that strap set up it starts to work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XanxdXarttY

The best (angle etc)playing Melobar was the double neck Steelgitr (Tele neck on top with the Melobar Neck on the bottom of a Tele type body). The reason it plays so easily is it is four inches lower than you would normally sling a regular Melobar.
So the lower the old Melobars are slung the better they play - you also HAVE to use a strap that goes out to the end of the head and to the triangle tail of the neck. And the strap needs to be on the head so it makes the Melobar want to angle into you not away from you.
As far as being no good to play sitting down, take a look at this -video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pE2LtnYbqY and it plays fine, if you are used to always sitting table style or with it in your lap with your gut at the 12th fret, it is not going to feel the same because the neck is to the left more with a standard guitar body type set up.
Just my 2 cents.
I also really liked playing the lap steel in the Melobro (dobro type) body adaptor for playing steel standing up because it became a Dobro feel.

Also I agree with the tuning - just string it with a new bridge and nut anything you want.
Tunings are on the Blog but Dad wanted to make it as complete as a piano and I've met maybe a half dozen players in the world with advanced piano back ground that get it and like it. Give me an E open that can go back and forth to G Dobro; that's how my personal guitars are strung.

(Is kind of wierd that Alan doesn't like Melobar but owns a couple no offence Alan just kind of funny)
My wife and I were just talking last night about how things really don't matter. It was life and death to Dad to create a guitar with that tuning and the fretguide between the strings so a beginner would be right on pitch and the soft foam (Proform) body all of which he wasted every dime he had to patent and build-life time of effort and people just throw him under the buss. I told Susie we should put out a poster that says "Don't follow your dreams or step out of the box or you'll be eaten alive."

[Alan Brookes]

Ted: I didn't mean any offence to you or your father. I love improvisation, and I often build experimental instruments. The Skreemr was a great idea, which to my mind didn't quite come off. Maybe it had too many unique features introduced simultaneously.

Since I don't build for a living I can experiment, but if I were working with steel guitars as a viable business it wouldn't be an economic proposition to build too many experiments without a customer base. This is what I find with the Northern California Association of Luthiers: the amateurs can afford to experiment, while the professionals are too busy building regular-design guitars.

Because no-one is buyng Skreemrs new any more, we're all getting them without the instructions, so it's left to the new purchaser to figure out what was intended by the unique string spacing and the lettering on the fingerboard. If you, or someone else, could explain it, maybe it would start to make sense. The subject has been brought up many times on the Forum, but nobody yet has ever explained it, so the instrument retains an air of mystery. Likewise, I've never seen one of the notched bars, so I can only surmise what they looked like from other people's descriptions.

I bought a Skreemr because I thought that the concept looked very promising. I've thought of changing the nut and bridge, which would not be difficult, but I've put that off on the assumption that someday someone would explain the purpose of it. I do use the acoustic version, which I like. As I mentioned, though, I would prefer if the angle were steeper. Unfortunately, with a steeper angle you would encounter the body getting in the way. I wonder if a regular guitar body, with the fingerboard on top, would be successful. The top, of course, would have to be flat, and, unless you could connect the bridge direct to the centre of the body you would adversely affect the tone.

[Ted Smith]

No offence taken Alan; it's all good.

Like I said - I doubt you'd want that 88 tuning anyway it was more for the ability to make a I IV V chord change with one move of the bar for a beginner so just change out the nut and saddle.

I experimented with several different angles after Dad died. Cindy Cashdollar got one that I put a pad on the back, you'll see the last Skreemr Troy Klontz with Brooks and Dunn got had more angle up to make it flatter but it made them bulky = answer was to swing it lower on your body standing up or go play a Dobro completely flat.

I probably should be more correct in model I.D. to prevent confusion. The White guitar you have there Alan is not a Skreemr but a Powerslide 88 single pickup(E66) model. Skreemr's were designed and built after Dad died as in the history on the blog www.melobarted.blogspot.com talks about as 6-string Melobar stand up steels. Dad would never build a 6-string (except for Lindleys); he believed the guitar had to be musically complete with minors, 7ths' etc. I'm sure he spun in his grave when I built the 6 string Skreemr but that is when we finally started selling them
Because I took Melobar into lap steels all the stand up steels even the Mosrite built ones people started calling Skreemrs but to keep the models straight check the blog for the era.