zirconia bar

bob grossman · Post by **bob grossman** » 2 Nov 2002 5:01 pm

what did these cost originally. Anyone want to sell one? 12 string?

Paul Warnik · Post by **Paul Warnik** » 2 Nov 2002 5:22 pm

I think that they originally were costing around $120-I know my friend Pee Wee Whitewing has one and loves it!

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 2 Nov 2002 6:43 pm

Bill and Ed don't have the facilities to make any more of these, but the Jim Dunlop company, who makes steel bars anyway (good ones too) does. Perhaps if they got a lot of requests they might consider making them.

I love mine. I collect bars and have around 50 of them, but that's the one I use.[This message was edited by Mike Perlowin on 02 November 2002 at 11:02 PM.]

Gary Walker · Post by **Gary Walker** » 2 Nov 2002 7:47 pm

Hi Bob, got my 12 string bar from 2M Music in Farmersville several years ago, also have a Dunlop 12 and one that Chuck Wright made for me in '66. Don't remember what they sold for but love mine. I suppose you are talking about the bar with the jewel in the end.

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 2 Nov 2002 11:02 pm

Gary, Bob is talking about the bars made by Bill Stafford and Ed Packard. They are made out of zirconia and are milk white, and incredibly smooth. Bill and Ed only made a few, and due to circumstances beyond their control, are unable to make any more.

The bars are quite wonderful. They glide across the strings with no friction, and they sound terrific. Like I said earlier, I have around 50 bars, but this is the one I use.

It's really a shame that there are so few of them, and the handful of lucky players like me who have one all cherish them.

You will NEVER see one of these bars for sale on the forum. Everybody who has one is going to hang on to it forever.

DaveCarr · Post by **DaveCarr** » 3 Nov 2002 5:33 pm

.. which is why their name is laser-etched into the end of the bar...

Thanks Ed and Bill

Dave Carr (#81)

Whip Lashaway · Post by **Whip Lashaway** » 4 Nov 2002 10:36 am

$150.00 each. That's what they sold for. I bought mine from Bill at the ISGC several years ago. It's etched and NOT for sale.s/n 52. I love it. I don't use it on songs that I use a lot of distortion/fuzz/etc.. or need a lot of sustain. I like my BJS for that. I love that bar too! The folks at BJS are the greatest. They really stand behind their product.
Whip

------------------
Whip Lashaway
Sierra E9/B6 12 string
Sierra E9/B6 14 string

Gary Walker · Post by **Gary Walker** » 4 Nov 2002 8:46 pm

Okay Mike, that's what I've seen Frank using. I didn't ask him what they were. I assumed they were just powder coated bars and wasn't interested. I should have asked him this weekend. He gets a great sound with it, thanks, Gary.

Bob Simmons · Post by **Bob Simmons** » 5 Nov 2002 12:27 pm

Hi,Bob, just wanted to say hello-long time no see.(205)647-2331[This message was edited by Bob Simmons on 05 November 2002 at 12:28 PM.]

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 5 Nov 2002 12:30 pm

True story. I saw the bars that Carl Dixon's first Atlanta show, liked them and ordered 2 of them. I was given one immediately, with no etching. Shortly thereafter I received my second one with my name and the serial number 30. Shortly after that I received a 3rd one, also blank, sent by mistake. Now legally, I could have kept it, but I didn't. I returned it to Bill at the next convention. So I had 2, one with my name and one blank one.

Earlier this year I was at the TSGA show in Dallas, and Jody Sanders approached me and asked if I could clear up a mystery. Lo and behold, he had yet another bar, with my name in it, s/n 31. It had been sitting in his pack-a seat for 3 years, and he had never noticed it before. Apparently Bill loaned it to him to try out and he forgot about it.

I wanted to keep all 3 but when I told Bill about it and offered to pay for this new one, he insisted instead that I return the blank one. He told me John Hughey really wanted one, and of course there are no more, so he (Bill) asked me to send the blank one to John.

I approached John and explained the situation, and told him that I'd send him the blank one as soon as I got home, which I did. John was delighted that he got his bar, and I'm thrilled that he and I are "shaking hands" in a manner of speaking every time he plays.

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 5 Nov 2002 2:30 pm

BTW, they are all milk white except for one; Bobby Black ordered one in black, but it came out in the ugliest, must putred shade of green imaginable. Bobby did;t want to bar after he saw it, so Buzz Evans has it.

It's a great bar, just like the white ones, but it really is butt ugly.

ed packard · Post by **ed packard** » 7 Nov 2002 7:43 am

Sorry Mike P, ..the Bobby Black/Buzz Evans to which you refer is Hershey chocolate brown. It was a prototype for the bar making process to see if it would fly, but white made more sense.