Tone Bars...Lets See Them

Terry VunCannon · Post by **Terry VunCannon** » 19 Jan 2015 12:00 pm

OK...I know almost all of you have a collection of Tone Bars & Slides. Lets see them....just lay 'em out, and click a picture with you phone or camera. Here is mine...

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 19 Jan 2015 12:34 pm

Looks like ya don't have one of these friend

Terry VunCannon · Post by **Terry VunCannon** » 19 Jan 2015 12:41 pm

No John I don't. Nice...brass?

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 19 Jan 2015 1:32 pm

Yes, brass.
Check him out from 1932

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFWf1UFU9_w

PM me if you want to add this bar to your fine collection.
I don't really need it.
JB

Tony Lombardo · Post by **Tony Lombardo** » 19 Jan 2015 3:27 pm

I have three Tribotone B Weight Bars in lime green. That's all I've got.

Terry VunCannon · Post by **Terry VunCannon** » 19 Jan 2015 4:45 pm

Thanks John. PM sent. I am also searching for Bakelite bars.

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 19 Jan 2015 4:46 pm

Lots of lap/dobro bars. I only play pedal.

John Speck · Post by **John Speck** » 21 Jan 2015 8:00 pm

Here are the ones I have. The Stevens is from 1964. I bought while on a high school band trip in Memphis. That was my first. The last one is the one with the cone shaped butt end. I don't know the brand and I think it is stainless. Does anybody know.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 21 Jan 2015 11:55 pm

This is probably about 2/3 of mine - I get a little fiendy about slide guitar, too, and this pix lacks a lot of experiments in forging the perfect pinky slide. And another half-dozen bars or so. Pray tell, where did you get the all-brass Shubb-Pearse bars?

Jouni Karvonen · Post by **Jouni Karvonen** » 22 Jan 2015 2:13 am

John Speck, your bar in your middle pic looks like the one from
http://www.bulletbars.com/images.html

Terry VunCannon · Post by **Terry VunCannon** » 22 Jan 2015 7:25 am

David, I got my brass SP-1 & SP-2 bars from Shubb. Special ordered. I had them pulled out of stock before they covered them. It's a 2 step process, they get the brass bars in, and send them off to be covered. They were kind enough to get them to me all brass, uncoated.

Lev Liberman · Post by **Lev Liberman** » 25 Jan 2015 11:02 am

Terry, what is the bar in the bottom right corner of your photo -- the one with the matte-silver finish (aluminum?) & the SP-1-ish profile? And where/how can I get one?

Terry VunCannon · Post by **Terry VunCannon** » 25 Jan 2015 12:13 pm

That one is an Aluminum bar in SP-1 shape that Wayne Johnson of Innovative Guitars made for me by request. I call it my "TV-1" bar...he does great work Lev.
You can find him here...
http://www.innovativeguitars.com/

Lev Liberman · Post by **Lev Liberman** » 25 Jan 2015 12:22 pm

Thank you, Terry. And I see that he's located in the great state of Oregon!

Michael Hogan · Post by **Michael Hogan** » 25 Jan 2015 1:55 pm

Here are some unusual bars and some in their original packaging.

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 25 Jan 2015 4:06 pm

Wow, you guys got some great bars

Jacob Hacker · Post by **Jacob Hacker** » 25 Jan 2015 4:34 pm

The one on the left is a 7/8" x 3 1/4" Dunlop Bar. The one on the right is a 1" Diameter x 3 1/2 bar i made myself.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 25 Jan 2015 4:46 pm

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 25 Jan 2015 5:44 pm

Now That's cool !

Mark Roeder · Post by **Mark Roeder** » 26 Jan 2015 10:16 am

Doug
How usable is that bar with the slide extension? It looks like someone was thinking about it alot.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 27 Jan 2015 9:40 am

Mark, it's not very usable because it's not smooth sounding. When you press down on the extension part (what I call the mini-bar) the little bar makes contact with one string and pushes it down below the main bar, creating a flatted note. The pitch change is heard instantly, it's not a smooth change. And that clip for the finger inhibits and restrains a player's bar movement.
So two bars are in effect at the same time, the main bar and the mini-bar. I tried using it to lower the 3rd tone (major to minor chord), but it sounds too choppy. Basically, it's an early, futile attempt to mechanically change the pitch of a string. I think a player would be better off learning how to do slants properly. The slants sound better.

Mark Roeder · Post by **Mark Roeder** » 27 Jan 2015 9:54 am

That is what I thought. It is fun to see what inventive ideas come up over the years. They all seem to be a substitute for what some good practicing would accomplish.
Cool though!

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 27 Jan 2015 10:12 am

Yes, and that other bar with the swiveling finger pick attached looks like a home made attempt to make slanting easier...? Another bad idea IMO... the clip (the pick) does not allow the player to grasp the bar properly for a bar slant. Necessity is the mother of invention, but these devices are not necessary!

And that Stevens bar with the round nose sticking out... well, that just looks obscene!

Dennis Smith · Post by **Dennis Smith** » 27 Feb 2015 1:57 pm

From ebay

The Steel Guitar Forum

Tone Bars...Lets See Them

Tone Bars...Lets See Them

tone bars