Tone Bars, Great new Idea!

John Gilman · Post by **John Gilman** » 13 Apr 2015 1:08 pm

Glen Porter wrote: <snip>
I don't have a bar with a shotgun shell insert but I do have one ready with a 50 Cal insert OK?

Glen - 50 cal is just fine. I just assumed it was a shotgun shell.

Donnie Pierce · Post by **Donnie Pierce** » 13 Apr 2015 6:15 pm

Thanks, For a quick response. Sorry we picked up the wrong name for insert(shot gun shell) 50 Cal. is Great. Be Looking forward to it....

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 14 Apr 2015 12:51 am

Glen, can you post the weights of the various size bars? Thanks. Beautiful bars, and I love those beautiful heel inserts!

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 14 Apr 2015 12:52 am

Is it the metal inserts that makes bar slants easier? That's very appealing to me, just like to understand it better. Thanks again.

Richard Keller · Post by **Richard Keller** » 14 Apr 2015 6:09 am

Glen, I sent a paypal payment for a 1" 440 stainless bar with a light blue insert.
Thanks,

Michael Remming · Post by **Michael Remming** » 14 Apr 2015 8:28 am

Email sent, Thanks Mike

Glen Porter · Post by **Glen Porter** » 15 Apr 2015 7:18 pm

John McLung, email sent. Glen

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 15 Apr 2015 7:32 pm

Hi glen Did you get my order and payment via paypal?

John Gilman · Post by **John Gilman** » 16 Apr 2015 12:15 pm

Glen

Received the bar. Wonderful tone and sustain. It was the 12 in 12.5 that led me to believe it was a shotgun shell. .50 Cal looks great. Gives it a certain "don't mess with me" attitude <g>.

--
John Gilman

Ollin Landers · Post by **Ollin Landers** » 16 Apr 2015 1:41 pm

Glen,

PayPal sent. 1" 440 with .50 insert

Richard Keller · Post by **Richard Keller** » 16 Apr 2015 5:07 pm

I received my 1" 440 bar today. Very good finish on the bar and plays well. I am very pleased with it.

Joey Andrews · Post by **Joey Andrews** » 17 Apr 2015 8:49 pm

Glen check your PP. Thanks joey

Jory McPhail · Post by **Jory McPhail** » 19 Apr 2015 8:52 pm

Glen, I ordered a couple of bars from you also. Let me know if you need any more info.

Billy Knowles · Post by **Billy Knowles** » 20 Apr 2015 5:19 am

Just received mine and they are wonderful, great feel, great finish and great sustain!!

Kenneth Cartright · Post by **Kenneth Cartright** » 20 Apr 2015 6:38 am

Glen, sending you Paypal for 15/16 MAGNETIC light blue. Thanks..Ken

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 21 Apr 2015 7:11 am

Glen,Wondering if you got payment from me in the mail?

David Wren · Post by **David Wren** » 21 Apr 2015 12:34 pm

Just sent you an email order Glen, with my contact info included.

Sounds like a great idea... and good enough for Mr. Easton, is surely good enough me

440; 7/8"; Dark Blue insert

Thanks.

Jim Lindsey (Louisiana) · Post by **Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)** » 21 Apr 2015 2:14 pm

Just received my 440 and my nephew's 316 bar in the mail. I'm still waiting to try out my 440 because my nephew won't get off my guitar long enough for me to take a turn at it.

We compared this new bar against the Dekley bar Sheldon's been using and I noticed several positive things right off the bat:

1. A distinct improvement in the tone ... fuller, richer and cleaner with a pleasant bell-like resilience when Sheldon picks the strings.

2. With the old Dekley bar, and even the couple of times I let him try my BJS bar, he was getting some string noise during bar movement. With this new bar, he's getting no string noise at all! His bar movements are now smooth and quiet. Doing several A/B comparisons, he's getting bar noise with the Dekley and BJS bars; with this new bar from Glen, he's getting no bar noise at all.

3. With the older bar, Sheldon would pick the strings and get his tone right then, but the tone would die out gradually as the notes sustain. With this new bar, it seems the tone actually broadens and matures as the notes sustain, rather than dying out as the notes ring.

Well done, Glen! Now, if I can get Sheldon to get off my guitar long enough for me to try out my 440!

Scott A. Anderson · Post by **Scott A. Anderson** » 21 Apr 2015 5:23 pm

Jim, got your message about these bars. Gonna give 'em a look.

Jim Lindsey (Louisiana) · Post by **Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)** » 21 Apr 2015 8:17 pm

Not in many years have I been this impressed with a new bar. I have A/B compared my old bars with Sheldon's new 316 bar and my new 440 bar from Glen. I was pleasantly amazed!

First, this weight thing he's doing with the bars is wonderful. Since my stroke and the associated nerve damage, holding and controlling a bar has been a true challenge for me; it's been, in many ways, like trying to learn steel all over again. That is, until we got these new bars today. They are extremely well balanced and do not feel like holding a lump of cylindrical steel; instead, they feel perfect in the hand and actually are easier to control and hold than my other bars. And bar slants? Once again, they are easy as pie to do. Apparently, it was no wild boast that these bars aid in making bar slanting easier to do and control; they really do work!

The second thing is the quietness of these bars. I've never had an issue with bar noise on the strings, but it's something that has been plaguing my nephew since he started playing ... until today. His bar movements are now silent and smooth. When I tried them it was the same for me; I pushed the volume pedal down and slid the bar across the strings in a test for noise and they were silent and smooth. Even my BJS bar, which is the quietest bar I've ever owned, isn't as silent across the strings as these new bars.

In tone, these bars are great. I find, as notes are sustaining, that both the 316 and 440 are nearly identical in overall sound ... BUT ... in string attack as you pick the strings, the 440 sounds pretty much like my BJS bar (beautiful tone and responsive to lighter, mellower picking attacks while still able to give a sharp attack when that picking technique is used); the 316 bar has a naturally slightly brighter and more resilient sound as the string is picked, yet the added resilience is never too much or unpleasant. It, too, is a beautiful sounding bar.

One of the things I love is that, as a note or chord sustains, the tone seems to broaden and mature as opposed to dying and fading out. And, all the way up the neck from the lowest register all the way into ultra-Hughey-land the pick attack and tone is consistent.

It is difficult for me to decide which bar I like best of the two; the 440 sounds consistently fabulous like my BJS bar, but so does the slightly more resilient string attack yielded by the 316 bar. I wish I'd had one of each of these bars during my concert and recording years! I would, depending on the songs I played and the sound I wanted for them, have been happily using the 316 on one song while turning to the 440 for another.

Comparing the overall weight of these two 1" bars against the weight of my 1" BJS bar, they seem just a little over half the weight of the BJS bar. Light enough to be a real pleasure to use, but not too light; yet they deliver the full rich clean sound of a heavy bar.

I think you've got something really great going on with these, Glen, and I really like them. I think I can safely say that I've retired my BJS bar and these will become my go-to bars now. Very well done!

Tommy Shown · Post by **Tommy Shown** » 22 Apr 2015 6:56 am

Hey Glen,after hearing Jim's unsolicited testimony about the bara, I am going to order one next week, after payday.
Tommy Shown SMFTBL

Glen Porter · Post by **Glen Porter** » 22 Apr 2015 7:37 am

Jim Thanks for the great review on The Tone Bars from Red Barn Music, unsolicited
reviews from Great players are very much appreciated. Thanks again Glen

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 22 Apr 2015 7:52 am

I've decided to get one too. Billy Easton's testimony convinced me.

Scott Swenson · Post by **Scott Swenson** » 22 Apr 2015 8:48 am

Glen,
Just sent Paypal to you for (1) 440 bar, 7/8, 3.25" long with a red cap for 8-string...

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 22 Apr 2015 10:59 am

You guys have talked me into it, I just ordered one too!

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Tone Bars, Great new Idea!

Re: 1

50 cal. is fine with me.

John Mr Twang

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