A new tone bar! Dark/Matter Dark/Brass from Chatsworth Music

[Mark Evans]

Upon a recommendation, I picked up a Dark Matter tone bar (Dark/Brass, it’s called as it has a brass core.) Made of some aerospace and medical industry polymer material that is super smooth and wear resistant. they weigh in at about 3 Oz, so they are pretty light. They are only available in the one size. 3 1/8"X 1".

It is the real deal. Easy to handle, heavy enough for me and my 6 strings, and the tone is smooth, warm - equivalent to the Hillman powder coated bars I have. Still love the brightness of my stone slides, but for deft bar work, the weight and hold=a-bility are perf.

Be curious if anyone else has tried one.

No affiliation. Just good fun stuff (they appear to have ‘bottleneck slides’ as well)
http://www.chatsworthguitars.com/darkma ... lides.html

[BJ Burbach]

Well, I tried one, but it does not work for me.
The material and weight is OK, but that bevel on the bottom is a deal breaker.
For steel, it gives you a false landmark of where the bottom is, so I tend to slip off a low string when I slant.
For dobro, I like to flip a bullet tone bar to use the square side in front, but again, the bevel gives me a false edge,
so you can't slide it off and on a string cleanly. I may just grind it off and round the edge, like every other tone bar.
Should have just gone to a Clinesmith, I guess.
BJ

[Bill Groner]

I agree with BJ. That chamfer on the bottom end????? Why???? If that bar is 1" diameter and made properly it could weigh over 6 ounces. There is so much room you can play around and get just about any weight in between 3 to 7 ounces. When I made a bar with a 1" O.D. I would bore the pocket 3/4" diameter. That leaves an 1/8" wall. I had several customers that wanted a heavier bar so I bored theirs out to 7/8" with a 1/16" wall. Those came in around 7 ounces. A 1/16" wall is plenty of meat. You have to think of it as "Chrome Plating" on a metal bar. Chrome plating is probably .003 thick. Paper is .003 thick. (for comparison) I know chrome is much harder than Delrin, but...........I haven't had any customer "saw" one through yet. That Delrin will last you as long as you are here on earth. The black bar looks like it has about a 3/8" diameter brass rod at best.

[Bill Leff]

HI Bill. Are you making and selling Delrin bars? Website?

[Bill Groner]

Sorry Bill, after 55 yrs of being a machinist I retired 2 yrs ago. No more bars and never had a website. It was strictly word of mouth.

[Larry Dering]

3 oz is way too light for me. Most mine are over 7 oz including the poly bars. I have one of Bills SS bars and I love it. Several Hillman powder coated bars, a Clinesmith and the Tribo Tone plus a EeeZee slide in poly. My son had an aluminium bar made but it's way too light.