| Author |
Topic: Ironwood Tone Bar.... |
Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
|
|
|
|
Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
|
|
|
|
Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
|
Posted 6 Jan 2008 1:46 pm |
|
Free shipping, cheap price, and a 'no problem' return policy should help sway players to check it out. But as the seller sez, it's a mellower sound.
I just wonder how it would hold up against constant use on the strings, especially wounds. |
|
|
|
Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
|
|
|
|
chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
|
Posted 6 Jan 2008 4:24 pm
|
|
| a friend made me some wood bars once when i was looking for a dobro/option tone...they are ironwood, but dark brown..made the same shape as a real bar..interesting for a different tone, but really not that handy...mine stay in the seat, usually. |
|
|
|
J D Sauser
From:
Wellington, Florida
|
Posted 6 Jan 2008 6:28 pm
|
|
| Andy Volk wrote: |
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lignum_vitae |
So, it's "Guayacan", huh?
There's guayacan growing close to where I live here on the island! They make and sell a lot of things out of that wood. Some pieces are so hard they are just polished to a nice shine. Some really feels like "organic" bakelite. I often wonder what a guitar made of it would sound like... actually, some day I may not resist and try to find out.
... J-D. |
|
|
|
chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
|
Posted 6 Jan 2008 7:21 pm
|
|
the guy that made my bars was a flutemaker..the wood is beautiful but i think it is a protected species or whatever now. i think he said some could be found lying around in arizona or new mexico. it's very hard
(she said) |
|
|
|
Jude Reinhardt
From:
Weaverville, NC
|
Posted 6 Jan 2008 11:20 pm
|
|
I'd buy one if it wasn't so big. Here's a good source of information.
Click Here
I used to have some leather working tools made of lignum vitae, it's very hard and has a kind of waxy feel when polished.
Jude
_________________
"If we live in fear of banjos, then the banjos have won".
"Man cannot live by bread alone, he must have Peanut Butter". - Kruger Bear |
|
|
|
Roger Shackelton
From:
MINNESOTA (deceased)
|
Posted 7 Jan 2008 12:51 am
|
|
| On the Janka Scale of Hardness, which measures the relative density of various types of wood, Lignum Vitae ranks highest. Lignum Vitae has a Janka hardness of 4500 (compared with Hickory at 1820, Red Oak at 1290, and Yellow Pine at 690). |
|
|
|
Jude Reinhardt
From:
Weaverville, NC
|
Posted 7 Jan 2008 3:00 am I'm getting one!
|
|
I ordered one. Now to find someone that can turn it down to 7/8, shorten it to 3 1/4 and round both ends. OK, maybe just round one end and make it 3" long for using on the six string.
Jude
_________________
"If we live in fear of banjos, then the banjos have won".
"Man cannot live by bread alone, he must have Peanut Butter". - Kruger Bear |
|
|
|
Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
|
Posted 7 Jan 2008 3:27 am
|
|
| It's the hardest wood in the world. Sculptor's mallets, rigging on clipper ships, and the nuts on John Pearce's defunct Weissenborn copies were all made of Lignum Vitae. |
|
|
|
Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
|
|
|
|
Steve Branscom
From:
Pacific NW
|
Posted 7 Jan 2008 11:12 am
|
|
Not to put too fine a point on it but ironwood is a common name that seems to encompass a wide variety of woods including lignum vitae. Desert Ironwood for example is actually endemic to the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironwood - this is a listing for all the types of ironwood. You'll notice that Lignum vitae is a distinct type of wood using the name ironwood. Frankly, if it was lignum vitae I would have expected them to use that particular name as it has a particular cache/uniqueness. Here's another site to look at that also gives a variety of woods http://www.exoticwood.biz/woodchart.htm
_________________
Steve |
|
|
|
David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
|
Posted 7 Jan 2008 12:13 pm
|
|
I have a standard shaped, 7/8" X 3 1/4" lignum vitae bar I bought from a friend of forumite Karlis Abolins years ago. It works OK, but I like delrin or acrylic better. At that size, it's only two ounces even, and you just can't get much tone out of anything shy of three ounces or so. Even being a hardwood, you also get a distinct "sawdust effect" going on the wound strings if you get overstimulated, as I so often do.  |
|
|
|
Eric Ebner
From:
Texas Republic
|
Posted 7 Jan 2008 6:44 pm
|
|
I have considered making a bar out of mesquite wood just for the fun of it. When a mesquite bar plays its last note you can smoke your steak on it  I'm glad to see a wood bar out there. In Andy Volk's book "Lap Steel Guitar" there is a picture on page 272 of some wooden tone bars made by Michael Werner.
P.S. 7/8 bars are now available: www.tribotone.com/slides.html
_________________
Tribo-Tone™ Bars |
|
|
|
Stephen Dorocke
From:
Tres Piedras, New Mexico
|
Posted 8 Jan 2008 8:23 am
|
|
| I turned some ebony for a bar awhile back. After sanding with various grit sandpaper, down to 600 I believe, I buffed it out on a buffing wheel. The biggest difference for me is the weight. Also, less sustain and a slightly mellower tone. |
|
|
|
Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
|
|
|
|
Stephen Dorocke
From:
Tres Piedras, New Mexico
|
Posted 8 Jan 2008 1:40 pm
|
|
here's a pic of the ebony bars and 5 bars made by Ed Fulawka. They're made some bar stock, which # specification eludes me at this time... not chromed, which I prefer. I like the graininess and the resulting ambient string noise.. the ebony buffs out nicely..
 |
|
|
|
Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
|
Posted 8 Jan 2008 2:05 pm
|
|
Mark, maybe getting some lead would be even better, as it would obviously be heavier, and you could pack it in to have a tighter fit, and possibly add more tone than the steel rod insert.
If I had a safe and exact way to drill out a bar, I'd like to find out for myself. |
|
|
|
Steve Norman
From:
Seattle Washington, USA
|
Posted 9 Jan 2008 12:38 am
|
|
wood bars work well with dobro simulators
_________________
GFI D10, Fender Steel King, Hilton Vpedal,BoBro, National D dobro, Marrs RGS |
|
|
|
Jude Reinhardt
From:
Weaverville, NC
|
Posted 9 Jan 2008 1:21 am Another listing for lignum bar
|
|
It appears he has more than one. I'm still waiting for mine.
Click Here
Jude
_________________
"If we live in fear of banjos, then the banjos have won".
"Man cannot live by bread alone, he must have Peanut Butter". - Kruger Bear |
|
|
|
Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
|
|
|
|
Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
|
|
|
|
Jude Reinhardt
From:
Weaverville, NC
|
Posted 9 Jan 2008 8:13 am
|
|
I'm going to love it. I might end up making banjo bridges out of it, but I'm going to love it.
Jude
_________________
"If we live in fear of banjos, then the banjos have won".
"Man cannot live by bread alone, he must have Peanut Butter". - Kruger Bear |
|
|
|
Jude Reinhardt
From:
Weaverville, NC
|
Posted 19 Jan 2008 6:26 am Bar review
|
|
The bar came in yesterday. Being 3 5/8" X 1" it's a little awkward to use on a six string, but I can see a lot of potential. It does appear to be lignum vitae, the same as my old leather working mallet head and burnishers are made of. The seller calls it lignum or ironwood. It weighs 1.8 oz. so some weight needs to be added. I'm thinking of shortening it to 3 1/4", rounding one end, drilling out the other end and adding lead shot until I get the weight up to about 6-7 oz. I'll then put some J-B Weld in the end and use the waxed end of a steel bullet bar to form the cup at the bar end. I'll practice shaping my bullet nose on my disc sander using short sections of an old broom handle.
There's enough wood in this bar to copy the dobro type steels as you can see in the photo.
Playing with the bar gives less volume but nice tone, similiar to using an unweighted glass bar.
Jude
_________________
"If we live in fear of banjos, then the banjos have won".
"Man cannot live by bread alone, he must have Peanut Butter". - Kruger Bear |
|
|
|
