The Steel Guitar Forum

I recently discovered a few minor scratches, parallel to the strings, on my (stainless) steel bar. I bought the bar new last year, never dropped it, always take good care of it and frequently wipe it off. The only reason I can think of is this: I do have an average rate of string breakage and use fairly heavy gauges. Could it be that, when a string snaps, the end of it may sometimes put a scratch into the bar when it passes under it. After all, this is a matter of milliseconds and it´s just impossible to lift it in time. Any thoughts about this?

Regards, Joe H.

I have a George L stainless bar and a BJS
chrome plated bar, and neither seem to get
any appreciable scratches. I also have several
smaller Dunlop stainless bars that I use for
dobro, and they get quite scratched. I've
used the George L and BJS on my dobro
occasionally and haven't seen scratches. My
conclusion is that it's the hardness of the
bar that matters. I can't imagine that
breaking strings could have an appreciable
effect. If the bar is harder than the string
material, it shouldn't scratch, IMO.
chas

Joe, Get you a BJS bar and you MITE dent it with a hammer BUT I doubt it.

Can you feel the scratches, or just see them? As long as you can't feel them with your fingernail, they won't bother your playing.
Since your bar is stainless, they can be easily polished out. Breaking strings are usually intercepted (ouch!) by your right hand, so I don't think they're the cause of the scratches. Stainless steel strings are said to be harder on the bar than nickel ones, so you might want to avoid them with your stainless bar. Also, old strings may cause damage to the bar more easily than new ones, especially during rapid slides. Change your strings when they appear "dull" to minimize this.

Lastly, you can protect your bar from scratches and other damage when traveling by making a little "bar cover" by simply cutting a finger off of a large glove, and slipping your bar into it. This also helps protect picks and other items which may be stored with the bar.

Per Bobbe Seymour, don't use the same metal for both strings and bar. Use a stainless bar on nickel strings and a chrome plated bar on stainless strings.

I use "nickel" strings, but this brings up some confusion. Doesn´t the term "nickel" or "steel" only apply to the material used on the wound strings? I thought the unwound ones (which are the ones that break most frequently) are always made of steel?

Joe, If the scratches are minor, get some Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish in the auto dept. at Wal-Mart. You can polish with just a rag (watching TV) until that bar is so slick it makes a BJS feel sticky. Believe me, it works, and will take all the scratches off. Hope this helps

I feel sure that you keep yourstrings wiped clean. The small unwound strings are usually steel, they will gather moisture,then grit, It could get abraisive.

just a thought??


R. L.

Well of course I wipe them strings off each time after playing and once they begin to look dirty, I change them anyway. Mother´s mag might be hard to find over here, but I might try the "secret stuff" (=polishing paste) that I used on the finish between the necks and it really put a mirror-like gloss on there so that all those bar dings are no longer noticeable... and that area was chipped up badly. Guess it should work on metal as well.

Thanks to all who responded so far,

Joe H.

Joe, Sorry, I didn't look at your profile. You could have a friend in the USA mail you a jar of Mother's. Just an idea PS It's the best over all metal polish I have ever found.

BJS and you are set for life; really

bob

Hi Joe,
I use Simichrome Polish to smooth out my bars....and guess what? It's made in Germany! Made by a company called Happich, product #390050. All the Harley guys I know use it also.

Pat

Some bars are just softer metal and are prone to scratching. I used to use a Sho-Bud bar and after a couple years it developed deep grooves parallel to the strings. I tried removing them with rubbing compound, which worked, but new ones formed after a while. Now I have been using an Emmons bar for many years and it is still perfectly smooth. Ed