The Steel Guitar Forum

As steel players we change strings,guitars,seats,picks Etc. but rarely do we change bars.
I was thinking,,Ive had the same bar for Approx. 17 years now.
How old is your bar?

25 years. Had them polished once and they're about due..

I have four, but the one I use is 26 yrs old just can't keep from useing it. Jerry

Sho~Bud - 31 years

1970 Emmons - 33 years old and still as smooth as silk and looks like new!!

Sho~Bud - 30 years .....

Sho~Bud bar, 33 years and it and the volume pedal came with the steel. I assume the whole group---steel, bar, and volume pedal were all new in 1967. 36 years total if my math serve me well at all.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Larry Harlan on 03 May 2003 at 07:55 PM.]</p></FONT>

Still using a hollowed out ZB bar that I bought in 1970... So if my 'rithmetic is correct, that makes it 33 years old.

Chuck Wright turned mine of stainless while I watched in 1967 and it still looks like it did then. I believe that's 36 years.

Made by a machinist friend in the 60's -- Stainless steel. 3/4" X 3-1/2" with hole drilled from back end 1/2" dia. X 2-3/4" deep.

This doesn't bode well for bar manufacturers. Not much repeat business.

I'm using a Zirconia bar that's about 4 years old, a 10 year old BJS (that sounds just like another that's 25 years old), and a new glass bar made recently by a friend of mine.

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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9), Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax

BJS Birthstone Bar 7/8"

Bought new from Billy Cooper in 1994.

Lost birthstone out of it 2002

I have a backup bar and have only used it once (12 string Dunlop bar)



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Tim Harr - Carter D-10 8 & 9 - Troy Cook Jr Band ~ Stardust Nashville Recording Artist

The bar I use was built in 1939. It has had several owners but the present one has had it for 23 yrs. Tap beer is still $.10 a glass the hard boiled eggs and pigs feet are free. One of the qualifications for tending bar is he must be a singer. Bars like this are few and far between. CC

I collect bars, and some of them are older then I am. (Jody Sanders sent me an original Black Rajah from the 30's)

But the one I use is my Zirconia bar which is about 4 years old. Prior to that I used a BJS which I've had since the mid 80's and before that, a no name bar that I got when I first started paying in 1979.

I got my first good bar in 1982.

My 1" Dunlop bar is about 25 years, still
works for me. I have a 1" solid stainless
steel bar that a friend turned for me out of
#302 Stainless tube stock in 1979.



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Rick Johnson

Bobby, I don't know if that's true, exactly. I've been using the same Emmons bar I got in 1971. But I probably have a dozen or more tone bars on hand that I use periodically, a couple of which I purchased recently right here on the forum. As long as I have a compulsion to try new stuff (and nobody comes up with a 12-step program to cure me), I think the bar makers (thank you Jim Burden!) are in good shape!

John Borchard

I still have my 1979 Emmons bar . First one for me. I have had others but this is the only one that stuck with me !!

Emmons bar-32 years

Mine is 40 years. Bought it from Al Petty. He''d made severl and it went for $5.00 Was made of Dynsite . . It's in perfect condition.

Carl West

29 years - 11 months. It will be 30 next month!

I bought a 7/8" Emmons in 1978 second hand. Still the best sounding metal bar I've ever heard. I would buy a Zirconia bar, though, if I could find one

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Ken Drost

I have no idea what kind mine is. I've had it for about 30-35 years. Mooney gave it to me. He and Wynn Stewart were playing at the Caravan West one night and I asked him about his bar. He showed it to me and then gave it to me later. I wish he'd left some magic in it for me.

I had a Dunlap..that I bought at Oxon Hill Music,in Marlo Hights,Md when I bought my First Sho Bud Pro D=10 and was one of Buddy Charleton's 1st students.( I should still be taking lessons). I had it untill about 10 years ago when I lost it at a Jam in South Carolina.
The Bass player that I was playing with at the time..was a machinest..and made me and oversized bar out of stainles Steel. I stile use it..and it's great on my Newer Carter D12..as it covers all of the strings. So ..I've had 2 bars since 1974.

Tapered "Chase" bar since 1958, tapered larger stainless bar since 1960, BMI bar since 1975, 7/8" BHS w/o birthstone since
about 1985, 7/8" Pearse Cryogenic since 1999,
13/16 BHS birthstone as a gift from Springtown Church 2001 and a gold bar as a birthday present from Texas Steel Guitar Association 2002. An original black rajah from about 1965 and a new blue rajah 2001.
An Emmons sitar bar from about 1975. Several other odds and ends also. I prefer the feel of the 7/8" John Pearse and the sound of the 13/16 BHS.
Jerry<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jerry Roller on 11 May 2003 at 06:31 PM.]</p></FONT>