The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm sure this has been asked before: there are various bullet bars available online in different lengths and diameters. I recently purchased a 30's Supro 6 string lap steel and have no idea which bar would work best. I found some quality bars on the "links" on the upper right of the this page and the quality bars come in different sizes.

Any advice much appreciated.

It's not the size of the bar it's what you can do with it.

A 2.75" X .75" bullet bar seems to be the most recommended for a 6 string although I might have to give a 3" X .75" a try sometime. The Jim Dunlop 919 is an inexpensive and highly recommended 2.75" bar. I'd start there.

I use a Dunlop 918 (3/4 x 2 15/16) for 6 and 8 string steel. Over 3" long is better for 10 and 12 string necks.

I would recommend the Latch Lake (formerly "Broz-O-Phonic") bar:

http://latchlakemusic.com/slides/hawaiian-bar/

It is about 3/4" x 3" and weighs about 5.6 ounces. Cheapest I've found them is from Elderly Instruments in Michigan:

http://elderly.com/accessories/items/BOPGS.htm

This is exactly the same as the former Broz-O-Phonic bars. Not certain why they changed the name, but it probably has something to do with the unfortunate scandal that led to Mr. Brozman's suicide two years ago.

Thanks for all the help. I owned the Broz-o-phonic for a number of years and liked the feel, weight, etc, but sold it along with all of Bob's instructional dvds, books, and compact discs after the "news" a few years back.

Jordan Sayers wrote:Thanks for all the help. I owned the Broz-o-phonic for a number of years and liked the feel, weight, etc, but sold it along with all of Bob's instructional dvds, books, and compact discs after the "news" a few years back.

Yes. Good.

Dunlop 919. It's what Jerry Byrd told me to buy.