The Steel Guitar Forum

I know some of you guys are plagued with sweaty hands but I have the opposite problem. Coupled with arthritis and dry hands I have a devil of a time holding onto my round bar. The only solutions I've found for my problem is to continually lick my fingers or use a Stevens style bar. Am I unique or have any others had this problem. I would like to know if any of you have better solutions.

Don,

Buy a can of "Gorilla Snot" from Musician's Friend for about 3 or 4 bucks. A little dab'll do you. I use my saliva practicing at home, but when playing an important gig like a Steel Guitar Show, I touch my pick fingers and the thumb and middle finger of my left hand to the gunk before my set. It's worth the price for guys like you and me.

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Roy - I have a tough time with reverse slants, because of my dry hands. I wonder if that stuff will help. My thumb always slips off the end of the bar when I try to move it around the base of the bar.



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Lee, from South Texas
Down On The Rio Grande

Mullen U-12, Excel 8-string Frypan, Evans FET-500, Fender Steel King

a simple solution is hand cream, corn husker lotion, any brand, works great puts moisture in your hands takes away the dryness. I keep a small travel size in my seat.

I don't have the problem except when playing in a place where the ac is blowing too cold on me, like this weekend. It seems to dry and shrink my fingers and makes the picks feel loose. I moisten my finger tips so they don't actually come off, but I feel them move on my fingers while playing, very distracting. I don't have problems with the bar.

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Howard

The Red Rajah bar is pretty effective. It does what it promises---it has a coating that is just a little tacky to the touch. But not in the gorilla snot way which I don't care for the feel or smell of plus it's real dangerous harvesting the stuff. Nothing comes off on your hands or anything with the bar. The RR is not my first choice in bars in general but it is definitely easier to hang onto. Over the last few years, something I've done, technique-wise---and I really have no idea what it is---has made the RR unnecessary. I get pretty dry in the winter and I work with solvents everyday which strip the hands of oils but somehow bar grip has become a non-issue. I think.

What R. Johnson said! It don't hafta be the expensive stuff either,just a bottle from a "dollar" type store will do. In fact,you can buy the "large,economy size" to save money,& a small,empty "travel" bottle to keep re-filling.

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<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Smiley Roberts on 23 July 2006 at 02:58 PM.]</p></FONT>

Use vitamin E oil daily. Jody.

Here's a simple trick I learned with Dobro bars many years ago and I think it would work with any steel.

Get yourself some of that rubber/plastic dip that they sell at hardware stores for screwdriver handles. Dip the bar, let it dry, dip it again. After about three coats have dried get a razor blade and cut away the area that touches the strings. It will peel off easily. What you're left with is a steel, or a Stevens bar, or whatever you use, coated where you hold it with rubber.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Alan F. Brookes on 23 July 2006 at 06:54 PM.]</p></FONT><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Alan F. Brookes on 28 July 2006 at 08:23 AM.]</p></FONT>

Thanks fellers. I should find a solution from these suggestions....Don

Here is another possibility:

SORTKWIK is available at just about any place that sells office supplies. It works great when handling papers. I wonder how it would work when handling a steel bar.

Lee, from South Texas

Had the same problem.Went to Walmart in the stationary dept. got a round container that looks like chewing tabacco can name "Take Hold" by Keene which is a fingertip grip to pull pages apart.Works better than anything I have ever tried & inexpensive.

David Sanderson
MCI 2/10
EVANS Amp

WARNING,If you get one speck of gorrila snot on the strings, they turn into haywire!!!