Best Tone Bar For 6 String?

[Carl McLaughlin]

Is the Dunlop 918 the best all round bar for a 6 string lap steel.??

[Miles Lang]

I love my Ezzee-slide bar so much, I feel horrible when I play a Dunlop steel bar

[Cody Farwell]

I have an Ezzee-slide bar too, & while it is very nice, I enjoy playing with my dunlop 919 more than anything else. I've had a 918 as well, but prefer the shorter length of the 919 for my hand.

[Travis Brown]

I'm still pretty new at this, but IMO the tone bar has to fit your hand, not the guitar. I have found I like the tone bar to be slightly longer than my first finger, so I've settled on a 3.25" tone bar. I have a few different thicknesses, I mostly use the 3/4" diameter, but I have 7/8" that I love the sound of and am trying to get acclimated to.

Some folks swear by hybrid designs like the Shubb SP1. I think they are a bit easier to hold onto but they do make slants a bit more difficult.

I suggest you watch the For Sale forum here and try a few used bars out.

[Scott Thomas]

Is the Dunlop 918 the best all round bar for a 6 string lap steel.??

It's the one I started with because Jerry Byrd recommended that size (3/4 diameter, 2 3/4 length).

That said, collecting and trying different bars is one of the fun things about this instrument. So far, I have stuck to the 3/4 diameter but I have one or two closer to 3" in length that I might use occasionally. Then of course there are the different materials to experiment with too.

[Ian]

Carl,

I used to really like my BJS bar when I used a bullet style bar and played C6, I guess it's what they call the 3/4" six string on their web sight (bjsbars.com). Quality stuff. I've been playing more dobro lately, and play electric in open G as well. I'm crazy about the new Sheerhorn bar. I'd been using the old one for 20 years or so. The new one is killer!

Best of luck,

Ian

[Marcus Eads]

I really like my Shubb SP1. It's long: 3 and 3/8" and weighs 5.2oz. Has a semi bullet tip so it really glides over the frets. Very easy to hold onto. I can lift it without effort and single string stuff is a breeze. I use it on lap steel and weissenborn.

[Jack Hanson]

I'm partial to the Latch Lake (formerly Broz-o-Phonic) bullet bar.

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

[Carl McLaughlin]

I have been using the Shubb Sp1 and have become comfortable with it but thought that a bullet bar might be better.Thanks to all for you imput.

[Scott Thomas]

I'm partial to the Latch Lake (formerly Broz-a-Phonic) bullet bar.

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

I like that one too. Good weight and quality. I also like the way the scoop is milled out. Mine is an older Broz-O-Phonic.

[Erv Niehaus]

When playing lap or console steel I use a BJS bar.
I like a BJS bar for one reason: SMOOTH!
Erv

[Tim Whitlock]

I love my Ezzee-slide bar so much, I feel horrible when I play a Dunlop steel bar

This!! I just can't - I WON'T - go back to metal bars! Anyone know if Todd Clinesmith is still selling his polymer bars?

[Rob Fenton]

I prefer the Latch Lake bar to the Dunlop. It's a little bit longer, but has a better nose to it, and is a harder material. The Dunlops are cheap, but I wound up with about 5 of them that each had a nick in them somewhere that grabbed the strings.

I mostly use Jim Burden's bullet bars. I ordered 4 of them in the same size as the Latch Lake about 6 years ago and they are all still in perfect shape. I don't believe you can get those anymore though. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

Todd is still making his bars. I have one in 13/16s diameter and it is the only other bar that I use. Great smooth sliding bar!

[Carl McLaughlin]

Thanks to all for their imput.I may try a Latch

[Jeff Mead]

Since getting my Ezzee-Slide bar, I've not used anything else.

[Janusz Achtabowski]

Is there a big difference between Shubb Sp1 and Sp2?

[Tommy Martin Young]

Is there a big difference between Shubb Sp1 and Sp2?

Janusz, here's a pic. While the SP-1 is longer the SP-2 is heavier - 146g to 164g respectively (5.11oz vs 5.74oz)

That black bar is a great option for those (like me) who feel that the chrome bars are too slippery. It's from Latch Lake and features "Dynamic Diffusion Technology" not sure what that is exactly I just know it stays in hand! (157g/5.50oz) https://latchlakemusic.com/slides/hawaiian-dd/

[John Rosett]

I love my Ezzee-slide bar so much, I feel horrible when I play a Dunlop steel bar

This!! I just can't - I WON'T - go back to metal bars! Anyone know if Todd Clinesmith is still selling his polymer bars?

He is. I just got one from him a couple of weeks ago. I love it!

[D Schubert]

I've been playing with the Shubb SP-1 for a long time, lap steel and Dobro. I like the way that you can swap ends, depending on the situation. Just out of curiosity, I bought one of the Robert Randolph RR-2 bars last year. It's big and heavy, and I'm surprised to find that it's very comfortable in my hands for slants, hammer-ons and pull-offs. If you adhere to the mass = tone theory, it's all that and a bag of chips.

[Jean-Sebastien Gauthier]

The 2 best I tried are BJS Jerry Byrd and Clinesmith 3/4

[Jeffery Mercer]

Any ToneBar made by “BJS”