The Steel Guitar Forum

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

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

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.

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.

Carl McLaughlin wrote: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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Jack Hanson wrote: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.

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

Miles Lang wrote: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?

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!

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

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

Is there a big difference between Shubb Sp1 and Sp2?

Janusz Achtabowski wrote: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/

Tim Whitlock wrote:

Miles Lang wrote: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!

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.

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

Any ToneBar made by “BJS”