Hound Dawg bar on the C6 neck?
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- Jeffrey Beers
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- Joined: 11 Sep 2022 8:00 am
- Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Hound Dawg bar on the C6 neck?
Hi - Another beginner question: I’m just starting to mess around with the C6 neck. So, I was stinking my way along behind a “slow country” playlist and noticed that I have an intuitiveness (if that’s a word) to want to hammer on and pull off the C6 neck like playing a squareneck reso.
And, that had me reaching into the reso case for a Hound Dawg tone bar.
BTW - I play a squareneck and regular guitars. The way I ended up getting a pedal steel is that I was looking at lap steels…then 8 string laps and then benders for that ….and so on. So, I thought I would just skip years of upgrading I bought a used D10. I bought this thing to enjoy it.
So, to the point.. Do any of you guys who can actually play mess around fusing swamp sounds with C6 chords and phrases. Do any of you use a resonator bar, if only occasionally.
Just a sanity check…….
And, that had me reaching into the reso case for a Hound Dawg tone bar.
BTW - I play a squareneck and regular guitars. The way I ended up getting a pedal steel is that I was looking at lap steels…then 8 string laps and then benders for that ….and so on. So, I thought I would just skip years of upgrading I bought a used D10. I bought this thing to enjoy it.
So, to the point.. Do any of you guys who can actually play mess around fusing swamp sounds with C6 chords and phrases. Do any of you use a resonator bar, if only occasionally.
Just a sanity check…….
2004 D10 GFI Ultra
- Ken Pippus
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- Jeffrey Beers
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- Scott Denniston
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- Ken Pippus
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Obviously, aside from offending the thought police, you can do whatever the heck you like. My experience was that once I got used to the round bar, there really wasn’t a significant advantage to the contoured ones. I use a 7/8” bar or bigger on pedal steel and a 3/4” bar for 6 string resonator. I ain’t no Jerry D, but I can bounce that sucker relatively quickly.
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- Jeffrey Beers
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- Jeffrey Beers
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- Scott Denniston
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Also I've always used a hallowed out bullet bar on C6. I guess I started that because all the real steel players I knew used that. Light & easy to tip up and move around swiftly for single note scaleular stuff. The tone is a bit different but not in a bad way. Disclaimer: I'm still finding my way around the C6 neck.
- Richard Alderson
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- Ken Pippus
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- Richard Alderson
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Dear Jeffery - Before I could play a pedal steel, I used to play a dobro. My name is Stephen Richard Alderson. This is my story.
Yes, as you have discovered the heavier bar makes a richer and more pleasing tone than the light weight dobro steel. I think all of us who have made the switch figured this out just by listening exactly as you have. The lighter bar gives a less pleasurable listening experience and soon gets discarded. Not because its in the rule books or anything, but because our ears all seem to tell us the same thing: the bigger bar sounds better. I still keep the old dobro bar in my strings compartment, it could be used in an emergency and it would cover 8 out of the 10 strings, although the edges at the end of the bar tend to get in the way, or get caught with the strings being so close together compared to the six string resonator.
Yes, as you have discovered the heavier bar makes a richer and more pleasing tone than the light weight dobro steel. I think all of us who have made the switch figured this out just by listening exactly as you have. The lighter bar gives a less pleasurable listening experience and soon gets discarded. Not because its in the rule books or anything, but because our ears all seem to tell us the same thing: the bigger bar sounds better. I still keep the old dobro bar in my strings compartment, it could be used in an emergency and it would cover 8 out of the 10 strings, although the edges at the end of the bar tend to get in the way, or get caught with the strings being so close together compared to the six string resonator.
Derby SD-10 5x6; GFI S-10 5x5; GFI S-10 5x5; Zum D-10 8x7; Zum D-10 9x9; Fender 400; Fender Rumble 200; Nashville 400; Telonics TCA-500.
- Jeffrey Beers
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Thanks all. My whole notion of the tapered bar came from one of the 6000 instructional videos I’ve been digesting ove4 the last few months.
I think it was Paul Franklin (or maybe Joe Wright) who mentioned that his first teacher had him use a tapered bar so that he would get into the habit of lifting up on the bar when he was moving it.
I’m pretty sure it was Paul Franklin because the Joe Wright seminar I watched focused on the right hand. Mr. Wrights seminar was one of the most fundamentally educational two hours I’ve spent relative the the pedal steel.
Thanks for chiming in. I’ll try to do a better job of researching stuff before asking dumb questions.
I think it was Paul Franklin (or maybe Joe Wright) who mentioned that his first teacher had him use a tapered bar so that he would get into the habit of lifting up on the bar when he was moving it.
I’m pretty sure it was Paul Franklin because the Joe Wright seminar I watched focused on the right hand. Mr. Wrights seminar was one of the most fundamentally educational two hours I’ve spent relative the the pedal steel.
Thanks for chiming in. I’ll try to do a better job of researching stuff before asking dumb questions.
2004 D10 GFI Ultra
- Bob Watson
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