The Steel Guitar Forum

I have the Stevens bar and the Shubb Pearse 2 bar for my dobro . Can anyone tell me the difference between those two and the regular Shubb Pearse bar. I like the SP 2 but it's not the best for pulloffs. I love the Stevens but wish it was a tad longer. Is the Dunlop Lap Dawg bar bigger or longer than the Stevens ? thank you for any tips you can offer

You can buy a stevens ,bars made for 8 strings or 10 strings, They are too long for dobro, but you can cut it to length you like.
I think. Check Elderly catalogue

Develop the skill of turning the bar around. With the flat tip you can do pull-offs every bit as clean as the Stevens.

I echo what Pete said. Turning the bar so that the long, flat end faces away from you makes for some real easy and nice sounding pull -offs. Overall, however, I think I prefer the sound and feel of the Stevens. It is nice to have some options though!

Dan Farrell
Anaheim CA
'97 Carter D-10
Nashville 1000
Regal RD-45

I've been using a bar made by Ron Tipton, in KY., for years now. I don't think he's making them anymore, but Elderly has a similar bar, now produced by Tim Scheerhorn.
They're great for fast pull-offs, and are well-balanced in your hand. Definitely worth a try.

The Shubb-Pearse 1 (SP-1) is a longer version of the one that you like. It works great on an 8-String.

Don't have any experience with the Shubb bars, but the Scheerhorn (Tipton) design is a big ergonomic improvement over the traditional Stevens bar, IMHO. The bottom radius is larger, it's just a tiny bit longer & heavier, and both ends are flat & tapered from bottom to top -- so that you won't accidentally hit the first string when you're trying to pulloff or hammer on the second string. Improved my playing accuracy by 100% the day I switched from a Stevens bar, tone is better, too. The Lap Dawg bar is a lighter weight knockoff of the Scheerhorn. Elderly instruments sells the former for $40, the latter for about $15.

Thanks for your help everyone, I had a Homer Simpson moment as I looked at the Shubb 2 bar about 5 minutes after I posted to the forum. doh !
I thought both ends were the same in the very limited time I've spent with the bar. Yeah, the sharp end works great on pulloffs and I can tuck the other end in to my palm. It has a mellower tone than the Stevens I think

Hey we all have those, I call "senior moments". I have a SP liked it. swap ends, It has a few grooves now . I found one that wont wear, in my life tine, It`s Stainless steel made by Lebeda

jonesgtrmn3