Topic: Type of slide?

[gus30tavo]

Hi everybody.
I?ve been playing (or trying to..) slide for a year. I?ve tried a lot of models: regular metal Dunlop, real Bottlenecks, some nickel pipes (or whatever they called)... Actually I play with the first one: A normal metal Dunlop. I bought it when I was 15 (I didn?t know what for was..) and I still keeping it with me...
What kind do you use...?? (size, material, brand...)
I use it on my pinky... Somebody with Another finger?
Thanks.
See you.

[a2tom]

I'll be interested in responses.  I'm still a relatively new student of slide and have experimented a good bit in the past year.  I have a buddie who has kept me supplied from his magic slide box.     My perssonal observations are:

I like thicker walls.  My first two slides were typical Dunlops, glass and metal, fairly thin walls.  Having now played several with meatier walls, it is easier to get tone and control, I think.

I love the tone that I've gotten from a couple of brass slides, but they are so darn heavy, I just can't use them consistently I don't think.  Aside from the sheer annoyance of losing contol of the monster and having it smack around, my hand and pinky just get fatigued.

My most recent addition is something of a compromise between those - it is a ceramic Mudslide.  It has a nice thick wall, but the weight isn't so great.  Real comfortable, easy to use.  Becoming my favorite.  The jury is still out a bit on whether I like the tone or not.  They SAY it sounds like bone.  Who knows.  Maybe I'll post something with it some day...

Then, obviously, there are a myriad of other glass slide options.  Last weekend I got my first shot at a real honest to goodness glass bottleneck.  I really liked that!  I may be off to try to make my own soon if I can find a good bottle...

A final thing I'd say is that I have generally liked slides with a lip or curve at the outmost edge.  It helps to pick out slides cleanly on single notes and on the lower strings, I think.  The flare on the bottleneck provided that really nicely, as did the lip on one brass slide I've used.

All that is just a mind barf of nit-picky developing preferences - I can use any of these slides.  I may never find the "perfect" slide - but the journey is half the fun...

tom

[Norfolk Slim]

My favourite is a Diamond Ultimate glass slide with heavy walls.  The weight is important for tone imo.  Second place is another diamond slide- made from a real bottle.

Check out http://www.diamondbottlenecks.com/

The fellow there (despite his footballing allegiances) is a nice chap and will make custom slides to order, for a not especially painful price.

[blueshome]

I'll second Slim - Diamond bottlenecks - they have great range and if you don't see what you want they'll make it for you - they even do a 50/50 glass/metal job.

[onewent]

11/16" socket extension ... pump up your pinkie!   Sounds good on the fingerboard, looks good in the front pocket of your jeans 

[Stuart]

"socket extension"?? Don't you mean "deep socket?" Depending on the manufacturer (and pinkie size), you might want to try on different ones as well as both 3/8" and 1/2" drive types--wall thickness and heft can differ a little depending on the brand.

Stu (aka Mr. Motorhead)

[onewent]

...yeah, not really 'extension', probably called 'extended' ... the finger length version available at your local hardware store ... 11/16 is perfect fit for my pinkie, and I first got the idea from John Hammond a few decades back...used one ever since

[GerryC]

I use two slides for different sounds. I have a diamond bottlenecks 'Redhouse' model which gives a beautifully clear, weepy sound, whether on my reso or a wooden guitar. My other one is brass and I only use it on my reso. It was made by a a guy called Ron who is a builder and was in the same guitar class as myself ( run by the great Roger Sutcliffe in Ilkley [Yorkshire]) some 12 years ago One day on a site where his firm was constructing, Ron found some scrap brass tubing, the walls of which are 3/8 inches thick  . He took it home to his bench and produced slides for most of the guys in the class. The slide is 2 inches long and has a bevel at one end so that it sits comfortably into the gap at the base of the pinky. Great sound, not least because of its weight; as Norfolk Slim said, that is a crucial factor in obtaining a good sound. The only drawback is having to go the gym for three weeks before I can use it... Oh, and I have a boxful of commercial glass and Pyrex and unidentified metal stuff from years gone by I keep meaning to recycle. In there is a slide I made myself from the neck of a nice bottle of Montepulciano. I think I might have made a better job of it if I'd waited a while to start on it after emptying the bottle 

Cheerily,

Gerry C

[dabluz]

i have tried an awful lot, just about everthing, the one i like most is a sears craftsman series deep well socket. i just went to the tool shelf, tried on 3 or 4 sizes, even the expensive spread, decided on the 11/16 and waltz'd up to the cash register. cost around 8 dollars.for me i especilly like the mass at the top. helps with vibratto, (a physics thing) and makes the 5th and 6th string easier to sustain and play. again due to the mass at the top. oh yeah, guaranteed for life.

[onewent]

oh yeah, guaranteed for life

 

[Chezztone]

Hey, y'all are resourceful and capable enough to cut your own from wine bottles. Even I can do that. One lasts awhile, unless you drop it on a hard surface. If you do that, or if you don't like it, you make another. Empty wine bottles are free and plentiful. Or buy a full one and empty it. Let me help with that part. Chezz.

[uncle bud]

I've been using a wine bottle slide for awhile now. It's got the best tone for my money up against a Dunlop, a Mudslide, and a socket. A bit of a rough edge on top (a friend cut it for me who does stained glass) but that just makes it tougher lookin'.... It's what I used for Falling Down Blues on the Back Porch.

Would like to try one of those Diamond slides though. Any weenies who frequent PT have one? Please point it out to me next workshop!

[Orb Mellon]

I use a Craftsman 5/8 inch deepwell socket 75% of the time. Sometimes I use a green glass bottleneck, I have two, either a diamond double cut olive oil bottleneck or a substantially more rustic single cut wine bottle I got from a guy in Minnesota. They all sound great and different from each other.

[slidnslim]

I was a long time bottlneck user till a buddy sent me a
 lenght of bronze pipe from a plumbing vendor on Maxwell street
 in Chicago, its 3/4'' inside is just right for making it snug  on the
 knuckle of my pinkie,

 Kenny,

[longboardsurfing]

Hard to beat the slides from Diamond Bottlenecks. Ian will cut and finish a bottleneck to your specs - length, inside diameter and end finish. Great customer service and great quality! Their newest the Ultimate is a combination of glass and stainless steel (I am anxiously awaiting the delivery of mine). As for glass slides their Redhouse is as good as it gets in my opinion.

[Chezztone]

Sheesh. OK, let me address this again. Y'all, the ones I know anyway, don't strike me as yuppie-wannabe blues players. Although even a yuppie-wannabe blues player with any sense, rather than spend $20 to pay some English bottleworker to cut and polish a slide for him (and another $10 for him to ship it?), would buy a $20 bottle of wine, drink it, and cut the neck off. But a real blues player would spend the $20 on four or five bottles of cheap wine (or on beer or liquor and find the wine bottles) and then have several to ruin before making the good one. Try it, at least, before you send for the high-priced model. Cheers, Chezz

[longboardsurfing]

"Yuppie-wannabe blues player", wow! While I would take exception to the classification of yuppie (perhaps waterlogged old surfer would be more accurate), I guess you could count me among the wannabe blues player category. Ever met a musician who doesn't wannabe a better player? Even Bob Brozman (who most would agree is a pretty good blues player) said in a workshop a couple of days ago that he considered himself probably an advanced player who is still learning.

That being said, and admitting that I do like toys (surfboards and guitars) that perform, Ian McWee from Diamond Bottlenecks just sent me one of his new Evolution slides (a combination of stainless steel and glass). While almost anything you can scrape across the strings works as a slide, this new Evo slide has a tone, feel and balance like no other slide I have used. The glass side has a unique tone while the stainless side sounds more like typical stainless slides. With all the money we spend on guitars, the investment to try different slides is minimal in my opinion.

I bet if I did drink a few bottles of cheap wine before playing I probably would think I am a real blues player. To each his own!

Gary
"Waterlogged wannabe-better blues player"

[Chezztone]

Oops. Didn't mean any offense with the "yuppie-wannabe" line; I said the people I know on here are NOT of that description. But regarding cutting your own slides: my point is that there is a lot of fun and satisfaction in making your own musical equipment. Most of us are not up to making our own guitars (although even a klutz like me has made some nice diddley-bows and even taught others to do it). Cutting your own slide from a wine bottle is a wonderful way to make a simple but very effective piece of musical equipment with your own hands. And it gives you a feeling of connection to the early blues players who did the same. If you like ordering from catalogs, go ahead, but I recommend you try at least once to make your own slide. And I bet you'll love using the one you make. Cheers and be careful! Chezztone

[LightninBoy]

I've been cutting my own bottle-necks since 1979.
I can snap one off clean as a whistle, perfectly straight and have it polished up in a few minutes.
I've tried all kinds of slide's over the years, but nothing comes even close to a bottle-neck, IMO.

Until,,,,,,,

Ian McWee sent me a Diamond Ultimate, lead crystal slide.
I'm not going to rave on about it, all I'll say is its the best slide I've ever used.
Much better than any bottle-neck, and I've had some beauties.
It's amazing!

[Jonas A]

I used to be quite conservative as for slides. The first one I made myself some 35 years ago, from a piece of scrap copperpipe that I found in my granddads backyard. Since then I've acquired loads of different slides and bottlenecks and pyrexslides etc. An none have really been to my liking, perfered the copperpipe till I lost it. About a year ago someone introduced me to Ian of Diamond Bottlenecks and I ordered two. Nice they were and nicely they played. But not outstanding. When I started recording in late March I actually brought along my old pyrex-slide (which I'd earlier swored upon never to use again). Don't ask me why I brought it along. I'm a superstitious guy and I guess there was a meaning to it. When I recorded the Gminor jam Troubled Mind (www.soundclick.com/jonasa) I used the pyrex with my '31 Triolian. And listening back to the track - well, in my humble ears it sounds really OK.

Then Ian sent me one of his new Evo-slides which I received only a few weeks ago. Now: This is the best slide I've ever used. Only using the glass-side, the added weight due to the stainless steel makes the tone bloom. I'm not kidding. I would say the difference as for tone and sustain, equals the difference between a singlecone and a tricone resonatorguitar as for tone and sustain.

Having said that - I'll still use the pyrex. Atleast untill I get fully acquainted with the Evo. It's a bit like learning to drive a Ferrari when you're used to a Ford... 

[Richard]

Ian at Diamond Bottlenecks is the kiddie and he has made me a couple of specials for lap as well.

[Diamond]

Hi All The good Mr. T (..that's Richard - not the guy from the 'A-Team'..) dropped me a line to tell me that our glassware was being mentioned in high esteem on these fine pages - so i register and find many of our customers...and good friends also...posting here

So a big 'Hi' and 'thank you' from Ian and the Diamond Crew to all the folks here for giving us such wonderful endorsements of our slidin' glassware..Y'all keep in touch with us please, and if any good folk here need information or help regarding all things 'slidey', please don't hesitate to shoot me an e-mail, or call via our website and i'll be most happy to assist. 

Hey Norfolk Slim........see you guy's next season - D'oh!

Happy Slidin'

Ian.

www.diamondbottlenecks.com

[Slack]

Welcome Diamond!

I hate to tell you guys this -- but slides that are worn on the fingers are obsolete.  No more debates on which is the best finger to wear a slide either.  Check it out:

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/2006/05/teaspoon2.mpg

Any glass teaspoon models?

[boots]

Nice one Slack.

Can you find a lap player using a ladle  

Edit: sp

[Diamond]

Thanks for the warm welcome Slack Boy, isn't that a great way to play slide!! I'll ask around our glass factory for spoons (but i'll most likely be kicked out as a crazy dude  )

Happy Slidin'

Ian.

www.diamondbottlenecks.com

[Richard]

Boots, we don't just use ladle's, we use the whole tureen 

Can get messy though when slants are involved 

[Michael Segui]

I have made my own bottlenecks... have tried brass, bronze, wine bottles, porcelin, ceramic, chrome, lead crystal... etc...

Right now I pretty much only use bottlenecks from Ian at Diamond Bottlenecks as well as his lead crystal Ultimates. 

[leonard]

Just made a slide out of a deer antler.It really has a nice tone.Feels good on the strings too.  I think a bone one is next.

[Blue in VT]

Lenny,

can you give us some input on how you went about making that slide from antler?  I have a friend who hunts and think I could get ahold of an antler segment...sounds fun and unique.

I'm also intersted to hear how a bone one would sound

Cheers,

Blue

[haduken]

They should be that the slide is 2 inches long and has a bevel at one end so that it sits comfortably into the gap at the base of the pinky so that it will make a best sound.

_________________
Rapid Prototyping