Shubb SP3 vs GS1 tone bars?

[Brushwood]

Hey gang, I’m finally starting out learning lap acoustic slide guitar and wondering if anyone has tried both Shubb SP3 and GS1 tone bars? At this point I’m leaning more towards blues and using Mary Flower’s “Lap Slide Blues” and Kelly Joe Phelps’s “The Slide Guitar” from Homespun as my launch into this cool genre. I’m using an old Seagull S12 Cedar that’s been converted to 6 string lap slide and it sounds great especially when I use my Krivo Micro-Manouche “removable” humbucking pickup plugged straight into my Bose S1 Pro. I dug around in my stuff and found an old Hawaiian Stevens tone bar I bought almost 30 years ago in anticipation of learning this style (you got me why it took so long to dive in) and quickly switched to the more comfortable/easier to handle SP3 which was delivered last week. Though the same length, I like the lighter weight and different shape of the SP3 at 4.97 oz much more than the Stephans at 5.32 oz for what I’m doing right now. Though the GS1 is lighter at 4.8 oz and a bit longer than the SP3 the wooden handle on the GS1 intrigues me for possibly even more grip comfort. Now that you know more about my leanings and setup doing this...any thoughts on the GS1 or any other tone bar vs the SP3? I’m going to get another tone bar as a backup anyway, but thought I’d hold off until I reached out here.
Thank you for any helpful opinions on this.

[Silly Moustache]

Hi, firstly, I would say that this is like all other accessories in that someone else can tell you what they prefer but not what would suit you.

I can't say what steels I use for my Dobro but one is a treasured one made by a one man band they everybody treaures.

For my Weisenborn, I use an SP3 and a Dunlop Long Dawg and can't really tell the difference.

The one with the wooden handle seems pointless to me as you don't hold it in that way .... 'least I don't.

[Stringmaster]

Have you tried a bullet bar? It’s my preference for pretty much everything. I did use a Stevens bar on my ex Dobro, but use a bullet bar on my electric steels, and used to use one on my National Tricone. Slants, vibrato, sustain, etc. are much easier in my opinion. The Stevens bars are perhaps better for Bluegrass pull-offs, but it sounds like your not playing that style. 3/4’ diameter is the most popular for 6-string.

Something like this:
https://www.elderly.com/products/sta...26854530089024

[Rudy4]

I used to make and market two different ebony handled tone bars, one of them made from polished 3/4" solid stainless steel rod stock and the other made from 3/4" pyrex glass rod. I've also played a bunch with several brands of tone bars.

My two favorite bars are this Elton sculpted bar and the Stevens steel which I drilled through with a 3/8" drill bit to lighten it. Tone bars are inexpensive to try out and everyone eventually finds what works best for them.

[Brushwood]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Hi, firstly, I would say that this is like all other accessories in that someone else can tell you what they prefer but not what would suit you.

I can't say what steels I use for my Dobro but one is a treasured one made by a one man band they everybody treaures.

For my Weisenborn, I use an SP3 and a Dunlop Long Dawg and can't really tell the difference.

The one with the wooden handle seems pointless to me as you don't hold it in that way .... 'least I don't.

Thank you for your sage advice and I really enjoyed your video with your weissenborn style guitar.

[Brushwood]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

I used to make and market two different ebony handled tone bars, one of them made from polished 3/4" solid stainless steel rod stock and the other made from 3/4" pyrex glass rod. I've also played a bunch with several brands of tone bars.

My two favorite bars are this Elton sculpted bar and the Stevens steel which I drilled through with a 3/8" drill bit to lighten it. Tone bars are inexpensive to try out and everyone eventually finds what works best for them.

Thanks for taking the time to post these pictures. I’m curious though...did you have your Elton chromed (I assume it was originally brass?) and how much did your Stevens weigh before and weigh after you drilled it out to lighten it?

[Brushwood]

Originally Posted by Stringmaster

Have you tried a bullet bar? It’s my preference for pretty much everything. I did use a Stevens bar on my ex Dobro, but use a bullet bar on my electric steels, and used to use one on my National Tricone. Slants, vibrato, sustain, etc. are much easier in my opinion. The Stevens bars are perhaps better for Bluegrass pull-offs, but it sounds like your not playing that style. 3/4’ diameter is the most popular for 6-string.

Something like this:
https://www.elderly.com/products/sta...26854530089024

Thanks for your suggestions here. It turns out I’m actually doing a fair amount of pull-offs along with hammer-ons and slides with the delta blues, boogie-woogie and r&b styles I’ve just enjoyably gotten myself into.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Brushwood

Thanks for taking the time to post these pictures. I’m curious though...did you have your Elton chromed (I assume it was originally brass?) and how much did your Stevens weigh before and weigh after you drilled it out to lighten it?

No, the Elton was sold stock like that.

The Stevens was roughly reduced by 50% in overall weight. I didn't find that it effected sustain in any way and is more comfortable to use.

[Brushwood]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

No, the Elton was sold stock like that.

The Stevens was roughly reduced by 50% in overall weight. I didn't find that it effected sustain in any way and is more comfortable to use.

Gotcha, thank you Rudy4.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

No, the Elton was sold stock like that.

The Stevens was roughly reduced by 50% in overall weight. I didn't find that it effected sustain in any way and is more comfortable to use.

Rudy,
I also had the exact Elton you have.

I gave it to George Benson when he came into the shop on 48th St, NYC, and he mentioned that he was studying Hawaiian guitar with somebody.

Best,
Howard Emerson

[Brushwood]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

No, the Elton was sold stock like that.



The Stevens was roughly reduced by 50% in overall weight. I didn't find that it effected sustain in any way and is more comfortable to use.

Rudy, you got me curious about the Elton’s and I poked around on the Internet and found one of his models for sale. It’s not the exact one you have, but looks to be in the ballpark of that style. I bought it and should get it in about a week. I’m lookin’ forward to seeing what it feels like as an option. If I can find someone in my neck of the woods with a proper drill press I’ll probably try the mod you did with your Stevens as well. I’ll start with a smaller drill bit and work up to where it feels comfortable. Heck, I may even go ahead buy a GS1 and reshape the wood handle to my preference. Like you said “tone bars are inexpensive to try out...”. I do like the SP3 a lot and I’m pretty sure that’ll be my go to...initially anyway. Fun times!
IMG_1667706493.848260.jpgIMG_1667706550.387550.jpg

[Brushwood]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Rudy,
I also had the exact Elton you have.

I gave it to George Benson when he came into the shop on 48th St, NYC, and he mentioned that he was studying Hawaiian guitar with somebody.

Best,
Howard Emerson

What a cool story Howard.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Brushwood

Rudy, you got me curious about the Elton’s and I poked around on the Internet and found one of his models for sale. It’s not the exact one you have, but looks to be in the ballpark of that style. I bought it and should get it in about a week. I’m lookin’ forward to seeing what it feels like as an option. If I can find someone in my neck of the woods with a proper drill press I’ll probably try the mod you did with your Stevens as well. I’ll start with a smaller drill bit and work up to where it feels comfortable. Heck, I may even go ahead buy a GS1 and reshape the wood handle to my preference. Like you said “tone bars are inexpensive to try out...”. I do like the SP3 a lot and I’m pretty sure that’ll be my go to...initially anyway. Fun times!

If you check a bit more you should be able to turn up the Elton that I have. It's very comfortable, and the top edge is curved and contoured to fit the hand like a glove. They were available new for a long time, so there must be a bunch of them on the pre-owned market.

If you do end up drilling a Stevens (or other) bar, don't make the mistakes of starting with too small of a bit which can easily deflect to the side over that deep of a hole. I wouldn't go any smaller than 1/4", then follow with the 3/8". Drilling in small incremental steps is also problematic because you concentrate the force on a small amount of the cutting lip of the drill bit. That can cause chip out of the drill bit's cutting edge and also causes the bit to dig in too aggressively, pulling the bit rapidly into the hole. Use a brand new bit for the pilot hole, and you can drill half-way from each side to make sure you end up with a reasonably true bore.

Here are three bars I used to make in case you ever want to try your hand at making similar bars. As you can tell, I like the top finger grip! Top photo is solid stainless, middle is solid Pyrex, and the bottom is wood handle epoxied to one of the commercially available bottleneck slides.

[Guitars44me]

I got very comfortable with the wooden grip slide by schubb. But eventually, I realized that I needed a radius.

That is because I play lap slide on standard guitars, with low action! Yeah, I know it’s kind of crazy, but then I don’t have to carry a second guitar.

When I’m at my gigs, I often play about half the time in standard tuning, dropped to D, and the other half in open D and variations thereof.

I only play lap slide on a few of the songs in open D, so I just lay the guitar down. Of course this requires a very light touch with the slide bar! And it also helps to have Jescar super hard gold frets, in case of string bonk.

If anyone else wants to try this ridiculous concept, I highly recommend getting a radiused brass slide. I prefer the Dunlops, especially the Eric Sardiñas model.

I just hold it like silly mustache holds his regular bar, and it works great.

Slide on everybody and have a great time.

Paul