Which Slide

[Wolfram]

Originally Posted by Diamond Slides

Mycroft touched on a very important point regarding the current 'must have' trend for internally-tapered slides ~ it's fine for lightweight slides (most mentioned in the thread are lightweight), but for heavier slides an internally tapering wall that stops your chosen digit curling comfortably inside the tube can bring on painful tendonitis in the wrist & lower forearm.

Slide On!

Ian.

Ian is right - an internally-tapered slide (like any slide) shouldn't be too tight as to overly-restrict your finger's posture. Sized properly, there are no physical issues with using a tapered slide.

It's also worth pointing out that the reason our Martin Simpson Signature Slide is tapered isn't anything to do with finger fit; it's to provide extra mass towards the tip of the slide where it's required for the optimum tone and sustain for single-note work, without making the entire slide too heavy and bulky.

For example, our Martin Simpson slide has a 4.2mm thick wall at the tip, reducing to 1.8mm at the base. To get the same tone and sustain from a straight cylindrical slide the weight would be around 265 grams for tungsten carbide or 145 grams for steel - our actual weights for the tapered slides are 196 grams for tungsten carbide and 106 grams for steel, which makes them much more manageable!

Cheers,
David