Copper Plumbing Joint for slide

[jeffl]

Ian: it's great to see that things are going well! Some of your products should be hanging from the ceiling in the great buildings of the world... just like the Chihuly stuff. Honestly, any of you guys who haven't seen Ian's slides should visit his site.
Get one of his slides before you load any more Dunlops into your gearbag. Even if you're a wanker, it'll open doors for you.
(there Ian: that promo is an honest thanks to you for refusing to take any money from me for the acoustic pyrex "harp bell' you made for me, which still goes in my jam kit. Yes folks, he made me a glass acoustic "amp" for my harps.)

[leftyguitarman]

Glad to hear business is booming for you Ian! I broke my favorite wine bottle slide a couple months ago and can't seem to find a suitable replacement. I may have to place an order with you soon for one of your Originals.

Some of your products should be hanging from the ceiling in the great buildings of the world... just like the Chihuly stuff.

My mom actually owns a Chihuly piece in her house, and while it's beautiful, I think my Ultimate from Ian is cooler looking. And it's more useful

You can see the domed Ultimate from Ian on the right. I love it! The green wine bottle is the one I broke recently. It had an amazing tone to it and fit my finger perfectly. Sadly, it met a cement floor.

[ricbleu]

Lefty, is that domed slide on the right made from glass? I have just begun to play with a bottleneck and I was thinking how much easier it would be with a slide which had a domed end. It would be easier to pick out individual notes like with a bar on lap slide. What length are the slides you have in that pic? Peace

[leftyguitarman]

Yes, it's made of glass and was blown by Diamond Bottlenecks. It's a beauty. The domed one is just a hair under 3" in length, but the internal length is probably about 2.75". That wine bottle, which is broken now, was probably 3". The blue one is a Paloma stone slide from Jay Seibert at stoneslides.com. He occasionally posts here and this forum is how I heard of him. The length on that is 2.75" and the length of the metal one is 2.5".

I love the Diamond Ultimate for my resonator, but I find it too heavy to use on electric guitar. The wine bottle was my go to slide for electric, but it's long gone. I'll probably end up replacing it with one of Ian's.

[A J Davies]

how's that stone slide sound on the reso?

[ricbleu]

I'm waiting for one of Jay's stone slides to arrive so I'd be interested to hear your opinion, Lefty. Trouble is, I think I would have been better off buying the longer one (I ordered a 57mm slide). As I've been practising, I've realised that the extra length on the pinky gets across to the bass strings better. I am using a 60mm brass slide just now (brand uncertain - probably Dunlop) and I find that I have to reach across. It will come naturally in the end, but I think the longer slide would make it easier. Peace.

[leftyguitarman]

I love the stone slide from Jay! Totally different flavor than the brass or glass. Unlike many other ceramic slides, Jay's produces virtually no noise. It's thick but lightweight, which is nice. It sounds a little brighter than the glass one from Ian and not as smooth, which isn't a bad thing, at all. I look at it kinda like this: If I want to play a slow, mellow slide tune, I would use Ian's Diamond Ultimate because it's so smooth sounding and warm. If I wanted to play a faster, more aggressive slide tune, I'd go with the ceramic slide because it has more bite to it. I wouldn't say one is better than the other, because I love them both and tone is so subjective. They just have different uses. The Diamond Ultimate is way too heavy for playing on my electric guitar and the Paloma is right on the verge of being too heavy. The brass sounds way too thin on my Tele, so the ceramic gets used for electric slide.

[DaveG]

I love Jay's slides. I have to agree with what Lefty says about the tone and feel. And Jay's great guy to deal with, too. I bought one of his tone bars for my lap steel and it was too long. He went the extra mile to make sure I got what I wanted. If your not happy with the length of the one you ordered, let him know and I'm sure he will do what he needs to make you happy.

[ricbleu]

Thanks for that, Dave. Once I've had a chance to test Jay's slide, I'll know if I want the longer one. Peace.

[NEONMOONY]

Here's a pic of a slide I made from a blue wine bottle. I made the brass one as well, although it was when I was just starting to experiment and paid less attention to detail. The others, for reference, are store bought, a chrome Dunlop, a clear Dunlop and a Joe Perry ceramic boneyard.

[A J Davies]

Got my brother in law custom making me a slide outta a piece of venison shin bone in return for me selling him some pretty sweet hunting gear, still in the works but I'll let y'all know how it sounds. Can't post clips though sorry.

Heard bone got some mojo to it, which is good cos I'm more a fan of the ol' delta blues sort of sound (or those wee riffs you get over clips of a jailhouse or dusty barren desert road in the films lol).

Reckon goat horn might be another good one, buff it up smooth and get those grooves outta the surface first then varnish it up and bore out a good hole for your finger - I'll try that next time I go ahead and bag some chivones for dinner - maybe a cabirto for a pinky slide

[A J Davies]

*cabrito

[A J Davies]

Not sure if the no reply here means none of the Big Road regulars use bone slides or if folks just ain't seen my post, but I had a further thought on the matter...

Would A) Species of animal the bone comes from and
B) Which cut the bone is obtained from

Have much of an effect on the sound? Cos thinking of how wall thickness affects the tones in different slides, then surely a beef bone is going to give a different tone to, say, a lamb bone or a coyote or something.
And then bone density too, will vary from cut to cut so perhaps there is something worth thinking about...

I'd love to hear from anybody out there who uses bone for their slides, as I know of nobody else near where I am - in fact I have only ever seen one commercial bone slide for sale... Mojobone i think it may have been calles...

[allanlummox]

I've tried bone - and just about anything else I could get my hands on, at one time or another. I find that it has a whiskery, whispery sound - but pulls down the volume I get from the instrument. Since I'm generally looking for as much unplugged volume as I can get (a leftover from years of playing the streets) I've seldom used them.

[diamond]

Dan's spot-on here with his comments, bone has very little density in it's structure, so even though you can polish them to a smooth, hard finish - there's not enough weight to give a decent volume & tone. For just a few dollars you can find better slides readily available

Slide On!

Ian.