Good Slide Guitar?

[Silenced Fred]

I want to leave a guitar set up for slide, but I don't want it to be one I use (ie my Gibson or Fender)

 

In the meantime, I'm gonna raise the action on my Contemporary Strat, and use that, but I would like a decent cheap guitar that I can leave set up for this. Any suggestions?

[Basshole]

I found a beat-up 1970's Franciscan Acoustic the back of my friends covered truck. Said that his dad was suppose to take it to the dump. The neck was breaking away from the body, I had to rip out the frets past the 12th fret marker and screw two screws in the fret board to keep it from breaking, so I "red necked' this guitar to play slide. I'm no Guitar tech, nor did I have the right parts. But at least it works and works well.

 

 

 

 

I would try to find a old Kay, Pan, Epiphone, Silver tone acoustic guitar. There a lot of them out there and you can get some cheap one out there.

[Riffster]

I am currently using my Squier 51, I'd say that's a good guitar for slide given that it has a splittable humbucker on the bridge and a single on the neck and it is a hard tail.

 

They are discontinued but I have seen some in stores.

 

The only drawback I see is that these guitars do not have a tone control, I added one to mine.

 

I do not have it set up for slide and I won't either, I am learning using my standard action preference which is not that low since I am heavy-handed anyway.

[Silenced Fred]

I have considered finding some guitars like Bas shole mentioned, but I have seriously considered some of the cheap squier teles. I don't need an amazing guitar for slide, the high action won't hurt, and they are kinda cool.

[milod]

About anything works and I'm not sure whether anything is perfect except a lap steel or a Dobro-style thing.

 

Problem is that for me, I kept the action low with open tunings so I could still do chords with fingers other than my pinkie that had a slide on it. But I used a light metal tube - they used to make metal lipstick cases that fit my pinky finger perfectly - so there was a lighter touch than a glass bottle.

 

If you raise the action on an electric, you may have to also raise the pickups. If you raise the action on an acoustic, about anything will work half decently.

 

A lot depends on how you wanna play slide.

 

m

[Riffster]

A Squier Tele will do the job, especially with those skinny necks just make sure you don't buy one with a nut width that is too small, check the specs.

 

A set of GFS pickups from guitarfetish.com and a slide conversion nut to raise the action without mods and you are in business.

[Silenced Fred]

I just started, but for me what seems to work the best is a high action and I started playing around in open D or E.

 

I guess that's how I play slide

[Silenced Fred]

A Squier Tele will do the job' date=' especially with those skinny necks just make sure you don't buy one with a nut width that is too small, check the specs.

 

A set of GFS pickups from guitarfetish.com and a slide conversion nut to raise the action without mods and you are in business.[/quote']

 

I'm not too worried about the pups right now, but a different nut, and I can be out the door for less than 200

[Riffster]

This is the nut:

 

[Silenced Fred]

That looks awesome.

 

Just to get the funds together now, should be fun as hell

[Riffster]

I just started' date=' but for me what seems to work the best is a high action and I started playing around in open D or E.

 

I guess that's how I play slide [/quote']

 

I just started too, I cut my left thumb a few weeks ago and it hurts to play so i took on slide.

 

I decided to learn on normal action, I was getting some buzz because I was using a straight slide on a radiused fingerboard (something the conversion nut eliminates).

 

So the solution was to get a curved slide and voilà, yes, it is heavier than glass but I am getting used to it.

 

[Riffster]

That looks awesome.

 

Just to get the funds together now' date=' should be fun as hell

[/quote']

 

It is, I already learned a few bars of Led Zeppelin's In My Time of Dying. (Open A Tuning)

 

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Sxxy0ynXk[/YOUTUBE]

[milod]

Nathan, the high nut is fine if you're trying to emulate a lap steel or "dobro."

 

Or if you're strummin' or fingerpickin' and only want the "steel" sound.

 

It's not so fine if you're doing a hybrid version where you finger chords normally and use a light touch with a steel of some sort as well - whether with an open or standard tuning.

 

A lotta the old blues guys did the second version - some with more of a fingerpickin style and some with more of a flapickin' style.

 

Thing is, you've gotta decide if you want a light touch and some standard sorts of root chords or if you want only the sort of thing you'd get from a lap steel or bluegrass "dobro."

 

m

[Riffster]

True what milod points out, with the high nut (depending on how high it actually is) you may be giving up on chords. the trick is a happy medium.

[Silenced Fred]

I was not aware they made curved ones

 

I will have to pick one of those up as well, I have had that problem myself, thanks man

[Riffster]

That's a Harris Slide by Dunlop. There are others that have both ends curved.

 

I settled on this because it allows some of the free motion of a straight slide if you want to apply vibrato.

 

The funny thing is that I use this slide upside down because it is top heavy due to the additional brass material to make the curve on top (bottom for me)

[Riffster]

Alright, I am getting the hang of home recording. Slowly but surely. I am trying to figure out some issues and set a better space for it. I am recording short clips, once I feel good about it I will record longer riffs.

 

Squier 51/brass slide>>>Mesa 5:25/blues channel>>>Shure SM57>>>Line 6 UX1>>>RiffWorks

 

Here is an extremely short clip of slide in open A.

 

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=8781962&q=hi&newref=1

[Andre S]

Actually, I was thinking of using a Melody Maker or something, but I think I'll find something cheaper too.

[Silenced Fred]

Actually' date=' I was thinking of using a Melody Maker or something, but I think I'll find something cheaper too.[/quote']

 

500 is a bit steep for such a guitar that will just be used for slide.... I'm thinking a Squier Tele or maybe a used MIM one if I can get it for around 250 would be killer.

 

My teacher was telling me about a guitar (Del Rey possibly ) That had terrible pickups, a metal pickguard, and sounded awful usually, but with slide it sounded great because the magnets from the pickups affected the pickguard and made that magnetized, so it was like one giant pickup. It sounds really cool.

[bluzhammer]

http://www.rockymountainslides.com/ Try these guys slides, I use them and I never adjust my string height, just my tuning. I am mostly a pinky slide player, these slides arent overly heavy and have great tone.

[KL]

500 is a bit steep for such a guitar that will just be used for slide....

 

I never really understand why people think that a guitar to be used for slide playing has to be of lower quality than a guitar used for playing lead or rhythm. It's true that the action does not have to be low, but if you want quality tone and feel then as always you need a decent instrument.

 

I play slide quite a lot and I often use my Tele or Les Paul that is set up to play as normal with 10's. I use a glass slide which is light in weight and I prefer the sound. If you practise you can play pretty good slide on a conventional set up, unless you use really light strings and have the action really low.

 

If you play slide a LOT then it is nice if you can have a guitar dedicated to just slide with a high action and heavier strings. If you gig a lot then you will probably want to play slide and chords or lead in the same song, so it is not practical to have a high action.