Slides

[Les Paul Fanatic]

Anyone play any slide guitar, and if so what material is your slide made out of, glass, ceramic, steel, brass, what? Also what kind of tone do you get with ceramic? :-k

[MikeRom]

I don't know that anyone would ever confuse me for a real slide player, but I do have one and use it occasionally. And since I use it so infrequently I bought a Jet slide, the chrome one. They also have brass and brass is a little to metalic sounding for my taste or you can get one with a glass covering, which I was afraid I would break. I can dial in a pretty good tone with the chrome one. If they had a ceramic covering I would be interested in finding out what that sounds/feels like.

[lpdeluxe]

I use metal slides. Glass just doesn't do anything for me.

 

Dunlop chrome pinky slide: Gibson LP Deluxe and Epi Sheraton II, both with Seymour Duncans.

 

Lakeland tapered brass slide: acoustic flat-top, tuned to G

 

Straight-sided brass slide: I used it with a Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gent, but maybe I'll give it a try with the Epil

 

Dunlop bullet-nose steel: Dobro, '30s Regal spider bridge.

 

The slide seems to make a noticeable difference in tone, which I suspect is due to the variations in mass and finish. As I said, I don't like glass, but others won't play anything else, and it's for the same reason: glass sounds different from metal, and metals sound different from each other.

[nolongermike@gibson]

I'm a Coricidin bottle guy. Its a good thing, too..... 'cause when you hear me playing slide you need some of those pills. :)

[surfpup]

Here's a fun trick... for a gritty slide sound buy some copper tubing from your local hardware/home improvement store. It's so cheap I buy a foot or two usually. They can cut it for you but you can buy a cutter pretty cheaply too. Then at home you can cut the tube into whatever slide length you like. You'll have enough for a lifetime with that one foot of tubing! (Unless you lose them like I do). I use a Dremel tube to polish the ends for smoothness. You can polish the outside slide surface too if you desire a little less resistance. I like the way the copper grabs the strings. It sounds kinda primitive, and it helps me not to overshoot the notes. Another tip - if you can't find an inner diameter that fits your finger as tightly as you like, cut strips of electrical tape the same length as the slide and add them vertically inside until it is just right.

[turtle]

i like the old coricidin bottles the best > i found an old one under a butler house we ripped down> ive used it ever since.ive played awhile and now seems natural to me> but i probably cant shred like some of you guys > but we all have our talents i guess>

[CajunBlues]

I use a chrome/steel one for the pinky... I play live with it and do a lot of Thorogood tunes with it...

 

I would advise AGAINST using a heavy duty thick slide... For me, they tend to cause me to press down too much... I guess if you have really HIGH action a heavy duty slide would be ok.. But I play only with moderate height...

 

Something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dunlop-286-Johnny-Winter-Signature-Texas-Pinky-Slide_W0QQitemZ150289995052QQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

 

Very basic yet very effective .... I don't like wood, glass, porcelin etc... only steel or brass...

[GuitarJunkie]

what material is your slide made out of' date=' glass, ceramic, steel, brass, what?[/quote']

Yes.

 

I collect slides and keep finding different ones every time I open another case.

[Les Paul Fanatic]

Any advice on ceramic slides.

 

I've got a steel one that I made, yes I set a piece of steel in a lathe and turned me a slide out of it, I've got a brass one that I made, plus I have a glass one as well that has a wall thickness of 1/4'' so that way I don't have to worry about it breaking. Now I like my glass one but I don't know.

[lpdeluxe]

Any advice on ceramic slides.

 

I've got a steel one that I made' date=' yes I set a piece of steel in a lathe and turned me a slide out of it, I've got a brass one that I made, plus I have a glass one as well that has a wall thickness of 1/4'' so that way I don't have to worry about it breaking. Now I like my glass one but I don't know.[/quote']

 

That's cool. I'd love to be able to do that and make one that **really** fit, for once.

 

As to ceramics, I may try one of those next, but I'm in no hurry. I'm pretty happy with the ones I'm using.

 

I just spent a little time with the Epi Sheraton through a Blues Jr NOS using the brass slide. Damn, it was 'way better than the chrome pinkie slide! Somehow glass doesn't have enough weight for me (I use a very light touch, with .011 - .52s, with a wound 3rd); the pinkie slide gave out a lot of jangle and high frequency transients that the brass one doesn't.

 

I should remark that I have long, skinny fingers, and Coricidin bottles just flop around on me. It's been a challenge finding slide that fit (I wear the pinkie slide on my ring finger -- it's too big for my pinky).

 

I'm glad the change in slide tamed the top end of the Epi. Except for electric bass (and harmonica) I play slide or steel on electric, acoustic or reso exclusively, so it the Epi hadn't panned out I would have had to peddle it.

[Les Paul Fanatic]

That's what I'm looking to do, if I could try one out, I hear that ceramic gives a really warm sound.

[FreedomStain]

I use a ceramic and it's really bluesy and edgy. After hearing the smooth tone Robbie Kreager was getting from his metal slide last night, I'm going for a metal one asap!

[lpdeluxe]

Here are a couple of photos of how I store my slides.

 

The first pic shows my harmonica case, which I usually take to jams and practices. I cut out a section of the foam liner to fit a plastic lure box my stepson gave me: the box holds, from left to right, a 5/8" deepwell socket, a Dunlop pinkie slide, a tapered brass Lakeland slide, a bulletnose steel, and a non-tapered brass slide. There is room in the sections for flatpicks and plastic finger and thumbpicks.

 

With this, I can play electric guitar, acoustic guitar and Dobro, not to mention harmonica.

 

 

The second pic is a smaller box that I bought at Hobby Lobby for a buck or two. It stays in the LP case when I have only an electric to take along and holds a pinkie slide, flatpicks and metal fingerpicks (which are in there mostly because I haven't taken 'em out yet).

 

Either method allows organization and the peace of mind when you head to a gig or a party that you didn't leave something essential behind.

 

[retrosurfer1959]

I have several of each kind steel glass ceramic even a polished stone or two. My favorite by far like a few others is a Coricidin bottle (can't beat it after all Duane and Warren use them) I have several originals and a dozen or so of the copies even the remakes which aren't quite as good but work well enough I keep one in every guitar case.

[saturn]

I bought a glass Dunlop slide a while ago, but to me it's more like a hard plexi-glass. I didn't care for the tone too much. Then I got a chrome one that I like the sound of more. Although it's easier for me to play it on the ring finger, I wanted a shorter length to put on my pinky so I could attempt to play both with and without the slide while wearing it. Since I work in a machine shop, I just parted the chrome in two and polished the ends. I still haven't mastered the technique of using it though!

[Les Paul Fanatic]

Glass I find works better on electrics, for acoustics it's a little bit harder to find that strikes my fancy. Oh and Saturn power to machinist, I'm in school for machining down here in Tenn. We can make just about anything for guitars and it not cost us a penny.