Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on May 17, 2013 at 12:40am

Interesting guitar, James. Never seen it before, but great idea to be able to stand while playing slide.

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Permalink Reply by James Buysen on May 18, 2013 at 12:19pm

I've just learnt that it's called a Melobar.

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Permalink Reply by James Buysen on May 17, 2013 at 2:12am

I'm surprised there isn't more of these actually. It seems like it would be a natural progression to me.
Perhaps they are more show then practical?

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Permalink Reply by James Buysen on May 18, 2013 at 12:22pm

I've just learnt its called a Melobar. Conceived in the 1960s they never really caught on and only saw a short production span.
The idea was to make it easier for beginners to learn guitar removing the left hand gestures of normal guitar and playing lap steel style.

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on May 18, 2013 at 1:51pm

you  should    check out  the  peavy  power slide  too 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lo1ZNIbh9Y

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Permalink Reply by James Buysen on May 18, 2013 at 2:47pm

Thats awesome. 

I find the design of the melobar alot more interesting though (personal prefrence maybe)

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&gs_rn=14&gs_ri=psy-ab...

I cant believe these styles of guitar arent more popular then they are?

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on May 18, 2013 at 3:36pm

Strapping on a squareneck dobro ala mike Aldridge, jerry Douglas is big with the bluegrass crowd, but they are quite conservative so it never took off with solidbodies.. Also it must be said that this all can easily be done on a tele, strat etc etc just by adding a Hawaiian nut, so I guess that's why no production model ever really succeeded.
Pretty easy to add strap buttons to a steel too...

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Permalink Reply by James Buysen on May 19, 2013 at 5:08pm

I didnt realise this was such a widely done thing.

Theres obviously a whole culture of lap steel stlye instruments that I had no idea about.

I must say I still love the idea of a solid body though. I wish these were still in production.

Its going to make an interesting project to make my own.

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Permalink Reply by robert gate on May 20, 2013 at 7:21am

Thanks for share, is good to know about your plans

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