Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tim on November 8, 2009 at 4:35am

5/8's mac 6 point deep barrel socket.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Werner on November 8, 2009 at 4:44am

Much as with flatpicks, if you asked a hundred slide players for their favorite, you'd likely get a hundred answers...

I'm partial to copper, myself; it seems to give a "bite" on the strings. However, I've also got steel and glass slides (typical cut-off wine bottles) and if I play 'em all side-by side they sound pretty similar.

Bone, old straight razors... Try 'em all.

I remember Hoyt Axton appeared on the Tonight show years ago playing slide with a straight razor; he explained to Johnny how it could be used for self-defense if the bar was really rough....

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Permalink Reply by surffrogg on November 8, 2009 at 4:48am

yep like mark says its a matter of personal preference only way to kno whats best for u is to try as many different ones as u can: different matterials will give u a different tone so u might even like having a variety of options to choose from

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Permalink Reply by Tom Lanford on November 8, 2009 at 5:20am

As already stated, it really is a matter of personal preference, but here's my 2 cents and I've used all the above.

Personal preference for me is a thick walled glass slide. The ceramic slides are good too. Lowell George (of Little Feat fame) was famous for his use of a Craftsman Deep Socket, and I have used those too. The give a great sound but the weight can be an issue with lighter gauge strings and with the speed and accuracy.

Any metal slide will give you a brighter sound but seems to me to be a little noisier (scratching on the wound strings). The ceramics seem to produce a warmer more mellow sound, and much less noise. And the glass seems to fit somewhere in between for me, and is usually less prone to breakage than the ceramics in my experience. Never tried copper before but I would assume the sound to be similar to the steel. My fingers are quite large so that's always an issue I have to take into consideration.

Mass is the real issue. The heavier and thicker the slide, the better tone it will produce. But with mass, the weight problem comes back into play. The old faithful corricidan (sp?) bottle is also a good choice for electric guitar IMHO.

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Permalink Reply by Old Lowe on November 8, 2009 at 5:34am

I use a craftsman socket too but up untill just now I thought I was special. DANGIT!
I would say the answer to that question is YES all of those try them all for your self.
One that that is always true you are always gonna like your buddys slide better than yours.

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on November 8, 2009 at 10:46am

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on November 8, 2009 at 10:48am

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Permalink Reply by Tim on November 8, 2009 at 5:36pm

the funny thing about that my buddy was teaching me a few things when i got my first guitar at his shop and i was goofing off picked up a socket to play around with and thats all i have ever used since. i mean i have had the chance to play with peoples glass and steel slides but never owned one im happy with my socket. Plus they come in diffent sizes just find one that fits you.

Old Lowe said:

I use a craftsman socket too but up untill just now I thought I was special. DANGIT!
I would say the answer to that question is YES all of those try them all for your self.
One that that is always true you are always gonna like your buddys slide better than yours.

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on November 8, 2009 at 8:59pm

I offer copper slides to some of my customers IF they are having trouble being able to buy the CBG AND a slide.I'm not a big fan of copper, to me it seems to suck some of the sound away from the string . I 'm wondering if the copper being softer is the reason. BUT I have them if the customer wants 1. I explain why I'm not real fond of copper but I leave it up to the customer.I use a brass slide and have been happy with it so far.We DO sell steel slides as well to help round out the choices for our customers now.

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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on November 9, 2009 at 7:24am

My favorite slide is a medium thick piece of brass pipe somebody made for me. It's slightly shorter than a commercial slide. I also have a Dunlop thick walled glass slide that I like the sound of, but I have trouble with it slipping off my finger when my hand sweats. The brass sticks on real good. I've experimented with gluing some thin leather on the inside of the glass slide and it seems to help the slipping.

On the other hand, Cedell Davis plays with the flat blade of a butter knife!

Like the others are saying, slides are relatively cheap in the scheme of things, so go ahead and get several and experiment until you find what you like in terms of sound and fit.

Skeesix

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Permalink Reply by Roger Morin on November 9, 2009 at 9:03am

Thanks to all who responded, I got a pretty good idea now. Because of my big fat hands it's hard to fit a slide on my fingers. But I do have an old bottle neck slide I can use by useing the wide part on my ring finger. Will cut the mouth off to make a stubby slide because all I have is a three string.
Thank you all Roger

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Permalink Reply by Darwin Gentry on November 10, 2009 at 6:50am

Mass=Tone

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