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December 2002
Posts: 939
Location: Fort Worth, Texas | Any slide guitar enthusiats out there?
I had some credit from String This and was trying to get my dollars up to the credit I was owed so I ordered a "Delta Slider" bottelneck slide.
When my order arrived I tuned my Legend to an open E and started messing around - I was really amazed that I actually got some great slide sounds going.
I had a metal slide around for years (not sure where it even came from) and never liked the sound, thought it was my lack of slide playing skills. The "Delta Slider" is a real bottleneck from recycled glass (so the web site says) and each one is supposed to be tried out by the guy that makes them.
Anyway, sounds good - think I'll take the old Celebrity and raise the action some and see how that sounds..... |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | I used to use an old socket wrench. wonder where that is... |
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October 2002
Posts: 56
Location: Alabama | I bought the Doors DVD, Soundstage Perfromances recently and noticed the very strange slide Robbie Krieger was using. I couldn't make it out as there were no close shots of his fret hand. Later in the interview section, he explained his habit of using a freshly broken wine bottle neck. Ray Manzarek quipped the only problem was Robbie usually drank the wine first. |
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Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | There's nothing strange about using wine bottle necks, it's been the slide of choice for countless bluesmen since the early '20's. A popular bottle for breaking the neck off is Mateus Rose, but personaly I prefer wine a lot drier. Alternatively you could email Matt Smith and buy one of his hand-blown glass slides, they're the best. I've used the same custom-made nickel-plated, internal-taper brass slide for nearly 20 years, and coudn't find anything that I liked the feel & sound of as much. I got one of Matt's slides at the OFC tour ( every one is unique, hand-made, individually signed & numbered) The side walls are very thick, so they produce a very fat tone with great sustain for a glass slide, and they look really cool. I still use my old brass slide for electric, but for acoustic & 6-string lap-steel Matt's slides are incredible. |
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December 2002
Posts: 939
Location: Fort Worth, Texas | Wow, I didn't know Matt made slides. I have my "Delta Slider" right here and sure enough it's a wine bottle neck (can tell by the top part), and I noticed right off the bat that one side is thicker than the other. Which I've then noticed having the thicker side on the strings sounds better.
I was trying it out earlier tonight, lot's of fun...
Gotta watch out for it flying off my finger :rolleyes: |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | My first attempt at playing in public was as a lap steel player in the late 40's and early 50's copying the Hank Snow, Hank Williams sound. All I had was a Chrome slide that weighed a pound and a Mel Bay Technique book, tuning was OPEN E.
Bailey |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Matt doesn't actually make them. If I remember correctly he told me they are made by a woman in Conneticut. She puts pigment into the molten glass so when the slide is blown the colours take on various wierd & wonderful shapes. The original one I got from Matt had screaming faces in it. Some guy at a gig last Wednesday came up to me during a break an asked about my slides. I showed him my unique one-of-a-kind Matt Smith slide, he put it down on a table where it promptly rolled onto a concrete floor and shattered. Asshole didn't even apologise. Fortunately Matt had some with him at the JHS event on Monday so I got another & a spare. |
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Posts: 939
Location: Fort Worth, Texas | Bummer... |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I got one of those glass slides from Matt at the OFC Tour "after party" as well, and they are KICK ASS!! |
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November 2002
Posts: 3667
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | FYI, if you're looking for slide afficionadoes, check out www.bigroadblues.com. The Doc has a tutorial CD on beginning slide technique, also. |
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November 2002
Posts: 3667
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | BTW, has Ovation ever attempted a resonator? Hey there.....Mr. Templeton.....Miles.....Al.....ANYBODY!!!......what's the verdict? |
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Posts: 15686
Location: SoCal | Go to the Links section of the club and read thru the interviews. You'll get your answer. |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Al has a unique Ovation dreadnought with an Adamas slothead neck & a Dobro resonator. A while I posted a pic of the Ovation resonator guitar which was on display at the factory. That one had a National-style biscuit cone & palm-tree soundholes. I'm looking for an Ovation classical with the top trashed, preferably cutaway. I intend to replace the top & drop in a Quarterman dobro cone |
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Posts: 56
Location: Alabama | PT, I did not mean that using a wine bottle neck was strange, only that it was strange in appearance to me, being misshapen and colored, and not being able to tell what it was from a stand off shot. Of course, I was only born raised and lived my whole life here in the deep south so thanks for educating me on "the slide of choice for bluesmen". |
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December 2002
Posts: 939
Location: Fort Worth, Texas | seesquare, the Big Raod Blues web site is chock full of good information. Thanks! :D |
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November 2002
Posts: 3667
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Paul Wag, yer welcum! And thanks to you, P.I., for the "required" reading of Al's '94 interview with Bill Kamen. That was both educational and inspirational. Al's comment, at the closing, about "first position chords" made me squirm a bit; guess I better keep practicing! Oh yeah, Mr. Templeton, is the photo of the dobro in the Members' Gallery? All-in-all, this has been a great day on the "boards" for me!! Thanks, and THANKS!! |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Ovation Reso
http://www.ovationfanclub.com/gallery/resonator.JPG |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | When I saw that reso on the Tour, I said to myself (well, AFTER ". . I Gotta Have THAT! . ."):
". . THAT needs to go into PRODUCTION! . ."
schweet!!! |
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Posts: 15686
Location: SoCal | That's the first pic I've seen of the reso'. What other pics from the tour are hiding out there? |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | It appears that nobody read CWKII's response to my post when I mentioned meeting John Dopyro in Escondido, CA (one of the Dobro Bros). He revealed a deep understanding and interest in resonator guitars of all types, he failed to mention the factory display of a resonator guitar. I've tried to smoke him out a few times to see how deeply Ovation stuck their R & D foot in this pool, keep digging boys and something may surface. W-2 has admitted to owning a few of these type instruments. (THE PLOT THICKENS) |
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March 2002
Posts: 15686
Location: SoCal | As I mentioned in an earlier post, our own Alpep interviewed cwkII in 1996 (?) and it was revealed that they had made several reso's but determined that there wasn't enough of a market for them to put them into production. |
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Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | So he just had the factory build him one or two to fool around with and now sets at home with these one offs and doesn't admit to anything. Keep the pressure on Brothers, I think there is a story here. |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | That reso had me "sold" just by the LOOKS of it!
THEN, . . .Master Templeman reaches into his pocket, pulls out a slide, and starts WAILING on it!! NICE!!!
If one or two of these showed up on TNN or CMA (or whatever you Country musoes watch), I'd bet people'd start searching these things out. |
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December 2002
Posts: 939
Location: Fort Worth, Texas | Hmmmmm, I could set my sites on that model reso instead of a 12-string... |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | I'd buy one, no qustions asked. |
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November 2002
Posts: 3667
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Anybody with some "juice" with the Mothership want to investigate whether they would be willing to do some special orders? |
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November 2002
Posts: 3667
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Say, Guys, who would I correspond with to get the specs and construction details on the dobro? I have a general idea how to do a "standard box" design. I'm wondering what special considerations there might be for the roundback design. I think the sound must be FABULOUS!! |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Stewmac have resonator guitar schematics and all neccesary parts, including cones, soundwells, coverplates etc, & there are others available on the web, adapt as neccesary. |
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January 2003
Posts: 1498
Location: San Bernardino, California | They've got 2 different reso kits. If I remember right the kits include everything except tuners and finish/glue etc. |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | The hard question is which Ovation to cut up and install the resonator, I vote for the MOB? |
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December 2001
Posts: 7251
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Although you can't do it to my MOB, I'm thinking using an MOB is kindof appropriate for an instrument that you use a slide on. SUrf guitar and Hawaii music seem to work together. |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Miles & I spoke with Kim about this over dinner at Stonge's. Apparantly the neck pitch on the imports is too shallow to work with a resonator.
Best bet for a conversion would be a USA 12-fret Nylon string. If I remember correctly the reso at the factory had a super-shallow bowl with a classic neck. If anyone has a Classic to sell, preferably cutaway, I'm your man |
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November 2002
Posts: 3667
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Bailey, my vote would be one of those old Matrix models with a worn-out fretboard. If I had only had this grandiose notion BEFORE I sold that 1624....... |
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November 2002
Posts: 3667
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | OK, new idea- How 'bout using my CS-255 for a conversion? It occurred to me I need a top without a soundhole (in an inopportune position), for the installation of the resonator well and cone. The guitar already has a peghead repair, so any resale value already went bye-bye. It has a fairly low action so raising the whole works with the biscuit bridge probably won't hurt too much. Heck, I don't know anything but first position chords anyway!!
I'm kinda thinkin' the installation, and routing, of the piezo pickup may be a bit tricky..... |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Ok. it's not as easy as it may seem. You'll need an entire new top, plywood will suffice, then you need the resonator parts. There are 2 distinct types of resonator, National & Dobro (or biscuit & spider)
The parts include the cone, coverplate, biscuit or spider bridge, saddle, tailpiece & soundwell. Both types sound very different, but put simply the National-type biscuit cone has a very strong midrange and is good for blues. The Dobro/Spider assembly has less midrange, sounds sweeter & is preferred for country & bluegrass. The best cones are made by Quarterman. I'm not sure that a 14-fret neck guitar will work due to the position of the bridge/cone. A 12-fret neck will, no doubt. I'm going to do this as soon as I can find a suitable beater. |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | paul
we need to talk |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | OMIGOD
My ears just imagined a resonator Adamas with an early shiny deep bowl, Dobro type, of course. It is like when you have that song in your head that won't go away, someone please hit a chord and get my ears on something more realistic. |
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November 2002
Posts: 3667
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Uh-huh, and OK. I just printed off the 31 pages from Stew-Mac's website on resonator construction. "Informed consent" may be a scary proposition...... |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | WARNING!!
I'm going to describe slowly cutting in to that Adamas top to install the resonator. All you Adamas fans log off, or you are going to be very nauseated. You drill a hole where the jig saw will start (DRILL a hole in an Adamas top with NO anesthetic), then you proceed to CUT a round hole the SIZE OF A RESONATOR in that pristine composite top, then, if that wasn't enough and the screams haven't gotten to you, you cut TWO, TWO, MORE HOLES IN THE UPPER BOUT for the small (but painful) sound holes. Then you install the resonator and connect all the nerve endings to this bastardly robotic frankensteinien Adamas, a screaming, survivor and you have your resophonic guitar, mortally wounded, lurching, crawling, screaming as it submits to your daily tortures. I REALLY WANT ONE!!
Bailey |
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November 2002
Posts: 3667
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Bailey, that was truly lugubrious and twisted; you're a man after my own heart! The diagnostic criterion for genuine "whackcase" status is whether you wear hearing protection during the dismembering and violation procedure. Guten Tag, Herr Doktor Mengele!! |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Heh, Heh, Heh
This weill hurt me more than you, so there weill be no anesthetic, start the cutting Adolf, the screams will make us sleep well tonight, let those Adamas lovers sleep in their vomit as we produce the RESOPHONIC ADAMAS. We can crawl on the carcass with Miss Braun, as we commit the ultimate sexual crime, Ovationodomy, I can hear the squiemish shivering in their small hells, because THEY didn't think of it first.
Bailey Mengele (I seem to have been outed, Ms. Braun, can I hide in your bunker til this blows over? Please try to restrain that Adolf from blowing us all away, the Russians will rescue us and make us the heroes that we are.) |
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November 2002
Posts: 3667
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Uh-huh. Missed your medication again, eh? It's that little black one that tastes like bitter almonds. Happy Trails To You........... |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Well, as they say, you have to break a few eggs to make an omelot, and a few Ovations to make a resophonic, the squemish need not watch. |
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Slide Guitar?