The British Steelies Society

I think most of us know and love the tone and feel of BJS bars, but they are expensive and sometimes there is a waiting list. I have been working with a British maker for a little while after seeing an earlier post about him - his name is Ben Burrow. He lives in Gloucestershire, not far from Uncle Roy, Ron Kew et al.

He has made a bar for my U12 the same diameter as my BJS bar but a quarter inch longer. The finish is like glass, if anything I think there is less drag and bar noise than the BJS bar. I highly recommend this guy, he's a gent and a pleasure to work with - and his prices are better than you'll get with the American bars. If anyone's interested please give him a shout at [email protected] - please NB there is no commission in this for me - I just think his bars are the dog's proverbials.

Will

You're dead right Will. When I saw his first mention I emailed to asked if he did custom sizes, which he did.
I bought a slightly longer one without the dish in the end.
Very good bar and cheap. I could have made one myself as I've done in the past, but he has the proper gear for polishing, which is a pain.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks Ken. Glad you like it.i believe the BJS bars are chrome plated. Perhaps that's something I could look into in the future.

Ben, Hard~Chrome plating would be the WTG, as stainless on stainless can cause 'galling' (Pickup) and with more players going to stainless strings this could be a problem.
Two identical materials would cause it more easily.
Galling is a form of wear caused by adhesion between sliding surfaces. When a material galls, some of it is pulled with the contacting surface, especially if there is a large amount of force compressing the surfaces together. Galling is caused by a combination of friction and adhesion between the surfaces, followed by slipping and tearing of crystal structure beneath the surface. This will generally leave some material stuck or even friction welded to the adjacent surface, whereas the galled material may appear gouged with balled-up or torn lumps of material stuck to its surface.
FWIW Basil

All that said, Basil, I wonder if there are any reports out there of galling occurring. Speaking purely on an intuitive level, stainless is pretty tough stuff, and I just wonder if it's a problem in this context. Of course, "micro-galling" might occur and be unseen, but felt as increased drag. A fascinating topic.

It's stainless wound (half flat) that cause the problem, but I never use stainless strings; I find that the normal nickel wound have more sustain and tonality, plus you can help increase sustain with judicious use of left hand vibrato.