The British Steelies Society

Hi all lap steel / dobrology students...

I have been looking for a tone bar that gives more sustain and a better feel to playing lap style dobro. I currently have a jim dunlop lap dawg, it is ok, however every now and again I drop the bloody thing... I have read reviews for the Shubb GS1 Tone bar Dobro and people seem to like the 'feel of it', however it is a little on the light side lacking in the attack you need some times to create a nice tone landing on a chord?

I have also been looking at the SP1 by shubb - however some seem to think that this tone bar doesn't lend itself for pulling off effectively if you are playing bluesy runs and bluegrass.

Any thoughts and experiences peeps?

Ta

Neil

I use a Scheerhorn chrome plated tone bar on dobro and a stainless steel version of the same bar on lap steel, which is slightly brighter in tone. I have a Shubb bar with one rounded end and one squared-off end (SP2?), but I don't use it. I keep it in my case as a spare. (I forgot to bring my main bar once, luckily it was only to a practice.)

The Scheerhorn's bars are expensive and have to be ordered from the US, but for me they combine the best shape with enough weight to give the sustain on dobro. That's my view anyway. A regular Stevens bar is cheaper than the Scheerhorn but heavier than the Shubb.

The Shubb SP3 bar is similar in profile to the Scheerhorn but not identical. It has a sharp angle on both ends and is very good at easily producing 'snappy' pull offs. Mines a chrome plated bar which i prefer on Dobro but i believe that the newer SP series are now all made from stainless steel (i'd check that out rather than take my word for it !! ).

I used the SP3 bar for a while but i have gone back to using my old AXL stevens copy these days. Although the sharp angle on the Scubb SP3 easily facilitates snappy pull offs on the way down the scale the end of the bar can catch on the thinner strings when hammering on playing up the scales. I find the blunt end of the AXL / stevens bar more forgiving and it's heavier than the Schubb too.