The British Steelies Society

Is there a general consensus as to which is the best (at least to start with)? My last pedal steel was an 8 string and I bought a lovely little tribotone bar to go with it, but now I'm on 10 strings it's too short I think - unless it doesn't need to go across all strings? I went to buy a longer version only to find they're not making them now of course. What should I buy for a fairly small budget and also small hands? Thanks!

Hi Laura,
Probably the best Steel(material) bar is a B.J.S bar made in the U.S. It could take some time to get one unless a forum member has one for sale.
I think I am correct in saying that the Tribotone bar is made from a polymer type material. Basil here in U.K. makes a super polymer type under the name of Ezee Tone Bars and will make one to Your requirements regarding weight and diameter and length.
If You look up Ben Burrows of Bens Bars He does a superb stainless bar at a ridiculously low cost.
Best regards
Billy

lebedagirl wrote:Is there a general consensus as to which is the best (at least to start with)? My last pedal steel was an 8 string and I bought a lovely little tribotone bar to go with it, but now I'm on 10 strings it's too short I think - unless it doesn't need to go across all strings? I went to buy a longer version only to find they're not making them now of course. What should I buy for a fairly small budget and also small hands? Thanks!

Your bar size should be relative to the size of your bar hand rather than the width of the board. This is a good explanation. All you really need to be is comfortable and have a good grip so you're not wiggling when sliding. I've commented on your dobro playing in the past in your old all female bluegrass band. You certainly already have a solid foundation with left hand technique, on dobro, so it's just working out what's comfortable for pedal steel.



Don Helms sounded great with a Stevens bar and a Sho-Bud permanent with Loretta Lynn, not that I'm advising you to do that
I can totally vouch for both Basil Henriques of Ezzee-Slide and Ben Burrows of Ben's bars. Both can be made to your weight and size specs to a very high level. They're just different materials. Both have slightly different tones which are both great, just different. Basil's however are inherently much easier to grip under hot stage lights. Pretty much impossible for it to go flying.

Thanks Billy/Steven! So does it not need to go across all the strings at once then? The tribotone is certainly very comfortable to use, but I thought it was maybe too small. I suppose you'd unlikely ever need to play across all the strings in one go like you would on a dobro?

I have five bars at home and four of them are 3 5/8 "long one is 4" long (bought as a trial) 3 of My bars are 7/8" diameter and 2 of them are 15/16"diameter. My personal favourite is a B.J.S. John Hughey bar although I am equally good (or bad) using any bar.
All bars will cover every string but the widest grip used would probably be 10...3 with either 8 6 or 5 between.

Hi Laura, I move my bar across the strings depending on which strings I am picking. My take on it is having the centre of the downward pressure on the bar over the strings you are picking gives a better tone, and also expression through using vibrato etc, if that makes sense. So I am constantly moving the bar forwards and backwards across the strings, I play a 12 string, so it's a bit wider. I agree with John that a heaver bar will give you a better tone, however the other side of that is that it's a bit harder to play fast moving passages. So having 2 bars for either purpose works for me.

I have 2 main bars I use, one larger and heavier, (BJS John Hughey), and a smaller lighter bar, (Red Barn bought from a vendor in the US), and depending on if the song requires slow or fast playing determines the bar I use.