Tone bars

[Will C]

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

[Tony Smart]

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.

[Ken Byng]

I've asked Ben for a quote on a 1" bar, and asked the same question of Basil H for one of his 'space age' plastic bars. Be interested to compare them.

[Ken Byng]

A 1" Burrow bar is on order. I will A/B it with my BJS bars.

Basil's bars are a little way off production at the moment. He tells me that the manufacturing process is far from straight forward due to the materials concerned. I imagine that he will put a notification on this site when he is in full production.

[Ken Byng]

I bought a 1" bar from Ben Burrow who Will Cowling mentioned above. Well, after an A/B with my BJS bars I think that Ben's bars are very good indeed - in fact excellent. Not quite as smooth on the strings as BJS but............extremely close. Price wise there is no contest. The Burrow bar wins hands down in the value for money stakes. Especially with the current exchange rate.

Thank you Ben

[Ben's bars]

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.

[Basil Henriques]

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

[Will C]

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.

[Basil Henriques]

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.

[Ken Byng]

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.

Will - I referred to this issue in a post on here not so long ago and was met with a response of BS by some members. Stainless on stainless drag is an actual phenomenon, and I am surprised that many can't detect it. I prefer the brighter tone of stainless strings to those of nickel. However the inherent drag of using a stainless bar on a stainless string makes it a no go for me. That's why my preferred string of choice is the Cobra Coil. The chrome plating of the BJS bars means that they will perform on any type of string, and the finish is as smooth and slippery as is possible with an all metal bar.

Ben - chrome plating your bars will bump up the cost of manufacturing them. For those folks using nickel strings, the Burrow bar would perform beautifully. You could offer chromium plating as an option.