a slide set up question

[Deleted]

I've posted before about having had my Yamaha SG500 adapted to purely slide playing, no fretted notes at all. Underneath the strings by the raised nut I have slotted in a small piece of leather to slightly mute the strings at that end in a similar fashion to the George Van Eps device or the hairbands used by the boys and girls who tap. The way I play, all notes are made with the slide with only the occasional use of an open string as a passing note so this works better for me than the trailing index finger technique for muting. I was thinking about the possibility of using a different material for the nut which would provide the slightly muted sound on its own, in essense the opposite if what we would normally want a nut to do, and was wondering if a wooden nut, perhaps with graphite in the slots to ease any string sticking, would works. Any comments and suggestions welcome.
Thanks David

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[Michael Messer]

Hello David,

I can't really help you there as your requirements are to make the bridge and nut not work properly. I guess a soft material; soft wood, hard rubber?

Shine On,
Michael

[Deleted]

that what I was thinking - thanks Michael.

[percythewonderant]

Herb Ellis used to play with a (wire armature and furry stick) damping device which flipped across the strings at the first fret . It meant that he could flip it back and forward to give him access to open strings even during a solo when required. I believe that they were commercially available but I can't recall anyone else ever using one, but you might be able to track down a couple - one for each end.

[Deleted]

Hi Percy - thanks for the reply - what you're describing is the George Van Eps device I referred to .