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Post by Richard on Dec 18, 2004 10:06:39 GMT
I was asked by someone from foreign climes to enquire if anyone here knew of, or even used, bone as a slide material and what the results were as regards tone, wear, etc etc - I thought it might make any intersting post anyway. I'll stick to glass myself as a pinkie up a cow's ulna would probably result in knocking oneself out. Ian, as you are the slide man...?
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Post by Michael Messer on Dec 18, 2004 10:32:21 GMT
Hi Richard,
I have a couple of bone slides, they were made for me by Mike Lewis (Fine Resophonic) back in the early 90s. They are nice to have and useful for demonstrating what a bone slide sounds like, but the tone is not great. These days we have higher expectations of what a slide should sound like and we are not happy with a thin copper tube or a piece of bone. This is not because we are more sophisticated (although it does come into it), but because we record ourselves on better equipment and generally use better instruments.
I do think however, that we have become too fussy & sophisticated about the tools we use to play folk music.
Shine On, Michael.
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Post by Larry Conrad on Dec 18, 2004 22:28:44 GMT
I saw Roy Book Binder recently, and he used a bone slide for a few numbers. It sounded fine to me, but that was in a small club. RBB said he has had that slide since the 60s. I liked Michael's comment about things getting too sophisticated. When I was a kid all I ever saw were pieces of pipe sawed off with the rough edges ground down, then later on bottle necks, glass pill bottles, and so forth. Didn't John Jackson use a piece of pen knife or something like that? Last time I was in the States I showed my Dad the various odds and bits like we all accumulate in the slide department, and he was very interested, but amused that anyone would actually buy a slide (as opposed to a "steel" - his term for the bar for lap style). I asked whats the problem, and his answer was well, isn't it a bit like going out and buying a tire swing or taking your car to a carwash? I had to think about that one a bit!
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Post by Ian McWee on Dec 19, 2004 21:24:43 GMT
Nope, sorry Richard - i have to hold my hands up here & confess to never using - or even having the chance to hold - a bone slide But....the caretaker of the school where i work is a master butcher by trade though...i may just ask what he can scrounge from the waste bins.... Slide On! Ian. www.diamondbottlenecks.com
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Post by snakehips on Dec 19, 2004 22:32:10 GMT
Hi there !
Problem with bone is it wears down too fast. If you are after real tone but want durability - what you want is tooth !
Perhaps human teeth would be too small, but perhaps a tiger tooth or something ? Real mojo value if the tiger was caught with your bare hands and the tooth extracted there and then.
I wonder what type of tooth might give the best tone ? Root canal'd or not ? You get my drift ?
Got to stop bringing my work home with me. (not tigers ! I do humans !)
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Post by Richard on Dec 19, 2004 23:03:58 GMT
Thanks folks, I shall pass the info on - or, better still I'll get him to join! As regards using some teeth, that sounds very sensible as playing lap one could do some pretty fancy slants with two roots orff a big molar Ian, we could be onto something here.... even if it was only supplying the glass jar into which the aforsaid chopper lived every night
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Post by snakehips on Dec 20, 2004 13:30:02 GMT
Hi again !
It would bring new meaning to "playing with your teeth" !!!
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Post by Alan on Dec 20, 2004 16:01:49 GMT
Why would anyone want bone? What next ? Toe Nail I think glass is fine...
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