Bone Slides, Waxed Strings, Alan Greenbergs "Love In Vain"

[Pickers Ditch]

I'm reading "Love In Vain" by Alan Greenberg and am about half way through this entertaining read.

For those who haven't read it, it's a screenplay written about the life of Robert Johnson which, alas, has not been turned into a film as yet.

At several points in the book he refers to RL and others using bone slides and treating their strings with candle wax which, to me (I'm probably wrong as usual), indicates that they may have wanted to deaden / soften the sound of their guitars and get rid of unwanted harmonics and overtones when they hit 'em hard.

Are there any 100 year old boys on the forum able to confirm that this really happened?

This seems slightly at odds to me in the 21st century where we predominantly tend to use hard slides, clean strings and damp with fingers and palms.

Before I go down this route as an experiment on an old birch ladder braced parlour, I wonder what you good people think and whether any of you youngsters have tried these tricks.

Thanks, PD.

[Ian McWee]

Eyup P.D. ~ I can answer the bone slide question....personally (and there'll probably be a few others here who'll agree) for our guitars - resonator & wood-bodied acoustics - they just don't work....no sustain and a dull tone.

You'll find a few bone slide makers on social media pages, but pretty much all of 'em are the cigar-box boys using electrified instruments

Slide On!

Ian.

[Michael Messer]

I think all that bone slide and candle wax stuff is not to be taken too seriously. Bone slides were around and were often used by beginners as they were so readily available, but proper musicians moved on to glass and metal.

I have a really good well finished bone slide that was made for me many years ago. It is fun to have around as a demonstration piece to show what a bone slide is, but it is pretty useless.

Candle wax was sometimes used (sparingly) on strings when recording as a lubricant and to stop squeaks. A little light oil does a similar job

Shine On
Michael

[slide496]

I read Fred McDowell was one of those started with a beef bone an idea gotten from his uncle before he moved over to glass.

Harriet

[Deleted]

I made a slide out of a piece of 3/4 inch CPVC pipe. Good for pinky slide. Its about the consistency of dried out hollow bone, and it sounds pretty good to me. I like that it makes less crashing clatter when hit onto the strings and slides quieter on wound strings. Seems to have enough density to ring out nicely.

[blueshome]

I'm with MM as far a bone is concerned, didn't sound good to me me, but that's my ears, others may like something else.

[bod]

Roy Bookbinder seems quite fond of his:

[Pickers Ditch]

Jan 9, 2017 20:22:49 GMT bod said:

Roy Bookbinder seems quite fond of his:

That one sounds good to me.

I'm calling in on the local butcher this morning.

I wonder what he's going to think when I ask him for a 3" length of bone with a 1/2" ID hole up the middle?

It'll be amusing if I get hold of one and use it on my ex Bookbinder Triolian.

[Michael Messer]

Roy was fond of that bone slide for about five minutes. I remember it well.

Shine On
Michael

[pete1951]

Anything that give you a wider range of tone should be good, that said , softer slides seem to remove top end (and volume) from the sound. I don't think I would ever use anything 'soft' for slide except for one song in a set. Bone is also inconsistent, you could have one slide that sounds great and one that does not.
PT
One 'soft' slide I would like is a Tribotone (not sure of spelling) there was a thread some time ago, a hard plastic that cut string noise without too much tone loss . It was 10 years since I used it so I may be mis-remembering!

[Pickers Ditch]

Jan 10, 2017 9:08:44 GMT Michael Messer said:

Roy was fond of that bone slide for about five minutes. I remember it well.

Shine On
Michael

Was it yours, Michael?

[Michael Messer]

No, it wasn't mine, but I think it came from the same source.

Shine On
Michael

[Michael Messer]

Pete, your memory is correct. The Tribotone slides have a great tone. They are soft, but they respond in a totally different way to bone.

Shine On
Michael

[Pickers Ditch]

Righto, I've got the message - no bone slide.

Even the butcher put me off when he explained all the messing about of drying out and preparing the bone before I could actually start doing something with it.
Quite a palaver, so I'll pass.

Thanks for all your comments.
PD.

[Michael Messer]

Stuff like that is nice to have in the collection, but I have never used it other than to demonstrate what a bone slide sounds like.

Shine On
Michael