This has been covered before, but, like another great version of ‘Sleep Walk,’ always worth revisiting…
Picked up another couple bars from Doc at Rocky Mountain Slides. By suggestion, I got Salida Luna and Cougar Crimson (made from a tiger eye stone). He include a Jurassic Dreams bar (looks to be some local agate?). The Salida Luna is mesmerizing - almost transparent. Trippy to hold, seems to glow in the hand while playing.
I’m just a fair to middling slide player - exclusively on weissenborn - but the glassy sweet tone is just WOW. I also find that the stone warms up and is very easy to hold (and not drop!) vs steel (which I was always dropping.) I was always a grooved tone bar guy, but I loooove these round bars now.
Left to right:
Jurassic dreams, Salida Luna, crimson cougar
Late 30’s Oahu model 229
1940’s Oahu Tonemaster
LSLME Chatsworth (Lap Steel Legacy Mark Evans w/Sentell cust. Single coil)
Bluestem 7-string lap steel
2017 Richard Wilson Weissenborn style
Larry Pogreba Baritone 'Weissenheimer’
Quilter 202 w/dockblock10
Rick Aiello wrote:I bought the 1" x 2 7/78 "Luna" because of this post ...I liked it so much I just ordered a 15/16" x 2 7/8" "Turquoise"
Good tone for them being so light weight ... I like it !!
Excellent!
Always fun to discover a new ‘medium’ to play with, eh?
Side note: I’d given up on bullet tone bars until I stumbled on to these. My grooved tone bars just feel clumsy now.
Late 30’s Oahu model 229
1940’s Oahu Tonemaster
LSLME Chatsworth (Lap Steel Legacy Mark Evans w/Sentell cust. Single coil)
Bluestem 7-string lap steel
2017 Richard Wilson Weissenborn style
Larry Pogreba Baritone 'Weissenheimer’
Quilter 202 w/dockblock10
I've got several of them... my favorites are the center and left ones. The one on the right appears to have a linear grain... mine has a gritty feel where the grain ends on the sides of the bar... so it has 'favored' positions to hold... not ideal. The white (Luna?) one is smooth as silk.
Stephen Cowell wrote:I've got several of them... my favorites are the center and left ones. The one on the right appears to have a linear grain... mine has a gritty feel where the grain ends on the sides of the bar... so it has 'favored' positions to hold... not ideal. The white (Luna?) one is smooth as silk.
Same thing with the bar I bought.....(Night Cougar)GRAINY! I complained about it and got NO RESPONSE! I was not very happy with my purchase and like Stephen says the bar has to be in the proper position. The problem is, it is hard to keep the bar in that spot. I made many bars before I retired and if a customer had a problem, I did my best to rectify the problem. Maybe you all got lucky and Stephen and I didn't? I would caution any would be buyer to research the bar they plan to purchase thoroughly.
SEE POST BELOW
Last edited by Bill Groner on 25 May 2023 2:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Currently own, 6 Groner-tone lap steels, 1953 Alamo Lap steel, (a gift from the late Stu Schulman) Recording King Phil Leadbetter Dobro, Roland Cube, Roland Mobile Cube, Fender Champion 40
Well, Rocky Mountain Slides came through......I emailed Doc and apparently the original email I sent him last March fell through the cracks and he was not aware of the problem I had with my purchase. He told me to send my original bar back and replaced it with the Selida Luna. That is one very nice bar, and like Mark said in his post, it actually glows on the fretboard when using it...........COOL! I am happy, thank you DOC!
So, forget my original post......all is right in my world now.
Currently own, 6 Groner-tone lap steels, 1953 Alamo Lap steel, (a gift from the late Stu Schulman) Recording King Phil Leadbetter Dobro, Roland Cube, Roland Mobile Cube, Fender Champion 40
I have one of the "Tin Cup Agate" bars that I purchased some time ago. I really liked it at first, but it wasn't long before it wore heavily around the business end, and took on the grainy, gritty feel that has been discussed. I wrote to them about it. They said it should become "brazed" over time. It hasn't. They also suggested I try another model, but I've been reluctant to do so based on my experience with the first. It does make sense that not all varieties of stone are the same. Is there a general consensus that the "Luna Salida" is the safest bet?
Perhaps they should consider dropping the softer stones. It's not good for their reputation. As I said, I really liked it until it wore rough.
