We spent quite awhile talking about his bars, and I learned just
how much thought and care he had put into their development. The history
of guitar steels has been an evolution away from the "found object"
towards a more specialized, ergonomic tool. I soon realized that he
had made not only the next step in that evolution, but the next two
or three steps at once. Besides his creative use of materials, he
had sculpted the shape of the tops of his bars so that your hand lays
on them in the most amazingly relaxed and natural position. He had
carefully considered every angle, every surface, every radius. From
its edge, designed to deliver the clean pulloffs that today's players
love, to the weighted, counterbalanced handle, this bar is about as
far from a "found object" as you can get.
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