What slide for a flat top acoustic

VimFuego

Fancy trying a bit of slide and was wondering what sort of slide should I be using on a standard acoustic guitar?

bandmaster188

Whatever you fancy really. I find glass and brass work well on acoustics and they rhyme as well!

VimFuego

coolio, thanks

richardhomer

And whatever it is - it needs to be thick-walled. Thin/light slides tend to sound that way - even on electrics. With heavier strings used on acoustics, the difference is more pronounced.

VimFuego

yeah, I got a thin walled steel slide and it sounds shite. most of that will be me, but some will be the slide I'm sure.

richardhomer

VimFuego;498395" said:

yeah, I got a thin walled steel slide and it sounds shite. most of that will be me, but some will be the slide I'm sure.

The slide makes a massive difference. I guarantee a heavy one will sound better.

bandmaster188

Yeh +1 to what richard homer said. The glass slides I use are all 4 to 6 mm thick and quite weighty and definitely makes the tone bigger. I recently found an old Budweiser bottle slide which I got off eBay years ago and compared it to the slide I always use. The glass of the bud bottle is quite thin and so is the sound.

bandmaster188

Just to give you an idea http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee512/bandmaster188/image.jpg1_zpsyp6osy9y.jpg

ToneControl

to play it without raising the nut?

loads of diff shapes, you need to try a few

Jalapeno

Those Jim Dunlop US Aspirin bottle slide are a bit on the weedy side.

VimFuego

ToneControl said:

to play it without raising the nut?

loads of diff shapes, you need to try a few

I have a nut riser somewhere (chortle etc.), was thinking of trying it on an old acoustic of mine.

ToneControl

VimFuego said:

ToneControl said:

to play it without raising the nut?

loads of diff shapes, you need to try a few

I have a nut riser somewhere (chortle etc.), was thinking of trying it on an old acoustic of mine.

it will sound a lot better with a nut riser and a tone bar, rather than normal action and a bottleneck
Unless you are wanting a rattley thin sound

Also with a nut riser you can pick out notes on any string, not just the top one

equalsql

Jim Dunlop 218.. just about my favourite slide for acoustic work.
Their tapered brass slides are bloomin good too.

Sassafras

Porcelain/ceramic slides sound very good as well as having a good heft to them.

VimFuego

hmmm, I hadn't thought about them, shall have a look see.

IanSavage

May I plug Diamond Bottlenecks again?

http://www.diamondbottlenecks.com/

Lovely people, making slides from actual bottlenecks in the Black Country - I popped down there and stayed for about an hour, being talked through the different types and thicknesses of glass they used and trying them out (you might not think it, but there's a difference in sound even between the colour4s of glass - subtle, but it's there!). Walked out with a custom-engraved green one which sounded a bit 'bigger' with my parlour and a slightly thinner blue glass one for electric; money well spent.

stimpsonslostson

I've got a Joe Perry Boneyard Ceramic. It's streets ahead of my old brass one.

Working in a lab, I regularly get pill bottles. Some of those are great- as many others have said, the wall thickness REALLY translates into the tone you get.

VimFuego

cheers beags, think I'll be getting one of them.

noisepolluter

+1 on the diamond bottleneck. I bought a Red House from them and it's great for reso, normal acoustic and electric.