Guitarist magazine - January 2002
ON THE SLIDE - "Which slide is right for you?"
A review of five commercially available slides in the UK - by Michael Messer.
Dunlop Ceramic Moonshine® £13.95 - available from any music store
Dunlop Ceramic Mudslide® £13.95 - available from any music store
Dunlop Glass Bottleneck£4.95 to £8.95 - available from any music store
Dunlop Blues Bottle® £9.95 - available from any music store
Ian McWee® hand-made real bottlenecks £6.95 with lip / £11.95 cut -
Available direct from Ian McWee and the London Resonator Centre.
( These prices are RRP at the time of writing this review - Nov'2001 )
When I first started out playing slide guitar the only commercially available
slides were a bit of thin chromed metal tube that had no tone or sustain and
rusted after the first gig. The only other options were to go to a plumber’s
merchant or a brass piping factory and buy a piece of good quality tubing. Other
possibilities were, like Duane Allman - a glass Coricidian cold remedy medicine bottle
or a real glass
wine bottle-neck. I spent most of the first ten years or so of playing slide guitar
searching for the ultimate slide…..the one that had everything I wanted -
comfort, tone, warmth & sustain. Eventually I settled with a hard-chromed
stainless steel tube that was made for me by an engineering firm in 1988, this
made to measure 3 inch tube cost me around £50 and is still in use today.
These days searching out the ultimate slide is not such a
problem. There are numerous commercially available products, just go into your
local music store or check out the Internet and you will find an amazing range
of slides made of every possible material. But which one do you choose….metal,
glass, porcelain, Pyrex…???? This review should pave the way for you and
explain some of the choices.
DUNLOP PYREX® GLASS TUBE: Rating 3 ( ratings are
based on 1 to 5 )
These come in various thicknesses and sizes - depending on which finger you wear
it on and how much weight you want in the slide. Personally speaking I prefer
the thicker walled Dunlop slides, the thinner ones are too fragile for my taste.
This material gives a very clean and warm sound and on acoustic or resonator
guitars has a bit of a thin sound. However as an electric guitar slide I believe
these to be among the best available. The tone and feel against the strings is
exactly right for playing electric slide. There is a certain softness that you
get with the Pyrex that is just right for electric playing. The Pyrex material
allows very fast clean playing, perfect for electric styles. They are not
particularly rugged and after a few months of use they do get pitted and
scratchy, but with a RRP of £5.95 this is no more expensive than a new set of
strings. This is what I use to play electric slide.
DUNLOP BLUES BOTTLE® - GLASS SLIDE: Rating 2
This traditional design is a copy of what a lot of the older blues players used
in the 20’s and 30’s, later used and made famous by Duane Allman - a
Coricidian medicine bottle. This Dunlop version of an old medicine bottle is
made of Pyrex glass and therefore is very similar to the regular Dunlop glass
tubes. The main difference is the closed top which in my opinion is not great
because when you get hot it gets wet inside. However the Blues Bottle is a very
popular model with electric slide players. It certainly worked for Duane Allman.
DUNLOP CERAMIC MUDSLIDE®: Rating 3
These are a recent addition to the slide family. Terrie Lambert made the first
porcelain slide in 1989 when she needed one for her small finger. As a musician
who also designed porcelain jewellery, the choice was obvious. These porcelain
Mudslides are very popular and certainly have a very warm tone with a very clean
touch. The hard black glaze reminds me of a bone slide that I have owned for
years - warm and round sounding with very few overtones - a very nice acoustic
slide, not great on Nationals but lovely on a wood-bodied flat-top. The
porcelain inside is very tactile and feels very comfortable, it also absorbs
moisture which can be useful in a hot venue. Each one is hand-made and therefore
the sizes are not uniform. I would definitely advise you trying a few of these
in the shop before choosing.
DUNLOP CERAMIC MOONSHINE®: Rating 3
The Moonshine is very similar to the Mudslide but the materials are different:
The clay is white and the glaze is blue cobalt and therefore has different tonal
qualities to the black clay Mudslide. This material definitely is different and
the tonal qualities of this slide are unique - I find the touch and feel of the
Moonshine is very close to the Mudslide, but the sound against the strings and
the sustain are amazing. This slide really holds notes and seems to have a very
warm clean sound on the unwound strings. I am very impressed, I think this
Moonshine makes a great electric guitar slide, especially if you are looking for
plenty of high end sustain.
My only criticism of both the Moonshine® and the Mudslide® is that they
have printed their brand name and logo on the playing surface of the slides.
These things rotate on your finger and when you get the logo scraping on the
strings it creates a very unpleasant sound. I did try to remove this from a
Moonshine and found that it has been baked into the surface. Shame.
DIAMOND SLIDES BOTTLE-NECKS: Rating 3
Available direct from Ian McWee. Hand-made
from real wine bottles these are available in two standard styles: standard -
with the lip left on, cut - with lip removed and the edges polished. If you play
slide guitar and you prefer glass to metal, you really should try a green glass
wine bottle-neck. Green glass is very different to both clear glass and Pyrex
glass. Green bottle glass will give a deeper, warmer tone with plenty of clean
sustain. I am not a glass-slide acoustic player, but if I was I would use this
kind of slide. They do need to be cut and polished by a professional - firstly
it is a dangerous sport, and secondly it is very hard to get a good finish
without good polishing equipment. A polishing wheel and pumice is required - be
careful, you don’t want to damage those valuable fingers.
VERDICT:
These days there are so many good products on the market
that all perform reasonably well. My advice if you are really serious is to try
all the different materials and form your own opinions. My reviews above are
based on twenty five years of playing slide guitar and trying out different
tools for the job, they are written as a guide to help your decision. Over the
years I have seen all kinds of slides that work wonders for their owners, for
example: a socket from a socket set, a cut-throat razor held between the second
and third fingers, various small glass medicine bottles, copper tubing, brass
tubing, old metal lipstick holders and a six inch nail blunted for safety! All
these tools take time and energy to track down and none of them really compare
to some of the products available today. I have not included measurements in the
revues as all models come in various sizes.
I hope I have been of some help in
guiding you through this maze of tubes. Happy sliding!
Michael Messer
Reproduced by permission - Future Publishing®
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