Which type of slide to use !

Here is another great topic for slide guitarist, and bottleneckers.  The great debate over which material to use for your slide.

The tradition says metal was probably the first slide material.  See my article on slide guitar.  Who really knows, perhaps is was some old dried out bone used on the one string guitar back in the day.

The choice is really personal, I like glass on electric guitar and steel on acoustic guitar. That said, some of the factors I like to consider are more subjective.  I think the mass or weight of the slide really matters.  I have been making my own slides for several years, and it is hard to find the perfect bottle to make a guitar slide out of.  I favor a straight neck with very thick walls.  Others really like the flared bottles, as they say that this gives one the ability to grab the bass strings a little better. 

The holy grail of "TONE" is what most of us are after, and that really comes from your attack and touch on the guitar.  Sure, your gear has a lot to do with it as well, but the really great players can get something sweet out of about anything they pick up.

I digress, glass has a somewhat sweeter and smooth sound than steel, but even that can depend on the surface of the glass.  Most wine bottlenecks have a slight grit or roughness to them.  This adds a little edge to your slide guitar playing.  If you listen to some of the old blues recordings you can tell what I mean.

Speaking of glass, most of the commercially available slides are made from Pyrex.  This really sucks in the tone department, they are light and are missing that desired "mass" so necessary for the fat tone most of us are after.  Another side benefit of a heavier slide is that it helps a little in the actual sliding process.  Once you get that thing going it kind of just slips up to next note. :)

Steel or brass on the other hand has more of a ringing effect, especially a chromed brass slide.  These also can be found either in a straight or flared configuration.  I have a really nice steel slide made by Planet Waves, it's their Martin Simpson model.  It has great mass for tone, and is tapered or relieved inside for a comfortable fit.  Very nice !

Some folks really like to old Coricidin bottle, like the one Duane used to use. The original bottles can no longer be found, but a few companies have made a similar copy and they vary in size and color as well.  I personally do not like the Coricidin bottle type of slide as it does not breathe and your finger gets pretty damp.  This can soften up your calluses pretty fast.  Just my spin on this.

Another category I almost forgot about, is porcelain.  I personally do not care for these at all, but others find them to their liking.  They have a pretty warm tone, and here again you can find lots of different shapes and sizes.  The one big advantage of this type of guitar slide, is that it comes in all kinds of colors.  This is actually important for some players.

There are also lots of gimmicky type slides, like the rock slide, the jet slide, pinky slides, on and on.  I have tried just about all of these, and some are ok, but the trade off is usually loss of tone, or just impractical fit or in the worst case..just micky mouse in general.  Now don't get me wrong this is just my opinion, I am a firm believer that it's all an individual thing.

I would encourage lots of experimentation, slides are relatively cheap, and you can make your own as well.  Slide guitar is addictive once you get the basics down.  Go for it !

Peace

Denny