r/slideguitar

I have had a ton of slides over the years since I got into blues in 1991. I started with a 13/16 Craftsman deep well socket on my ring finger. I’ve had various models out of glass, chrome, and brass. Most worked well enough, but none were perfect. I really wanted the Coricidin bottle style slides to work, but the closed top made my finger sweat too much. But one of the biggest issues has always been the slide hitting the frets because of the weight (I’m disabled and arthritic so I use 8.5-39 strings with a normal action). Even moving the slide to my pinky finger didn’t help much.

So I decided to take matters into my own (rather large) hands and make my own using all the best features from slides I liked. Actually my favorite slide has been the Rock Slide in brass, but the top was heavy with extra brass and only a small hole at the top. I began my measuring my finger (I still got wrong the first time and had to move up from 20mm to 21mm, which was actually a HUGE difference on my knuckle). I cut it long with a pipe cutter (because it effectively rolls the edge inward as it cuts), and cleaned up the edges and shaped the cutout with a combo belt grinder/disc sander I’ve had for years. I got the length just barely long enough to cover all 6 strings at the 12th fret of my Reverend Sensei (measured from the shortest length of cutout to tip). I really had to clean up the edges though by hand because the grinder left them sharp enough to slice skin (ask me how I found out). I finally polished the brass with 800 grit sandpaper.

It took maybe 30 minutes total, and it works very well for me.

Here’s the link for the tubing I used. It’s long enough to get three slides out of it. My favorite (the one pictured here) was my second attempt. I never made the third.

https://a.co/d/0dhOW3m0

It's my first time playing in open E tuning (usually only open G and D on acoustic and standard on electric). I love it! I honestly don't know why I did try it sooner. Any one else play in open E?

Got a duesenberg multibender for a bridge! Otherwise just some blues slide guit

Anyone else love the Jaguar rhythm circuit?

I kinda wrote it off thinking I wouldn’t get a lot use out of it but really love it for slide playing.