Help me find a slide

[Mike_E_McGee]

I'm finally trying to tackle open tunings and bottleneck. I've got my book of Robert Johnson Transcriptions, and the 3 Brozman DVDs to start to work from (the DVDs came in yesterday, so I've only watched about ten minutes of the first one). Bob recommends that you wear the slide on your pinky, and I'd like to try that.

 

I've got short stubby fingers, and it was a major undertaking to find the two slides that I have (both fit my ring finger). I don't have a lot of stores around me, and the ones I have access to don't have much selection. If I randomly order slides on the net, I think I'm going to end up with an awful lot that don't work for me.

 

Does anyone accept finger measurements and custom make a slide? I'm sure plunking down $40-$50 will be cheaper than buying a bunch that are too small (or maybe even too big). Any help or links appreciated. I'm not set on a custom jammy either, I just want to make sure that I buy a slide that works for me (I am pretty sold on glass though).

[Mike_E_McGee]

Oh, if possible, I'd like a 1/4 round on the business end.

[JasmineTea]

Jim Dunlop makes a nice big glass slide. I don't know of any companies that go by ring size, but maybe some do. Deep-well sockets come in all sizes but they take some getting used to, they're kinda heavey.

IMO, start with the large glass Jim Dunlop slide, one size fits all. Later on you can experiment with other things like bottle-necks, wrist-pins, sockets, etc.

[Freeman Keller]

Rory Block tells a wonderful story about picking a Craftsman deep socket from her auto mechanic - she said to her audience "girls, just smile at him while you are trying them on your finger..."

My personal favorite is a heavy straight wine bottle neck - cut with a glass cutter and hot water, then smoothed on a carbide grinding wheel. I make several at a time and get about 50 percent yield, less if I make it right after drinking the wine. Some of the magnum bottles of red wine seem to fit my fairly long skinny finger the best (like most people I wear mine on my pinky but some people, like Bonnie Raitte use their ring finger). You will not be a hit at a wine tasting if you keep sticking your finger in the bottles to find the right size.

I also have a couple of pieces of brass tubing that I sometimes use on guitars with really low action and light strings, but I prefer the control and sound of a heavy glass slide. Chris Whitely used a piece cut out of a bicycle handle bar, so the possibilities are really endless.

My daughter worked at a glass art studio - they did a nice business in hand blown slides but they were awfully fancy for playing Robert Johnson's blues LOL

One of the other things to look at is the curvature of your fretboard and your action - a straight slide like I use can be a little difficult to barre cleanly on a curved board - a curved wine bottle neck or something like the Mudslide might be a better choice.

And you can always try Rory's fav - 11/16 deep well socket

[Old_Joe_Clark]

I use a socket - I don't recall if I got that from Rory (I love her!!!) or not - but I had to saw off the back end so that my finger went in and through the other end. It was a bear sawing that thing.

[postalsock]

use a beer bottle.

[martingibson70]

Talk about a custom fit for $5...I had the ratchet side cut off by a machinist,$0, because I like my slide short so that it allows me to bend my first knuckle. That cut also made it exactly the right weight for me. I too had trouble finding the right size slide. The right fit and weight made for a tremendous improvement in my slide playing.