Guitar Slides – What??

You’ve decided you want to use a slide while playing guitar, but wait! There’s different kinds? Different shapes? Different materials? Why are there so many options here? As with most things in music, slides are chosen by preference and music style, but it never hurts to learn. Let’s dive in.

Just Some of the Slides We Keep In Stock

Shapes and Sizes

Slide sizes are determined by your ring size, or whatever feels comfortable. Most players wear the slide on their ring or pinky fingers. It’s important to get a slide that doesn’t fly off your finger, but also isn’t cutting off circulation. All of our slides come in easy-to-open packaging, so you are more than welcome to come by and try them on. If you’re unsure how it should fit, ask us to take a look.

Our Rock Slide Products

Material and Cut

We carry a large range of full slides, half slides, sculpted slides, covered slides, and multiple materials, including brass, glass, and nickel. Each material will change your sound, so its best to try them all out if you aren’t sure. We have slides in all different sizes, and you are welcome to try them all out. Come by and pick them up, experimentation is necessary.

Our Dunlop Products

*No slide has a specific genre or use, it is totally up to you. Mileage may vary from person to person, as do opinions. It’s fun to personalize your music!

 

Taylor Guitar’s Ebony Project

In 2011 the CITES appendices deemed Ebony as an endangered wood species. That meant that, without proper documentation, this wood was basically unusable in guitar manufacturing, and getting wood with the right paperwork was difficult. But it was more than that.

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Raw Ebony

Ebony has been farmed for years, and the way it was being farmed was not the most environmentally friendly. Essentially, what was happening was that loggers would go out into the forests everyday, cutting down 20-30 ebony trees. Ebony is a variable wood, and has some dark spots as well as light streaks. Only about 3 of those trees being cut down each day was being used in manufacturing, as they had no irregularities in color. We realize now that those streaks of blonde are quite beautiful, but the realization, and use of all those cut-down trees, came almost too late. The ebony supply was quickly disappearing, and Taylor Guitars has seen this, and is making efforts to restore and preserve our ebony supply.

Taylor Guitar’s Ebony Project

Taylor’s Ebony Project is working towards a “more socially responsible and environmentally sustainable model of sourcing ebony.” In 2011 Taylor Guitars entered a co-ownership of an ebony mill in Cameroon, Africa. In this partnership, not only does Taylor Guitars focus on the ethical and efficient sourcing of the wood, but they are also working on planting new ebony forests. It’s vital that we plant new ebony forests because, as Bob Taylor himself said, “if we don’t replant, we won’t be making guitars in 50 or 100 years.” That may seem far away, but it takes many years for an ebony tree to become mature enough to yield a product. Through ethical growing, sourcing, and ideals Taylor Guitars is helping ensuring the presence of ebony in our future.

For more information, and cool videos, on Taylor Gutiar’s Ebony Project, visit their website.

 

D’Addario – More Great Things

If you’ve come in the store, you probably know that we think D’Addario is a fantastic company. What you might not know is that they are a resource for tips, trick, information, and further resources. The education section of their website is seemingly-endless, so check it out if you have time! Click Here to be taken to their resources page, where you can choose by instrument family, or look at general information. 

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Learn to Bathe Your Trumpet With Nicole

Hey there everyone!

I’m here to tell you that April 6th, at 11 am, you can join me at the store for an interactive demonstration on how to bathe your trumpet. We will go over how to properly disassemble your trumpet, what the bathing process should look like, and how to put it back together correctly.

Bathing your trumpet is a common and simple maintenance that can be done in your bathroom tub or sink. I hope to see many of you there. Here’s to trumpets!