History of the Steel Guitar, Hawaiian Beginnings
62History of Steel Guitar, Hawaiian Public TV
"The essense of steel guitar is the movement of the bar... the slides," says Jerry Byrd.
The first slides were pocket knives and metal combs, but this was far from practical.
Many of the original slides were rectangular in shape (see video). However this style, the rectangular slide, would get stuck on the strings. That wasn't good.
The perfect slide is shaped like a bullet with a very hard shiny surface. The bullet slide is used in combination with a metal nut extension. The metal extension raises the strings off the neck..
National Steel Guitar from the 1930's, (source: flickr, see link below)
- Dad\'s guitar on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Had to shoot some photos to get this guitar appraised. This was my father's guitar. He bought it when he was a child. When he was young, he was discovered by a music professor at Carnegie Mellon. The professor put him on the radio.(photo: lsheirer)
