Glass or Brass?

One slide that's always made me scratch my head in puzzlement is the Big Heart slide. http://www.bigheartslide.com/ I've got an aluminum QuickSilver model, which you can easily look up on that site. It's an extrusion, basically a piece of hollow aluminum molding with the heart profile and a hex hole in the center. It's very rough, too rough for me to sound very musical with. My vibrato sounds like I'm sawing down a tree. And I haven't figured out what's the advantage of the heart shape with its touted three radii. There's one, short radius over the two "ears" of the heart shape, a long radius on the two nearly flat sides, and the third "radius" is the pointy edge of the heart. I don't think that edge is musically usable, and the asymmetrical shape of the thing makes it harder to locate the effective center of the slide visually when using one of the radiused sides. I'm wondering what Luther was thinking. But maybe I'm just dense and don't get it. Anybody on here who's had good success with these things, who can explain their proper use?

I have three favorite slides, all Dunlops:

-A concave-radiused, flared bell-brass "Harris Slide"

-A blue ceramic "Moonshine Slide" (straight-walled), made from a proprietory ceramic material and unglazed on its interior (GREAT feel!)

-A large, thick-walled Pyrex glass slide, like Sonny Landreth's (also straight-walled)

I love the tone of all of them, and frankly, I can get very similar sounds from each one.

I favor the flared, concave-radiused brass one due to the way its shape allows better string-clearance on a medium-low electric action, and easier fretting-the-string-behind-the-slide fingerings a la Sonny Landreth. (I'm not all that hot at slide, or guitar in general, but I use some of these techniques like that to do what I hear in my head, so's t' speak...)

I've got this BigHeart one with me (along with the brass and bronze ones I just mentioned.) I'm gonna keep messing with it and see if I can make it work.

When I told Luther about bronze sleeve bearings from Tractor Supply(long ago, in the old Slideguitar.com days) and he found a way to dramatically improve upon it with his "Bronze Bomber" (and now the Robert Johnson signature slide) he sent me a box full of various slides he makes.

I asked him about the heart shaped slides, that I assume were the source of his business' name. His response was that the shape was a way of having more control over the slide. Evidently, the sharp edge is supposed to stick up and away from the strings, giving your non-slide fingers a better way to grip the slide.

It seems to me this works best when the slide is on the ring finger and the pinky and middle fingers can rest on either side of the sharp edge. By rolling the hand slightly you alter the part of the slide that contacts the strings.

Somehow, the double rolled "mouse ear" profile opposite the sharp edge is supposed to allow for specialized techniques involving rolling the hand from side to side, or possibly putting both sides on the strings at the same time. I always thought a tear drop profile would have made more sense.

There seems to be a learning curve involved with that slide design that I never got beyond. Obviously some folks like the design as Luther seems to have done alright with his slide making business. I still think the Bronze Bomber is his best slide.

In the collection Luther sent me there are also some very smooth heart shaped slides. So if you like the profile, but not the file surface, there are options. I have the heart design in smooth ceramic, ceramic with little bumps on it (like it was designed for better traction), smooth porcelin, and a couple of very polished metal ones. He also sent me tapered slides and one made from a bottle neck.

Almost forgot ( :oops: ) The 2oz Shot Glass, freshly emptied

Hi, Rabbit! Welcome!