Imperial Valley Guitar Co. Cutaway Roundnose Tone Bar Slide for Dobro, Lap Steel

Imperial Valley Guitar Co. specializes in resonator guitars and acoustic Hawaiian guitars. The RH-2 is a new product from them that goes right along with their Hawaiian steel guitars.   It is a tonebar or ”steel” typically used for playing lap steel, Dobro or Hawaiian steel guitars. The RH-2 uses the traditional Stevens type design with a finger groove on the top, but adds a cutaway on the front end with a rounded nose. The advantage of this is that with the rounded nose the player can tilt the steel bar up and be able to cleanly (and quickly) play single notes on any string. With a traditional square ended Stevens bar it is very difficult to play single notes anywhere except the very top or very bottom strings. The design is similar to some of the Shubb tonebars but has a more rounded nose and tighter radius bottom surface for a smoother vibrato.