I used actual bottle necks for years. You could find me rummaging around through garbage cans full of discarded bottles behind various restaurants or bars seeking "Excaliber", the one true slide. I imagine to the untrained eye, the sight of me in an alley digging through cans full of empty wine and liquor bottles probably made me look desperate for what was in the bottles rather than the bottle itself. The passion of my quest blinded me to their stares, pointing fingers, gasps and wagging heads. I guess I should be glad nobody called the authorities to reprimand me for trespass or worse. I was dedicated in my search till eventually I'd find something that would fit right and worked fairly well after breaking it and grinding off the sharp parts on the pavement. Ultimately though, after all my hard work, what would usually happen is that it would fall out of my pocket while bending over to adjust something or pick something up, fall to the floor or ground and break. Then the process would start all over again. I became inspired/influenced by a friend who also played bottleneck to try a deep throat spark plug socket 15/16 inch. They worked fine until the chrome plating would wear off and I'd have to seek out another to replace it with from a rummage sale or swapmeet. One day, after having sufficiently worn the chrome right off my last slide again, I was at a swapmeet looking for yet another replacement. Having no success locating my usual 15/16 I happened upon a slightly larger 22mm deepthroat and decided to give it a try. Well, changing to the metric system did throw my slide playing off for a while until I got used to it. Some time later I was surprised to see, after arriving at a gig, that I had forgotten my trusted 22mm. The spare that I had in my bag was an odd item that I had picked up at a rummage sale for fifty cents, a frictionless marine propellershaft bearing or cutless bearing as they're called. It was much larger than my 22mm but I managed to make it work that day. It's been years, and I've been using it ever since. I've grown used to the size and weight. People often comment, "That's an awful big slide!" and then chuckle. I usually respond by saying, "It's not the size of your slide. It's the slide of your size."

Oh, and to answer your question about where to get a good guitar, I just ended up making my own. After twenty years of searching for one myself, without success, the frustration grew beyond the breaking point and forced me to the cataclysmic decision to create that which I desired. Now before you jump to any assumptions about my abilities as an instrument builder, let me just say that I had only desire and frustration as my driving force and no actual ability, tools or talent. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. Well, if that's so, then I say, frustration must therefore be the father of invention. I asked questions of everyone and anyone I thought might be of help. Along the way I was influenced by the many conversations to explore alternative design ideas. My first attempt, being hels together with Erector set brackets, was primitive but functioned for about five years. My second stab was a giant step beyond my first and I'm still playing it after eight years. I'm right in the middle of my third. I building it for my older brother who has wanted me to make him one since seeing my second guitar about eight years ago. I really didn't want to have to think about making guitars for others but he is my big brother. My second guitar is made from a combination of stuff that I found at garage sales, table leg, door kickplate, vegetable steamer, record player parts, piano soundboard, and baseball bat. I know it sounds weird, but, what can I say, it sounds and plays great. I did manage to incorporate some ideas from early patent designs that I acquired via a friend.

Now you may, and rightly so, consider this to be the long way to go about getting what you wish but I've found the experience endlessly rewarding. Never in my wildest imagination would I have guessed that I would some day make my own guitar and out of stuff I found at garage sales no less. Frustration has a tendency to drive you crazy, fortunately, that energy can be channeled creatively to produce positive results. The story itself, of how I went about making my own guitar, has been a joy to tell from the stage during my performances and has even inspired others to go and do likewise.

Walkin' that thin line between insanity and whatever's on the other side.