How Bottleneck Slides Were Made - The Burning String Method

This is the old fashioned, down and dirty way of making a guitar slide from a glass bottle. Sometimes the slide doesn't snap right off in the water and you have to apply a little pressure on it. Needless to say, take caution around burning kerosine. I've seen this done with rubbing alcohol also but it never worked as good for me. This is kind of a history lesson combined with a how-to/tutorial
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[@TheRealChrisLopez]

That background music wasn't edited in, it just follows this guy wherever he goes.

[@krono069]

Get ready for a LOT of likes for this brilliant comment. I'm only the 72nd like...

[@cookie4205]

LOL! kicked outta the army, enemy could hear those strings as soon as he got within earshot.

[@TonyHawkTuah]

🤣🤣😂😂

[@RayKit]

422 :)

[@PaperGub]

John Barleycorn its too late for u when u hear the music

[@r3d5ive87]

He looks like if jack white was in skynyrd

[@irishjoe2941]

I agree

[@steelman774]

He’s not?

[@winter3599]

I was gonna say Eric Andre, Jack White love child lol

[@humbleclay79]

He does look like he lives in the back woods of N.E. Florida. EDIT: Sucks that I have to say this, but that was not meant as an insult.

[@donnymcjonny6531]

LOL

[@DovidM]

Take a copper wire, strip off the insulation, twist the wire around the neck, leave a piece that stands out at a 90 degree angle, and heat the piece of wire that sticks out using a blow torch. The heat will be conducted through the wire to the glass. The results are more controllable than with a string.

[@jimmysapien9961]

Seriously 🤔

[@DavidSmith-ss1cg]

Pre-score the bottle neck with a glass-cutter on top of an upside-down shot glass, and have a pal lean on the cutter on top of the shot glass. Then, put the bottle - upside-down - with the neck against the cutter tip, and turn the bottle(one way only - don't work it to and fro). This makes the score even and regular. Pre-scoring the bottle and using heated wire results in an even break, with little "finishing." Good video, though; THIS is the old blues move, as you say, Muddy Waters talked about.

[@JdoubleU1222]

@@DavidSmith-ss1cg As someone who works with glass (fusing) I totally agree. Use a drop of oil on that cutter and only go once around in one direction. The more expensive cutters have a hollow handle to put oil in to "self lube".

[@TheOmniscientAtheist]

If you have a blow torch you can probably afford a £6 guitar slider off Amazon.

[@vforvendetta275]

@@TheOmniscientAtheist not as fun as making your own. Plus you have fun beforehand emptying the bottle😜

[@BassBoostedIndia]

This is pure gold. OG stuff

[@Sasasala386]

Why is country Eric Andre teaching me things!

[@datruth9872]

I purchased a bottle of coraceden aspirin back in the 70's. Still got it, still use it ! The headache was horrible but the sound of the bottle afterwards became history. 😎

[@navywoman7709]

You did a great job after having that whole bottle of spirits...without injuries.👍🏻😊Please show us more of these interesting ancient Blues hacks!

[@royferguson3909]

yes sir...like how to whittle a guitar out of a discarded fence- post.....dumb it down, why not .

[@Superman85139]

its a known fact that every time a man is using kerosine for anything he always smells his fingers first

[@daimonji632]

Like you touch ur tud before flushing...

[@martingarricks6209]

Dai MonJi yes

[@jacqdaniels9093]

@@daimonji632 that's turd. Not tud

[@avibank]

Be really careful with this. I sliced my thumb tendon when the bottle broke. Glass is unforgiving. The slide I made is still the best after 20 years though lol.

[@cursedcliff7562]

Also be careful with sheet metal, i did the same thing when carrying some

[@JdoubleU1222]

You could probably tap it with a rubber mallet and break it using a more controlled method.

[@pg1171]

I have a glass slide I bought about 30 years ago in a record store, and a metal one that I bought about 6 months later. I really like both of them, but I think I'm gonna try and make my own glass slide. Just to see if I can do it. The old medicine bottles are way too hard to come by nowdays. Curious about the results...They are both good slides, but the material of them gives you different sounds. Metal slides give you an edgier sound than the glass. Dwayne Allman, I think, used a glass slide...Layla...and I read somewhere that Joe Walsh learned from Mr. Allman...not positive though.

[@emilyadams3228]

@@pg1171 Gregg Allman told a story where he & Duane were at odds in 1966. Duane was sick, so Gregg left some food, a bottle of Corocidin, & a Taj Mahal album at Duane's door, knocked, & left. An hour later, Gregg's phone rang. It was Duane. "Baby brother, baby brother, get over here quick!" He booms over to Duane's & there he is w/the pills on the table, playing one of the songs on the Taj Mahal album w/the pill bottle w/the label peeled off. Gregg: "He was burnin' up on that song, man. I still have that bottle."

[@MrSmiley1964]

I have one I made almost 40 years ago after watching an old black blues man playing a homemade slide. He told me how to make it in trade for a beer. Now I dig old pill bottles out of a grown over trash pile I found on the back of my property

[@kevinwood3527]

Jack white and Justin Johnsons son is a handy fella

[@jakeraymusic]

Underrated comment

[@oldtimetinfoilhatwearer]

This guy is better than both of them lmao

[@biglabowski6072]

Thanks for the video.👍

[@joaopedrosouza9782]

I feel a great heart in this man!

[@68blues]

Think ah'll sit out in the porch an' write a song abat ma dawg.

[@jonnybeck6723]

Ha ha... arf!

[@roblewis3147]

Oooohh, my wiiife leeeft me for my for my daaaawg!

[@bossdog1480]

@@roblewis3147 My wife left me for my best friend. God I miss him....

[@sharkbite5744]

68blues dadadada da my dawg got up and left me, dadadada da so I got a new dawg, dadadada da my old dwag was named kenny dadadada da my new dawg is named Jeff dadadada da I got the my dwag fucked off and left me and so I got that new dawg blues. dadadada dada da da dada

[@abhayajoodha2331]

After makin sweet love ti cousin Edith...

[@dontkillme3368]

This is the character with all the stories that teaches you how to upgrade your weapons and tools once you reach level 15

[@Lilslicky]

this dude look like eric andre with additional girth

[@1natedoggy]

Nah... He looks like Booger out of the movie "Revenge of the Nerds".

[@TheInsaneShecklador]

Bird up!

[@TheGuitarMan71]

This is something I never knew I wanted to know. Thanks

[@frankk.9834]

I legitimately always wondered how the folks would do this back in the day, thanks for showing this, awesome! Subbed!

[@o0ferdinand0o]

My advice: don’t drink the bottle just before making the bottleneck

[@eyeballpapercut4400]

How would you drink bottles?

[@EM-wv8vf]

And that is why no one will remember your name, sir.

[@royferguson3909]

oh contreur

[@aleisterlavey9716]

Bad advice. Tried to drink it after. Bandaids don't stick good a lips.

[@neonickhaos4811]

@@aleisterlavey9716 or throats...

[@IIVVBlues]

I have never had as good a result with the string method. I end up with jagged or uneven edges. I use the boiling water/ ice water method. You score the neck where you want it to break, then submerge it upside down in boiling water up to the scored mark for about a minute. Then submerge the heated neck in ice water and it snaps right off, slick, even and smooth. The only clean up you need is some emery cloth to the sharp edge.

[@Phil4013]

Dude. This blew me away! Imagine what I’ll learn tomorrow!

[@tormado]

Years ago I was without a guitar slide. In my student living complex, drunk, I attempted to do this by soaking a rope in lighter fluid and wrapping that around the neck of the bottle hoping it would make the neck brittle enough for a cleanish break. I set the fire alarm off in the process and all residents had to evacuate the premises. Buy a glass cutter or a slide ;)

[@MrBalaki97]

Your voice gives me a wholsome feeling inside. The most relaxing southern drawl. Much love and thanks for showing me this. Peace be with you brother. Keep on truckin

[@cybrunel1016]

If you ever find an old aspirin bottle from the 1920's at an antiques shop, that'll do the trick too. Your technique works very well with petroleum jelly also and it burns longer than kerosene.

[@muddymuz7266]

Man I haven't seen you in ages! You taught me how to play Crossroad Blues!!!

[@jimmysapien9961]

He’s been in Quarantine

[@Shiloh7377]

My man, we had a kerosene heater to back in tha day growing up, before they ever had metal cages around them, I backed up one night N sat down by accident. ...anyway, love slide, blues, rock, doin it old ways,....

[@bennyshaversmusic590]

Hell, we was so poor back when I was a kid we had to get a pile of leaves in the middle of the living room floor and burn them. Couldn't afford no fancy chimney.

[@aliveandfilming2]

Man, awesome video. Sharing old tricks

[@petebovenzi8119]

Keepin that stuff alive brother .you rock

[@Sasasala386]

Will never forget the first time I got a slider, It was a beautiful stained blue glass, as soon as I got home I placed it on a table just to watch it...you imagine it...slide...

[@nedtheproducer5777]

Love this guys whole vibe

[@skydivingcomrade1648]

I love learning the old school hacks, tips, tricks!!

[@OneChordWonders]

man this is the most badass music thing I've seen

[@nellymoriarty_5783]

How interesting Thank you for sharing 'those good ole' tricks' People knew how to make life good times back in the days Appreciate you😚

[@TheMidnightModder]

We're glad to see you back buddy 😁

[@MrPetepetepetepete]

I was literally going to buy a slide today. Gonna try this. seems like a fun project. Thanks

[@navywoman7709]

Love the background music very much as well! 🎶👌🏻

[@MrLeadbelly]

That be John Henry

[@navywoman7709]

Correction: that IS JH...

[@wyattearp5229]

Check out Cedric Burnside he has some good acoustic blues videos on KZbin

[@navywoman7709]

Howard Albright “Washed my hands already”... thanks for da tip!

[@jimmysapien9961]

And he can Play Guitar 🎸

[@zgomote]

I just asked Chat GPT how this object is called and this is the first video I opened then. Haha. Really nice. Hello from Romania. Keep singing. :)

[@Mountainrock70]

34 year ago I made my slide from a wine bottle neck. I scored the bottle well with a glass cutter then knocked the bottle on a railroad tie. It broke off perfectly! I still have this slide even after it falling to the ground a few times over the years!

[@ronniewetherington509]

Very good video! The playing is awesome too!

[@brianwood7237]

Been trying to do that with my whiskey bottles for years...now I know how to do it right...Thanks bro!

[@SeanLaMontagne]

Way to make me feel like I'm back home with one video.

[@garyvee6023]

We had a kerosene fridge (true..., look it up) for years.

[@tiki_trash]

Maytag used to make gasoline engine powered washing machines.

[@Guitarzoids]

The kerosene boils amonia, the amonia vapor pressorizes the system

[@wyattearp5229]

Funny they are using alcohol in some commercial chillers now.

[@The_sinner_Jim_Whitney]

I have a propane RV fridge for camping.

[@jimmysapien9961]

CLureCo - resto time !!

[@migzz7976]

Fun video...Nice resonator and good slide making tips!

[@pantopol]

man, I`ve tried the first bottle with variety of methods without glass cutter and it didnt work. I`ve tried yours - it worked first try! Thanks a lot!

[@polymorphism1966]

Thank you Edward for the great video

[@misterspaceman9563]

This is very reminiscent of a method used to open extremely old sherry bottles. Since the corks usually won't hold together due to age, the server applies heated tongs to the base of the bottle neck, then brushes it with ice water to snap the neck off. The sherry is then filtered through cloth into a decanter to prevent any glass getting in the drink. Whole process takes about 3 minutes tableside.

[@rosafalls8068]

My grandma says this is also the technique they used for canning when she grew up, because they couldn't afford proper canning jars, and all things were reused. They put the string around the bottle necks of beer and pop bottles, heated them and knocked them off to make canning jars. I could be remembering wrong, but I could swear my grandpa said they used boiling water in the process of whacking the necks off. The lid for the canning jars was paraffin wax.

[@charbaker]

You’ve restored my faith in........everything.

[@AnthonyMonaghan]

This is the coolest thing I've ever seen, and I was a Boy Scout. I like the warning at the end Edward, "be careful when you make these things...your slide playin might summon up the devil himself" Top notch brother. Love your channel and your playing. Keeping it real in the backwoods of wherever. Cheers.

[@nicholasrourke3836]

We had a kerosene heater when I was a kid and yeah stinky

[@jimmysapien9961]

Black soot

[@bossdog1480]

Our cat used to waft his fluffy tail over the Kero heater and catch it alight. He NEVER learned and would be walking around with his tail alight We had to chase him around and put it out. Took about 10 seconds for him to catch on. LOL.

[@nicholasrourke3836]

@@bossdog1480 that's crazy. My cousin was a sick fuck so he actually put a cat in the microwave when we was kids I got poor thing out in time but cat went from black to grey I shit you not and was fucked up but survived awhile after

[@ericmoody3944]

@@nicholasrourke3836 I was gonna comment about waking up with black soot in my nose but damn!!!!!

[@gui18bif]

Yeah but I miss that smell

[@drzewiej]

Great method Edward - greetings from Poland!

[@ethankiter9323]

good to see your back

[@stevenbriggs7535]

Thanks man this works great. Thicker glass bottles seem to break nicer.

[@74dartman13]

Cool trick! I have some old wine bottles I've been saving to make slides. I'll give this a try. Thanks!👍😎🎸🎶

[@ryanmcdonald2027]

CHEERS Edward for that fascinating bottleneck glass slide engineering video ! :) You are very intelligent and clever ! well done to you mate : ) Greetings to you from Ryan McDonald a kiwi from New Zealand ! :)

[@jamesreaves5534]

I just found your Channel I'm glad I did. I hit like subscribed and click the Bell icon. This is a great video good homemade remedy for something. I think you might be able to do the same thing without a flame. My friend's Dad Percy was a jack of all trades, a blacksmith, carpenter, you name it, he could do anything just about anything. He always used to score glass with a glass cutter. He would score it several times not just once, get a real deep score and then he would take a little brush dip it in turpentine and wipe the little brush full of turpentine down the scoreline. Percy said the turpentine was the secret. It would snap off beautifully with no sharp edges I've never seen anybody do that except Percy Gates, most people just score it once, twice if you're lucky and snap it off. About half the time doesn't want to snap off evenly and they have to cut two or three panes of glass just to get one good one when they're trying to cut down a glass pane to a small pane for the old-time windows with individual glass panes in them like I have in my house. I was thinking if you had a glass cutter and you scored the bottle round and round and round several times your string would work a lot better because you would have a deeper cut line than a filel would make unless you have what they call a slitting file which is a really squatted or flat diamond shaped file, if you look at the nose of the file you'll see what I'm talkin about. It's a very narrow width diamond shape it's specifically for cutting notches in things. I think you could score with a glass cutter and then take this file and cut down really deeply all the way around and use the turpentine trick tap the bottle or the string (you can soak your string in turpentine instead of kerosene) like you're doing and do it either way I think you would get a more clean break even if you didn't use a slitting file if you just used a glass cutter and went around it several times. You'd get a deeper score than what you're making with the file. I couldn't really see what kind of file you had because I'm watching it on the cell phone and the picture is kind of small. You can get a diamond slitting file on eBay for around $20 and those would probably cut glass the best. A regular hardened steel slitting file would work also. Thanks for a great video. I'll have to try this out. God Bless You & Your Family!! Jimmy in NC....

[@charlystrau2565]

Super, Genial und einfach. Danke für das Video!

[@essentialjudge2279]

I used to do this. You can also do it to 32 oz Pepsi bottles and make nice drinking glasses. If you have a sandblaster in an air compressor that's a real nice job of cleaning up the edge. You can also do one gallon pickle jars to make glass containers to set over plants in the springtime.

[@itsallaroundyou7085]

It'll cost me more to buy these tools then buying a slide lol. I already own a nice brass one but I like having things I've made myself. Thanks for the video friend.

[@leetaylorchristian]

awesome. i used to find old green medicine bottles buried in old trash piles out in the woods in Georgia. those things are valued these days but i took them for granted

[@nudge2626]

Great video. Seen this in a few old blues docos and was wondering on the exact technique.

[@gregjablunovsky841]

That's brilliant! I must try it...first to finish a bottle.

[@guyman6385]

Learn something new every so often

[@renegade1520]

Cool information! Love the music too.

[@ShiratoriIsOffline]

I like this guy and his accent

[@justinwilliamson9037]

Nice one. Have made a few with my son. Good way to pas some time. Love your music.👍👍👍

[@davidbriggs9675]

My fave slide is a small section from a discarded metal chair. Works great. My other fave slide is an old brown glass throat losenge bottle. Quite a marked difference in sound between glass and metal slides. You wouldn't imagine that there would be....but there is.

[@ricktherrien8235]

We used kerosene heaters and lamps, the top of the heater would get really hot so you had to be careful. Another fuel I used was naphtha for fire eating and fire blowing , it burns clean and is the best for fire eating and blowing. Great video by the way!!

[@chuckearp3564]

Simple but works ! Thanks I'm gonna try a couple myself

[@NoJusticeNoPeace]

If you distill your own 'shine (and shame on you if you do, shame!), you can save the heads which are mostly methanol and use it in place of kerosene. It's a good way to avoid wasting it.

[@wallywalpamur4960]

And if you fart in a jar you can save gas.

[@ivar7175]

love these videos where you do something different then cover songs

[@0713mas]

Done this its tough to score the bottle! Never knew about the string trick, thats a game changer!

[@1-updeville560]

"Yeah it works", this dude is fucking awesome.

[@1-updeville560]

I need friends like this guy

[@johnpaul2285]

Awesome Edward

[@AnthonyBurrito1313]

Best 4:03 minutes of my day so far

[@raymartinez5389]

this guy is a vibe

[@lorettasiegrist9334]

I'll have to try this because the other method didn't turn out that great. Maybe 1 out of 5 tries. Thanks for sharing.

[@ucureu5079]

That was very interesting! Thank you for sharing! 😁

[@RAkers-tu1ey]

Very nice, Kerosene (also known as aviation fuel) is just very useful to keep around in general.

[@charlesevans8951]

I learned something today.

[@12th.jahlil]

This was definitely in your recommended

[@louf7178]

I've seen something like this using, what is essentislly, the wire used in bread toasters. That wire has a certain electrical resistance, which as known, can get red hot. Maybe even twist guitar wire around the bottle, heat it and twist it tight with pliers as it melts the glass.

[@andyZ3500s]

That was totally interesting Edward. Now I can see where the term Bottleneck comes from. Almost forgot I used to go by my initials in the comments but changed it to my name. So I'm still the same old AZ.

[@nmarbletoe8210]

what's up Arizona Slim

[@ThatWord]

Clever! Thanks for showing how.

[@noahorlowski3328]

This is the most useful Eric Andre video I've ever seen

[@MikeYeary]

We had a kerosene heater when I was kid too. I remember when I was little, my dad's van didn't have any heat, so we'd take it with us when we went to town in the winter. Keep the windows cracked, or we'll pass out. Lol! I definitely wouldn't do that nowadays, but back then, we made do with what we had.

[@phihelix8777]

Pretty cool trick. Thanks

[@AnonYmous-ob7py]

I had a friend that made a gravity bong this way

[@Matthew_Eitzman]

You need to make better friends. He’s probably using the copper wire from a lamp power cord to make the screen for his crack pipe.

[@HeatMyShorts]

@@Matthew_Eitzman You're an idiot. Nothing wrong with weed. Open your mind fool

[@user-gt6oh5jx6l]

@@Matthew_Eitzman Crack and weed are 2 different things lmfao, theres a reason weed is legal in over half the country and is most likely gonna be legal in every state in 5 or so years

[@AnonYmous-ob7py]

@@Matthew_Eitzman yeah well, you need to make friends.

[@khoroshoorange]

theres something wrong with every drug. but weed isnt as bad as many are led to believe. it should however be treated with respect because its not broccoli. and you can even choke on broccoli ;)

[@johndcoffee632]

Cool man, gonna make my own real soon. Thanks!

[@chazitup13]

My dad made his this bottle=neck in a similar way; born 1918 played guitar and had rack around his neck to hold his harmonic, and he had a very good singing voice. He cut a 78 record titled "Back up and Push" and other side, "Down Yonder". I miss him more everyday and learn to appreciate him in a different light often. Thinking back over the years, just how many ways he was always there for me, with me...no matter what. Thank God for him. Take a step back, and learn to appreciate all the people in your life.

[@nnj6918]

Thank you for this!

[@naptownrandb]

Keep rockin brother

[@jimlepeu577]

That kerosine heater smell brings back memories of the ‘50s now

[@robertstotts2343]

Respect to this channel

[@alexbowman7582]

Glass is actually harder than most steel. The sharpest knife is an obsidian surgical knife used in heart surgery because it cuts so fine and leaves little scarring and similar to some flint knives used by ancient humans. John Logie Baird patented a glass razor blade but no one would make it because it lasted too long.

[@jasonkesser]

Dude that was baller.

[@biglabowski6072]

Thanks for the video.👍

[@rogerdodger5415]

Thanks for sharing your information! 😎👍

[@KeithKemp]

This video is amazing, thank you!!!

[@jegr3398]

Awesome thanks for showing this technique I'll give it a try. Is that you playing in the background? Sounds damn good

[@jimmysapien9961]

Muddy waters

[@jegr3398]

@@jimmysapien9961 I'm pretty sure it was him, he has a clip of him playing that song and it sounds identical

[@mrthud1981]

I still have a kerosine heater and use it every year. If you take care of it and maintain it won't stink up on you or blow black smoke around you.

[@roblewis3147]

This just randomly showed up in my recommendations (because I'm a guitar and bass player) But damn, I'm glad it did, cause that was a helluva Cool trick brother. I'm gonna try it tonight (I have an old kerosene lamp that my grandmother gave me years ago. And I still have the kerosene in one of those old tin container's.) Thanks for the awesome idea. I was just going to buy a slide, but the old fashioned way is much cooler. You just earned another sub. And also, how do I go about making a donation to your channel? Cheers brother.🍻

[@pg1171]

I hope that it worked ok! Don't need to be getting and cuts on those hands...gonna try it myself, just to see if it works...I could always use another glass slide.

[@roblewis3147]

@@pg1171 actually it worked so well that I made two.