Tone Bars for short fingers

[Nicole Zym]

Hi All,
I'm taking the Paul Franklin intro course (modules) and it was advised to start with a 7/8 inch diameter tone bar in the Stevens/ergonomic shape. I have the dunlop 919 which is pretty short ( 2 and 3/4 inch long) and 3/4 diameter, and I haven't been able to find anything shorter. For the bar to fit my hand as he describes, it would have to be about 2- 2.5 inches long max. So far I've been making do with my 919 but I wonder if this is limiting my ability for control.

Any thoughts on this or alternative suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[Donny Hinson]

In my opinion, it should be okay if the bar is longer than your fingers, so a 2 3/4" bar should work for you. It's usually just a matter of practice, and it should not limit your playing once you adapt to it.