The Steel Guitar Forum

Jamie, I was in England for 3 months working for my company in Stevenage just north of London. I live in California. Just got back Sept 1. I actually took a trip to Birmingham England to go to the National Motorcycle Museum near there. Went by bus. That was a record breaking hot summer wasnt it? I a...

Thanks Hal.

Rick Barber

Thanks for the replies.

Rick Barber

Hello friends, Its been a long time since I've written. I will be introducing my pedal steel playing to the Catholic Church in my town. I have been a musician for the Church for over 20 years now. My audiences (when playing nylon string acoustic have been around 500 each week). For those of you who ...

Hi everyone, I have been using a Peterson strobe tuner for my 6 string guitar. Here is a link to a new one that has tuning temperament for pedal and lap steel. Here is the link. If you havent tried strobe tuning its the best. www.petersontuners.com/products/modelvs2/index.cfm Hello to everyone, I ha...

Hello everyone. It seems as though I let my work get the best of me for a while so I've missed tuning in on the Forum. Anyway I'm making time for it now and wanted to say hello to all my friends here. As a matter of fact I have a steel gig this weekend. Hello B0b if you read this. Best Wishes, Rick ...

Rick Barber will be playing pedal steel and classical and rock guitar with FissionBand this weekend: Come hear our premier female vocalist Aubree our band sweetheart and expert kickboxer. Joining us are guest guitarist Tomas Montoya (my classical guitar teacher), Rob on drums, Rick Jr. on keys and w...

I wanted to thank Marc Muller, pedal steel player and guitar and lapsteel player and backup vocalist on tour with Shania Twain , for coming up to my seating location at Key Arena in Seattle for a visit. I was really glad to be able to introduce Marc to my brother Randy as well. This is the third tim...

Hi David, I went on a cruise with the Ventures last Spring which was organized by The Vacation Store represented by Julia Meekens-Self who was very helpful in providing all the ticketing and I imagine the separate ship accomodations for the concerts. Nokie played with the Ventures as well. The guita...

Thanks for the reply. That must be a great gig each outing.

I think I'm liking smaller groups these days, its easier to keep in balance and the parts compliment one another.

Best Regards,
Rick Barber
Morgan Hill, Calif.

Does anyone know who the steel session players and concert players are for Lucinda Williams. I'm going to try to catch her at the Filmore in San Francisco.

Thanks
Rick Barber

I have found those steel players inspirational as well.

Rick Barber
Morgan Hill, Calif

In the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" the lady was told , if the robot (Gort was his name) is going to attack you say the words , "Gort, Klatuu Barada Nicto" . And indeed the robot's laser shield closed back up. Of course Gort carted her off anyway but at least he put his ...

I would go for the Hickok 539C which will cost more but when you resell I'm sure you would at least get your money back. Dont forget to ask if it works right. Also the meter movement needs to work flawlessly so ask about it. It would be tough to replace the meter movement. If you want a new unit you...

Hi Dave,

Check out the Sennheiser ones here:
http://www.stereoheadphones.net/

Rick Barber

Hi David,

You know when I was a kid I used to bowl at Country Club Lanes at midnight. What a fun venue. Good Luck.

Rick Barber

If you can ask for preamp specs here is what I would shop for: 1)lowest noise figure/high sensitivity(dB) 2)low distortion even at higher input level(headroom)(% at specified highestinput level) 3)sufficiently wide bandwidth (kHz) 4)high input impedance and low output impedance (100's Kohm in , doze...

I would prefer DVD. Thanks for making them available Paul.

Rick Barber
Morgan Hill, Calif.

(Incidently I plan to attend the Nokie Festival which should happen July 4, 5 but check his website listed above. Its held in Oregon. Zoe McCullouch said she would be playing too --- she is the 16 year old sensation .) I also kept running into Don Wilson (our Ventures member) who made famous that oc...

I was on the Surfing to Baja Cruise with "The Ventures" and "Los Straitjackets" last week. One morning I was sitting on the upper deck thinking about breakfast and spotted Nokie Edwards walking by. I looked over at him and said "Hey , your'e getting pretty good at that chick...

I started when I was 49 1/2 and now I'm 53.

Rick Barber

I have been an elecronics engineer for 33 years. Most of my professional work has been in the RF and microwave engineering fields. My hobbies take me into audio, tube amp, MOSFET amp, and power supply design. Part of my work is kind of like mechanical engineering as well. Presently I work for a comp...

My mother was a talented singer. My Dad loved music especially country and played KRAK radio out of Sacramento all the time. He didnt play an instrument though. I took up guitar and clarinet and bassoon starting in 4th grade. I took up steel at age 50. If my father was alive he'd be my biggest fan I...

I have lots of Joe's training material and it is all excellent.

Rick Barber

I recommend the Mark of the Unicorn MOTU 896 with firewire connection to an iMac computer.

Check out the motu.com site before you decide. This is a 24 bit machine.

Rick Barber