The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm sure you're right, I just read recently I think an interview with someone (maybe David Crosby) who was relating a story about Roger playing a Fender XII, it may have just been for a short experimentation period or something. He was talking about Roger trying to emulate the late period sax improv...

Yes Erv, they call them 12 string electrics and they were pretty big in the 60 & 70's rock music. Roger may have been one of the first to popularize the 12 string electric with the Byrds. I believe he used the Fender XII, which had single coil pickups. Most 12 string electrics have humbuckers. I...

I also play bass guitar. I was watching an old Jaco Pastorius instructional video a couple of months ago and one of the first tips that Jaco gave for any bass player was that even if you don't play it you should know how to play the main melody of any song you're working up on your bass. It will pos...

I did what Jerry Roller did put one in cable plug works great got a whole pack for $2.00 Thanks for the info http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/userpix1205/4710_image_9.jpg http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/userpix1205/4710_image_10.jpg It looks like the sleeve that goes inside the jack's screw on cover i...

If you're playing it with a band, lots of folks seem to like playing them standing with it on a stand. I think some basic keyboard stands can be had reasonably and they're adjustable for standing or sitting hight. There are also a few special made for lap steels made by forum members I believe. Stan...

Congratulations on your GFI purchase. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do mine.

Slight variations in gauge will balance the feel of your set tonally. What works well with one tuning for certain pitch may be a little out of balance with another setup/tuning on a different guitar. Sometimes you have to go through a little trial and error to find what's best for you. But the HSGA ...

I would think you would need pretty tight tolerances to have the nut be really stable. You can buy the ones people have on pedal steel guitars pretty cheap and you can probably get the steel rod they mount on without putting out much money at all. Then you just have to figure out how to mount it on ...

Hi John, I don't know if you've seen these two links, I have found about everything I've ever needed to know about lap steel guitar tunings and string gauges. The Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association and our fellow forum member Brad Bechtel's own site http://www.hsga.org/strings.htm and http://www.well...

First off I don't own or use a multi-bender but, If you need to shim it or decide to try that as you were thinking you should think about using Delrin washers instead of metal. They are kind of self lubricating and really tough. Not expensive and easily available.

I'm not sure about the formulas, but I'm sure lots of others here are. You can wire multiple speakers (2, 3 or 4 or more) in different ways series/parallel to end up with a different ohm load on the speakers. Maybe you could just use a cab with 2 speakers wired together in a way that will match the ...

It amazes me the pedal steels that some guys produce in one-off versions. What brilliance and patience. That under carriage is so neat it's hard to believe it is a home made instrument. I'm a little jealous .

It amazes me the pedal steels that some guys produce in one-off versions. What brilliance and patience. That under carriage is so neat it's hard to believe it is a home made instrument. I'm a little jealous .

I guess I just assumed you had been recently "bitten" since you're playing a borrowed Pro II and were asking about a new guitar. I didn't realize you've been playing over 30 years more than me, I'll shut up now

The tone control is kind of wired funny in some of these 50's era Nationals from what I've read on some other threads here on the forum. I believe is was intended to mellow the tone without losing all the highs. When it's full open there's a high end emphasis that almost sounds like it's overdriving...

So Kevin, is it a D-10 that you want ? Are you just starting out? Most beginners study the E9 neck and lots of guys buy doubles and never end up getting into C6 much. S-10 in E9 can be had much cheaper than a D-10 and they're a lot lighter to move around. You can always move up to a D-10 later and a...

Hi everyone, I was unaware that a pickup itself could put out a saturated signal; I'd assumed the saturation happened at the first transistor or tube it saw. But this definitely doesn't surprise me. And I run my pickups where they're not going to saturate unless the strings get assaulted hard. Lane,...

Noah, Those are a beautiful pair the blue 6 st. and the beige 8-string. Seems like that 3rd knob might get in you right hand/thumb's way, does it? I think my thumb pick would be clacking against it constantly when playing the lowest strings.

No wonder it sounds great Terry. Good amp set-up for that sound on steel and 6-string. I'm going to try that tuning. I've been using mostly Open G or A for blues. I was reading that Elmore James used the open E tuning, also used a lot by Duane Allman to emulate Chicago style blues. I've always neede...

That's a meaty slide tone you got there Terry. It sounds really great with the over-driven amp sound. I have an old 8 string of the same model basically, with a couple of slight variations. Mine's in desperate need of a change of the tuning. What tuning are you using? I think I may set mine up for t...

Hi Alan, Do you know of anyone using the Hipshot Trilogy bridge for a lap steel build? No pitch bending but lots of tuning variations with a flick of a few levers. I've heard Tele players comment that you have to check the fine tuning each time you change levers/tunings but they're supposed to be fa...

OK, so I haven't tried a lot of pedal steels. But my GFI Ultra U-12 (Universal) is a great guitar. If you want to get a steel guitar to PLAY, the GFI's are great. I've had mine going on two years and I'm at least the third owner and I've never done a thing but wipe it down and play it seriously. You...

Chapman Sticks use a piece of Velcro (the fuzzy half of course) under the strings on the first fret near the nut. It's on all the time though. But I think the Velcro material is superior to spongy rubber insulation stuff that been suggested. That stuff changes the pitch intonation of the neck too mu...

Boiling the strings in water with some baking soda gets them clean, but why bother considering the price of a new set... Sorry Per but that's just a bad idea that some people get into a habit of doing This is something that some bass players do to clean expensive bass strings for reuse. You can get...

Yea, I lost the keys to my steel a couple of days ago and I can't seem to start the thing and play on pitch now! I think I need a tune up too.