The Steel Guitar Forum

I troll the GC online site often and a 10-string Gibson EH-150 showed up today (located at the Albany NY store). I think 11 were made total between late 30’s and early 40’s. Asking $2k. Has the “optional” hand rest over the pickup. Looks OK except it appears some knucklehead “upgraded” it with moder...

Mike – Such a great thread you started here, inspiring us all to get a bit philosophical. I’d like to offer one more take on this topic. Sometimes the breakthroughs happen when the instrument sound stays conventional–but what is played sounds fresh and new because it is pulled in from another contex...

Hi Mike – Great to hear from you about this new direction. I totally applaud it. I get that you’re trying to extend the sonic boundaries of your instrument and that’s what all the prior pioneers have done. Don’t listen to blowback that your lap steel doesn’t sound like a lap steel. If players didn’t...

Smoking’!!!!! I love how you ramped up the vibrato on those chord hits. Real horn feel. Great job Steve!!

Awesome. You got the choir up on their feet!!!

Man, I like this so much! Beautiful tone and arrangement, Mike. The uke is a brilliant choice for the backing piano part—it reminds me of a Kalimba - African thumb piano - so befitting. I have to say that, beyond your top notch playing and musical ideas, these projects are showcasing a consistent ...

Wicked cool, Doug! Fave tune!!! Love your “rolling” leads, the harmonics - nice surprise! - and the grabs you did for those orchestral hits at the end. Great work!!

Hi Al and congrats on getting your Gibson console. Don’t let this be too daunting. For one thing you can think of these as two open 6-string guitars that have a couple of strings added for range— and to keep it even simpler, string up both necks but just focus for now on one tuning. One basic st...

That’s a beauty, Joe! I guess this proves that Herb R. did make a six string model. But I assume that the guitar pictured is a custom order, and it looks like the six string neck is simply an eight string neck, key head, nut and bridge with the top and bottom strings missing. Because the low and h...

Bill and Dave — Sounds like you’re both fond of Fender pedal steels. Guitar Center online may have a good deal on a 1964 Fender 800. That’s a good tough to find model—10 string with moving bridge fingers. Link is: https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Fender/Vintage-1964-Model-800-Lap-Steel-1166...

what you hear mostly is moving lines under open strings ...plenty of open strings to let ring and do some moving "pedal pull" lines under them. also i have some diatonic strings on top in the tunings i use. that really helps out. Brilliant, Bill. I can see (hear?) how the open strings con...

What’s great about your tracks, Bill, is the inventive tuning (extended Leavitt) you are using to allow for some if those close intervals that, together with the right slants and ringing sustain give an uncanny illusion of combined bar and pedal/knee lever travel. I also play a heavy ‘58 Magnato...

Thanks Bill. You confirmed my suspicion about density and natural sustain. Yes I use a volume pedal and I play both Emmons (D-10) and Sho-Bud (Pro-1) pedal steels, tending to get sustain more easily than on my lap steels. I’ve been working on some slow songs on my Emmons 8 string lap steel with my...

Wow these sound great Bill. Beautiful fat changes. What steel are you playing and how are you getting such sustain? I find that to be the biggest challenge on slow material as most PSGs have more natural sustain.

Sweet track Bill. Such tasty comping and I love the rich tone you’re getting. I know this number well from Kenny Burrell’s Night at the Vanguard LP -great in-the-pocket blues! Neat tuning - it’s like having 2 necks in 1! And your build looks and sounds great. It really works for the tune you s...

Please share your secrets! Hi Bill - not sure I have any secrets. I can say that on the track I posted, most of the single note work centered around the middle strings in my standard high G C6 8-string tuning—the middle G and A—and I took advantage of that whole-step difference—pick pick slid...

Dave - check out the following from Doug Beaumier that he linked in another recent post: http://playsteelguitar.com/country-string-pulls-on-lap-steel-guitar/ Doug showcases some great string pull technique using those top strings. I have played mostly pedal steel in the past and have used a half-ton...

Hey Dave - thanks and good to hear from you. I enjoy the tracks I’ve heard you on—very tasteful stuff and I dig you on the ZB!! You’re right-no string pulls on that track. All slides for the single note bends and you the final G to C tag — GBD to GCE — is a severe slant on strings 234 from...

Thanks Joe. And yes Doug, I dig that sound. In fact I came THIS close to buying a Zane Beck built Scranton era ZB Custom D-11 fixer upper a few years ago. No knees 6 pedals 650 bucks. Whew. One that got away, but I knew I didn’t have the time or dinero to make it play. I’ll stop now before this ...

Thanks guys! Hey Doug you won’t believe this but I was listening to old live Buck, Don and Tom for the past hour! Together Again. My Heart Skips a Beat. And one of my favorites: Love’s Gonna Live Here Again. Such superb playing and singing and great songs!!!

Thanks, Jim, for the thumbs-up! And thanks, Doug, for passing the word along!

Thanks for sharing your tracks and for your kind words about my playing. FYI I just updated my recent post with the C6 jazz track that Doug Beaumier referred to. Give a listen if you have a chance. Cheers!

I’m posting a link to the C6 track Doug refers to above (that I posted a few years back on the forum). Its an exercise where I attempted to reverse engineer for 8-string lap steel a pedal steel solo from Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird Suite” played by the great Jim Cohen. (My take is running at ...

Fantastic Doug. Impeccable playing. And I love that you are showcasing alternate tunings and styles. Really shows the breadth of what you can get out of a non pedal guitar!

Superb, Bill. Some of your changes and transitions are otherworldly! I’m wondering how much the Leavitt tuning allowsthat might not be practical or even possible with C6. Now you have enough intrigued to explore that tuning! BTW, was “Mansion” recorded with 14 string steel that I’ve seen you...