The Steel Guitar Forum

PM sent, Thanks, Jerry.

I had a 1st year Session 400( bought in '74/'75?) and I agree it was a great sounding amp. A couple years ago I picked up a clean Session 400 Limited on the cheap and using the parts list from the Peavey upgrade kit, I bought higher quality parts including BB OPA2134 op amps (can't remember what Pea...

I remember an ad from one of the early mail order catalogs for the SM57/58 "doubles as a hammer". Years ago Shure would take your broken mike and rebuild it for a small fee. Someone gave me a non working Beta58 a few years ago so I called Shure and they told me they don't like worn looking...

Chris in an earlier post hit it, called plateaus of learning. It seems to happen most with learning an instrument. Just when you feel like you're moving right along stagnation sets in sapping inspiration. Perfectly normal, and each time you hit a new plateau, you're a better player. Just keep aiming...

Way back when, a club owner that our band worked for always called it table steel. To this day when I run into him he still mentions how he liked my table steel playing. Doesn't bother me a bit (maybe cause he's the only one to give me a compliment).

Recording is one thing, live is another. Live I still prefer the Session (current one is a modified 400 Limited) but for recording, which is rare for me these days, I go through a Mesa V Twin tube pre set for clean direct to the board. I suppose both have their pros and cons. For six string tube is ...

I need to mention that in another group that I was only playing six string in the piano player (Fender Rhodes) used the Session for that until she got a Yamaha electric baby grand (SP80?) and that Session sounded incredible. I'd like to hear a Twin do that. Something about wide dynamic range that is...

Just my 2 cents but in the early seventies when I first joined a band playing steel I picked up a nice silver (non master vol.) Twin with JBL's which was pretty standard back then. We gigged a lot and that thing seemed to gain weight every time I moved it. Around '74 or so I get a call from a music ...

Speaking of baffling, Gibson in the late fifties was ready to drop the poor selling Les Paul because the jazzers that it was designed for hated it. To try to save it they combined some of their best talent and some really nice maple too small for L5's or Super 400's and built what's now know as 'The...

Prices in the vintage market are dictated by a product being old, rare and desirable. Back when effects pedals were first showing up on the mass market MXR was the name at the top of the heap so that's what I wanted and it delivered. Technology has moved on and maybe the parts in old pieces wears ou...

I bought one in the '70,s after a Jeff Newman used one at a seminar and loved it. Like a dipstick I sold it but the guy I sold to just gave it back to me recently. I don't know if it was tired but sounded kinda fuzzy in the top end and a little dull all around. Got some instructions from a site for ...

Just wanted to chime in here. I picked up my first good vp, a Goodrich photocell in the early seventies and have been using it right up until a year ago New Years Eve when out of the blue it sounded like I had partially blown a speaker. I had just modified my Session 400 Limited so I thought it was ...

I believe Uvex was the vacuum formed plastic covering the ZB student models came with.It saved time by not having to lacquer the body. My first steel (ZB student) recently showed up at a local music store and the blue plastic was cracked and peeling off, pretty ugly. And I used to think it was so co...

I've been lucky as I've played with some really good drummers,bass players, singers as well. My Dad always told me "if your smart, you'll hang out with guys smarter than you and that's how you will learn". I guess I've been lucky to be the weak link in some bands because I'm not great but ...

All songs are just chords and melody. You don't have to like the lyrics, the singer or the band, but it's always a good idea to do the best of your ability with the chords and the melody. If not, you might not sound so good. There are many songs that are not really bad but just overplayed. You hear ...

Do you know what year it is? It sure looks like the guitar I sold in Phoenix in the late 70's after I got my first Rus-ler. Mine was a little faded in the front from sitting in a sunny window when I consigned it to a music store. I got real mad and pulled it out of there. Was a great steel!

Thanks Damir, I don't mean to get off topic but Russ was a great guy. Before he left AZ he lived a few blocks from my folks so when I'd visit I would sometimes bring the SD10 Rus-ler I had at the time and have him add knee levers, rewind a PU and overall tweak my guitar at his shop in his garage. Ne...

It must have been the early 70's when Russ "H.V." Russell was working part time for ZB in Phoenix as a machinist when he had me watch him make my bar on a lathe from a piece of round stainless stock. He turned it down to the size that felt good then polished it all on the lathe. After the ...

This is a great topic. I think it applies to everything in life. When you like something, try to get good at it, then hang out with those who feel the same way, and everybody's going to grow. Standing, performing ( somewhat shaky) in front of a lot of people with lights in your face, and getting awa...

I was lucky enough to attend 2 or 3 of the seminars in Phx. in the early to mid 70s', still have some of the papers including tuning chart that I still use. He was such a likable and knowledgeable teacher, it just made me want to practice all the time. Best thing I've ever done to improve my abiliti...

Ken, you might look for a solid wire going from the back of I think the master volume pot to the chassis. Both of my amps had some issues breaking up at volume when I added a little more bass. I replaced the solid wire with braided and problem solved. I always use another single 12" cab with my...

Oh, one more thing, when you restring (you six stringers out there) feel along the length of the string for any humps or bumps before you put it on. If there are any, it will buzz just before that hump. You can straighten it out and be fine. The string should feel smooth running through your fingers.

I forgot to add, look for strings in an airtight, anti corrosion package. It will reduce the chances of the string being the problem. There is no cure for a poor winding, but oxidation can be prevented.

It happens more often than you think. I have spent more time than needed to fix a problem caused by a string. Intonation, buzzing and other problems were solved by simply replacing a new string with a another new string. Strings can be and are imperfect.

Never seen a mk1 with reverb. Bought a 60w mk2b in '80. I thought I sounded like a new guitar player. Still have it and it makes me sound like a newer guitar player. A few years back, got a 60/100w '79 mk2a that sounds even better, just weighs a lot more. I'm a Boogie man for sure. In many ways it's...