The Steel Guitar Forum

The Shaggs are one of those bands that are 100% honest and innocent...no secrets. I read an article on some aborigines in Australia who are all telepathic. How do they do it? They keep no secrets from each other! Most of us are hiding things inside.

I was just kidding but I meant "read" in general. I love Peter Guralnick's writing. "Sweet Soul Music" & "Lost Highway" are tremendous books about the founders of C&W, Blues, Soul and Rock. He writes about Roots music and Roots musicians better than anyone I kno...

There's a nice article about "Sacred Steel" in Peter Guralnick's new book: Da Capo Best Music Writing 2000. You are mentioned several times! Every musician who can read really should check out this book...it's a collection of the best articles on music by some of the worlds best music writ...

My favorite is my '38 bakelite Rick. The only thing I don't like about it is adjusting the polepieces on the pickup...really scarey! But I'm about to disassemble it and try again...

My advice: 1) Get a Bakelite Rickenbacker with the horseshoe pickup & don't spend more than $400. 2) Get a Fender Champ...but know ahead of time that it might be a bright sounding guitar as opposed to the warmer, richer sounding Rick...don't spend more than $350. 3) Get a Supro with the adjustab...

Bob Stone, producer of the Savcred Steel CD's and member here, has a friend who makes replacement plates. Lew

It looks like a Wide 1 1/2" pickup to me...there's no surround or mounting plate. That's what to look for. Beauty!

These are great guitars if you like Telecasters! I don't play my Champion to often anymore...it's just so bright sounding. I like my bakelite Rick alot more...sweeter and warmer and rounder sounding. But the Champions are great little guitars for soloing through a little tweed Fender amp...sounds al...

Lot's of things can be done to those old Supers to make 'em louder and cleaner. I'd start with tubes and a bias adjustment. Svetlanas are the best 6L6 currently being made. I'd search out NOS RCA or GE for the 12ax7 and 12at7...I don't like any current production preamp tubes. If your pickup is to h...

Hank Williams Jr. II or Hank Williams III...either way, he seems to have alot of soul and an artistic, non-commercial
'tude! Kind of a Cow-Punk thing. Looks pretty promising......

Don't forget the album he did with The Chicago Blues All Stars...originally on Blue Thumb. Charlie Musslewhite,etc. A real favorite album of mine. Maybe recorded about 1970? Route 66 and Comin' Home (or is it Flyin' Home?) are my favorite cuts. Now I'll have to dig it out...I want to hear it again! ...

Hey...does anyone know of any "cool" churches in the Boulder, Colorado area? Unity of Boulder is "OK" but we're looking for something a little more devotional and worshipful. No ego tripping ministers or narrow minded legalism...please! Looking for a church with an open mind and ...

If you can believe the Stewart/McDonald description, the McIntyre is what Jerry Douglas uses. Can't get a better Dobro tone than Jerry gets!

Never been a Peavey fan...I'm after TONE and I've never heard a Peavey that really turned me on. My old Fenders are all 25 - 50 years old and work perfectly. My brother Bruce Collins at Mission Amps in Denver is the best and most creative amp tech I know. He goes through my amps and replaces all the...

I use the Shubb SP2 or sometimes the SP3 which has a round nose. Alot easier to handle than the old Stevens I started with! I use the Shubb mostly because that's what Sally Van Meter recommends. And because I like it better than any of the old steels I have.

Yeah...I had a bid in at $500. Anyways, I'd look for one of those gray painted Rickenbacher Electro student hollowbody laps and raid it for parts. You sure that knob is not original? Good luck! Lew

George Gruhn has two good books out. (NOT the price guide) One is a volume on the history of electric guitars and one is a volume on acoustic guitars. Get the one on electric guitars...the first few chapters are all about lap steels with lots of pictures and dscriptions. (Tho the picture of the &quo...

Did anybody tape it? Or know when the show will be repeated? Alison is one of the greats and her band is too! She's sings to many sad songs on her latest CD, but go back a couple years and everything is outstanding. I get the impression from the packaging on her latest that "somebody" is t...

Contact Bob Stone...nice guy, producer of the "Sacred Steel" CD's, and he posts here regularly. He knows a metal worker who can fabricate the part. You may have to paint it white yourself...good luck matching the exact color! You could get a set of matching chorme pieces instead. Congrats....

I've been taking lessons from Sally Van Meter. (lucky me!) Sally plays a six string Sheerhorn dobro and tunes to either G: GBDGBD or D: DADF#AD. But in G tuning she sometimes tunes one of the two D strings to an "E" for a G6 tuning. You can raise either one, depending on the tune. Lew

Great guitar...the only bakelite "better" is the pre WWII model with the strings thru body (no tailpiece)and 1 1/2" pickup. For $100 I'd grab it...like yesterday! I see the post WWII version go for about $400. The pre WWII version goes for about $650 - 700. Lew

Never played an Excel but the pickups on both of my old Ricks are horseshoe magnets. I'm not certain, but I think the polepieces are just metal slugs...but I could be wrong about the polepieces. Total guess here: maybe the polepieces on the Excel pickup ARE magnets, just as they are on a Telecaster ...

My opinion: Be patient and wait for a solid body bakelite Rick to cross your path. You will not be sorry! If you buy almost anything else and then later on find a nice bakelite Rick, you'll stop playing whatever you bought first because the Rick will sound so much better. So don't waste your money. ...

The foam thing has been done with the Ampeg Baby Bass. Sometimes those old basses would "explode" on stage when the foam would expand under hot lights and blow the seams of the bass open! Anyway, I'd never alter a 50 or 60 year old guitar like that...I'd just keep it stock and let it be wh...

First off, I'm a real novice. But I do have some nice guitars and play them alot! The Silver Hawaiian is BEAUTIFUL and, I believe, made from brass...the gray finished Ricks are stamped steel and the pickup is often non adjustable for height. I find that I need to tweak the height of the pickup on my...