The Steel Guitar Forum

I'd love to get in on this!

polkcameron@gmail.com

Hey friends! I’m at the point in my steel career where I want to start playing out in a more traditional steel context. I’m not a country music person. Never have been. But I love gigging and playing out with people. My question for you is what are the songs you play at pretty much every gig. Dance ...

Hey friends! I've got a '72 sho bud professional that I quite like but is an 8x2 and quite limited for changes. I have a lead on a '79 Emmons push-pull that I could get my hands on. Is this a worthwhile trade? It looks like its an 8x4 or 8x5 (more photos pending). What should I expect to pay for a P...

An update for those curious: StringJoy does, in fact, work and sound great! They do need to be cut down quite a bit because they come long enough to fit just about any guitar without having to special order a length. I think it's pretty standard to cut down steel strings though. I have to cut mine p...

Hey there! I play in a band called the City and we’re having a release show for our new single this Friday, January 21st in Fort Worth. Doors at 7. Tickets are available at the door! Come hang!

Any trade interest?

From what I’ve noticed, it’s just one guy who is actually making the parts. He’s got a lot of larger orders that usually take priority and he’ll make a batch of other parts as he has time. He’s a forum member and a great mind! I just know he’s very busy with what seems like regular large scale order...

I've been using StringJoy strings for a while now for my standard and baritone guitars. They don't have an option for pedal steel presently, but they do offer custom gauge sets. I just ordered a set of standard nashville gauges that I put in their set builder. I'll let you guys know how it goes when...

Hello Mr. Michael Yahl and Shobud gurus, I'm wondering if this '73 D10 is in your database? I'd love to know where it was sold originally. SN 4100 with a very small 4 stamp for some reason. I was told its a '71 and the case has '71 written on it but serial #'s don't lie. I think the seller lost a f...

If it really is an issue of stature on your instrument, one solution may be to take a length of pvc pipe from your local hardware store and attach it over your knee levers. That would get you some extra length so you wouldn't have to raise your knees to hit the levers, though not the best looking so...

Another short player here, I haven't run into much issue with pedal and knee position on my sho bud "the professional". Mostly it gets awkward if I'm not seated at the appropriate height. You may start by trying an adjustable seat, then measure it and buy something that's fixed at that hei...

Hey there! Fellow six stringer with a recent dive into psg here. I would agree with the G# to G on p4 next to p0. That gets you fully open 'strummable' major and minor chords right next to each other. Thats your most common need I'd say and if your brain works like mine does then there's a lot you c...

R&B players, I'd love to see how you have handled adding knees to your instrument. I've got a 'The Professional' with the two factory knees. Wanting to bring it up to the full Emmons setup on both sides but I know that's gonna get crowded fast. Love to see how y'all handle incorporating differen...

A good, and I think fairly affordable, approach to this may be to use a company like StringJoy and order a few custom sets. They’re really not priced all that different from a normal set. That’d definitely get you some to mess around with. I don’t think they make specific sets for PS but it’...

I did mine myself! Was in rough shape when I bought it. Just took it down to pieces, ran through carb cleaner, and reassembled and lubed. Works a dream now! It’s not as scary as it seems.

Where did you get the parts for the knee adds? I’ve got 2 knees on my d10 r&b and I’d love to get some more usable changes added.

Howdy friends! I picked up pedal steel this year and have gotten pretty comfortable on the e9 side of things. I play mostly at church for our southern gospel service. My issue is this; I have an old sho-bud r&b that’s heavier than sin. Transporting it to and from church is a huge barrier for m...

Brand new player here, I just picked up an old sho-bud d10 for $2000. It was in rough shape so I completely disassembled and cleaned it. Once I got it operational and figured out how the rack and barrel system worked I haven't had any problems out of it. Definitely don't rule out the sho-bud! Especi...

My Sho-Bud came this way standard because it only has 2 knees between the both necks. Right knee operates both necks and left knee does E's and D. This is my first steel so I haven't known anything else. I guess this is an older standard change from the time when it wasn't so easy to just add knees ...

It may be binding/catching somewhere. Best bet is probably to flip it over, press your lever, and trace the path. Find where the catch is and put a half drop of oil there.

Ricky, I'm curious on this subject as well. Is it possible to add only the pullers you needed for the extra knees, keeping the rest of the guitar original? We are talking about Rack guitars here which definitely take a lot of space to actuate. My 72 Professional has only 2 knees. I've reached out to...

Also a newbie here! My understanding is that these were added as a melody strings, giving you the additional notes in the scale depending on what pedals/levers you've got engaged. The place I've found to use the top one at least is in a V7 chord with B+F(I think, levers are named sometimes confusing...

I also recently acquired a R&B professional. Seems to me that the specific rack that actuates both necks is attached in the middle. You'd have to get more racks that attach in the same manner for the knees to actuate both necks. And space is definitely limited under there. You may look into addi...

I found this video super helpful. It's a single raise, single lower, but it really made sense to me the way it was constructed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpRPyxuv42s&t=32s

Hope this helps!

Alright new slight problem. I’ve fully reassembled the guitar after it’s cleaning. I put it back together as close as I could from pictures. Everything seems to work as it should except that trying to tune any of the pedals has been terribly confusing. I understand how it SHOULD work, but I thin...