The Steel Guitar Forum

Note how it's strung, with the 7th string being a high-pitched string. Mine came like that as well, and the nut is slotted accordingly - i.e. there's not enough room to widen the 7th string slot for a heavier-than-6th string. I haven't been able to find anyone to help me learn that tuning, so for n...

Ray Montee wrote:On YOU TUBE, Ray Montee Steel Guitar, "Swingin' on the Steel".......

YOU can see a quad BIGSBY being played.......

Smile, Ray, smile!

You guys (and gals) look cooooooooooooooooooolllllddd!

It is hard to post a picture of mine since it's almost entirely worn off. It's almost holographic at this point. However, you can see the pattern in the octagonal "frying pan" picture CrowBear posted above. I don't think it is a mechanical finish (like engine turning). I think it's more of...

Are you trying to EXACTLY replicate the 'guard? The originals had some kind of crinkle finish. It's mostly worn off on mine. I have no idea how they did it.

..since technically, this is about Steel with Pedals.

..since technically, this is about Steel with Pedals.

..since technically, this is about Steel with Pedals.

I guess I didn't realize the letters go all the way through the guard (puzzle-like).

Why did he leave Big Sandy's band? I saw them yesterday at the Orange County Fair, and while they still sounded great I really missed the steel.

Is the "Sol was brought to LA to play in a cowboy band" part of the story true? That's the first I've heard about his passage over being "sponsored" - but I'm not really a Hoopii expert. I know he was here in the '20s, and he was active in the movie crowd (at least until his conv...

Someone posed the question earlier in this thread about making the neck hollow. I'll have to talk to the foundry guys about this one also. I don't know if that would save me a lot of weight in the end, or if the it actually help with the resonance and sustain somehow. Well, one way to find out.. :)

Rick, what kind of tools did you use to make the cast dustpans?

I'm not arguing that hand filing is a skill that is not worth learning. I'm just saying that there are probably machine shops all around you. Or, if you'd rather do it yourself, I'm sure you could find a Community College shop to learn. The foundry instructors don't know anyone with a mill or a grin...

Why do you have to work the aluminum by hand?

Love the lefty/righty mirror tricones!

So the single was set up just like the multi-necks, even though it doesn't need the modular base.

Maybe you could rout a secret compartment for smuggling microfilm inside?

That is a beautiful guitar! Pretty neat to see your name on the wood there at the beginning, eh? I've had that experience with other luthiers and it's always a (admittedly geeky) thrill.

Question: Are the model 1s no longer being made with the sound chambers, or did we just miss that step?

So sorry to have missed this first series of classes; are any more super-beginners' level ones planned?

Givson also makes electric mandolins (popular for Carnatic music), and probably guitars.. Obviously playing off the Gibson name, though the instruments I've seen have no resemblance to anything made by the Gibson company.

This is what happens when you let haoles talk about music.

The first is the issue of the Knutsen / Weissenborn relationship. By the time Weissenborn turned to making guitars, it is obvious that his craft was at a very high level, and he had been in the musical instrument business for 1/2 a century. So for me as a maker the idea that he apprenticed under Kn...

Next up, hollow tone chambers?

You know, the tone they're getting on the Japanese boxes is really great these days - rivals some of the old vintage US ones.

Definitely a post-war logo.