The Steel Guitar Forum

I placed my order for $195 worth of materials on June 30th. Nothing received, no 50% off, and no replies to emails.

Massively disappointed!

I have read what Bradshaw Pack said, but I cannot be the only one still having problems a year on, after this was supposed to have been sorted out. I ordered nigh-on $200 worth of materials. I have been charged, but they haven't arrived. E-mails (using the recent current address) go unanswered. What...

I have struggled to get some kind of VP technique for best part of 8 years and I feel I still have not got my right foot educated. I know about the initial fade-in of the note so as to get a softer, cleaner start without pick noise etc. It's after that that I have trouble. I go too hard too early, a...

As a lawyer, I really should be playing one of these beauties. It just seems so appropriate - and I've heard so many good things about the tone and general playability. But we don't earn what a US lawyer can!

Fred, do you build U12's?

Tim, I've never heard of the Real Book - the structure I know is "verse, chorus, instrumental, verse, chorus,repeat last 2 lines and out". I usually play it in Dm, if you have an Em backing track I can either re-learn in Em or transpose the backing track down a whole tone. I have software ...

I love this song, Tim, and plan to play it this summer over here at one of the steel festivals, but I'm looking for a decent backing track. I would really appreciate any help you could give, the stuff on Spotify is very thin and not at all to my liking. I don't have BIAB.

Best,

Will

My thoughts exactly Jeff. I thought my BJS bar was good, slick and quiet, until I got my Eezzee-Slide. The drag reduction was very marked, and it is QUIET!!

Basil's bar is the best I have ever tried by a long way.

Why throw a switch? With a Universal tuning you just do it, no action needed to prepare for it.

The E's lower and E's raise are really, really useful, Steve, for a variety of chords and scale notes. It's worth remembering that the steel community would not have stuck to them if they were not worth having.

PM me if you would like a copy of my E9 cheat sheet, it may help.

Lovely work! Did you do all the machining as well? Do you have a presence on the builders' forum?

I think I'm with Lane, Warren. I started with a 10 stringer but moved to a U12 three years ago or so. There was a short period of hitting the wrong strings, but I am glad I have the extra strings. I don't use them as much as I should, but they add a lovely extra dimension. I plan to go to 14 in a ye...

I always like it when somebody backs up an assertion with facts, because there is a good reason for the assertion that we can all see. With that in mind, I'd have to take issue with Tony Glassman. Yes, pressing the A pedal together with the B pedal raises two strings for the A, and two for the B. Bu...

I use the Day setup too, for all the reasons set out very ably above. I tried the Emmons setup, but changed after about 6 months, it gave my left ankle a better time of it. I have the knee levers as Darvin Willhoite - raise E's on LKR, lower on RKR, the latter as Jeff Newman recommended for use with...

Ian Rae, I paid him the compliment of assuming he would know how to navigate a web forum. My post alerted him to its existence. It's difficult to imagine anyone interested in steel not knowing about Bent Romnes, for example. Anyone intelligent enough to play PSG can poke around a web forum without m...

Especially after Damir's recent experience...!

That is one beautiful steel, so nice to look at in white. My U14 keyless is blue, about the same vintage, also built by Bill Stafford. It's my long term project for when I get the courage to make the jump, but I will string it differently, remove the re-entrant feature and fit a variant of Zane King...

I love my Williams 700 U12 but my 6th string is out when I use the A pedal to raise 5 & 9. It sounds bad enough that I had to devise an extra pull which raises 6 just a tad. I'm not convinced by Richard Burton's suggestion that raising 5 & 9 (or 10 on a 10-stringer) affects 6 directly. I bel...

I seem to have offended you, Erv. I'm sorry.

Yes, Erv, a bad cable can be microphonic *and* contribute to "tone suck" by having excessive capacity, and a good one will stand on its own merits. But all my researches indicate that the obsession with "oxygen free" copper is effectively a hoax in the music/hi-fi game. It certai...

Sounds like this steel is set up Jimmy Day style. Wish I was over there to take a look at it, would like a GFI U12.

Hmmm, I though *everyone* turned their amp gain down to zero before switch-on or switch-off, or before connecting/disconnecting instruments or other equipment.

It's a valuable discipline, and avoids the risk of inadvertent damage through surges or transients.

I was an electronics engineer for many years. I did not then, and do not now, accept that the presence of oxygen in or on a copper wire affects its ability to carry signals - including phase delay and frequency response - in any discernible way. I mean... c'mon, guys, copper oxidises in air, it's im...

Thank you to everybody who has sent me tracks, I have what I'm looking for, and am very grateful. What a wonderful community ours is.

Oh boy.... I've only been bitten by the bug for ten years, so: Carter Starter, leading quickly to Marlen D10 pull-release (c.1975?)then Curnow SD10 (English build) Williams 700 U12 (a keeper) Williams 700 U14 (a project) Sierra Crown keyless U14 (cos I always wanted a Sierra) My everyday steel is th...