The Steel Guitar Forum

I got into a relatively steady band after 5 or so years of just bouncing around playing maybe one casual a month. Somewhat to my surprise, I found that outfit's hobbyist incompetencies much more annoying than that kind of shortcoming used to be and bowed out after a year or so of playing 2-3 times m...

Gee...
I wonder why Ol' Bentley-builder DIDN'T get a mention in "Gone Home".

Hi Justin- Agree on the Dyna-Comp. The bee's knees for Tele if it's right before a VP,but a non-starter for steel. The Keeley Compressor and Compressor Plus do a little better for steel but only with the sustain and blend pots backed off below 12 o'clock. The best unit I ever ran across is the Alesi...

"Ignorance" or "Dumb=Drunk" I don't mind the ignorant; as they do get to learn from me about the instrument I'm playing. Dumb-Drunk obviously can't learn anything at that point; so I just say: "Are you Drunk?; get away from me". Ricky The "Dumb Drunk" is alon...

My late '80s 500 has always worked fine with the guitar direct to input and with any of my Edwards and Ernie Ball VP's in the pre-amp(on my 500 it says "Pedal") loop.I have no idea why that Sho-Bud VP wouldn't work.

Sounds like either a smokin' good deal.
OR...
Some scammer's really got his game on. Be real interesting for somebody local to ask for some hands-on.

My E lowers are on RKL, raises on LKL. It's easier to keep RKL engaged with that knee and get some faux 6th stuff going with pedals up.

IMO good choice on a Mullen. I'm in Colorado so Mullen are fairly common here; I have 2 and they're my favorites.

Another 3X4 guy here.There are master-level players who can use all those exotic KL's to marvelous effect but the basics'll do ya just fine. I'd add that it's more sensible to get the very best that you can afford, even if there's a little financial pain involved; if it takes you have a friend for l...

I've had the "is that a keyboard" bit from little old ladies at my country praise gigs.

Along with THAT look that made me feel so very unlike a little old man!

Now, when I was a boy.... Guitar players followed Leo's lead and craved his "tremendous distortionless power" as noted in the Tweed Hi-Power Twin catalog description. BUT They (we!) were pea-green with envy of the sustain that sax players got and we weren't real pleased with the musical an...

hi Larry-
Got it and responded

Well, I unearthed my 1979 Korg WT-10 and it(amazingly!)still works, so I'll use it at home until I can find out for sure if I can navigate the learning curve on the Strobostomp. My other TU-12 still works fine, so it'll do for the gig.

Many thanks for all the ideas and opinions!

I've tried DynaComps with steel. Too dirty, although for six-string with a volume pedal they're the bees' knees. For steel, the best results I've ever gotten are with an Alesis 3630 rackmount comp/limiter, but for stage use the Keeley Compressor is adequate; not quite as clean as the Alesis and you ...

Southwest will let you carry-on if it's acoustic guitar-size or smaller. I do have to say, though, that I'd think at least twice about flying a steel anywhere unless it was in a TSA-approved flight case AND the venue paid the over-weight costs. I had a friend in the airline biz who referred to the b...

I've been using Boss TU-12 tuners time out of mind, and one of my two has bitten the dust. TU-12s have been out of production for a very long time, and although I don't like change I'm going to have to source something else that reads in hz and preferably isn't a stompbox. Recommendations?

I've seen steels carried set up, but I can't imagine that being convenient for any distance greater than a few yards at most. It's true that a steel case (especially with most doublenecks) loaded with guitar, legs, rods, and rack can be a heavy proposition, but that's what split cases and handcarts ...

Roj- There'd always been rumours that Fenders were real hard to get outside of the USA, and FWIW when I lived in Canada in the early '60s there was a 40% import duty(on top of list price) on Leo's products. A little later on after I was back in the US I did a few gigs with a guitar player whose folk...

Indeed! There's another mime where James starts off on his Tele and all of a sudden he's playing a sunburst Jazzmaster!

I saw one Ozzie and Harriet in the late '50s where the obligatory Rick music segment had James playing a strange-looking guitar which I realized much later was a Rickenbacker.

Only saw it the one time.

Indeed so! While the Strait version's change isn't all that sophisticated, I'm sure we've all been subjected to jaw-dropping hobby-band butchery of that part of the song.... BTW Terry Stafford's earlier version of "Amarillo" has some nice elements that Strait's cover picked up, but the key...

Rule of thumb is pretty much going to the 5 of the key you're modulating to. Essentially that's what "Amarillo" does. The F#m is the III chord in D and the II in E, so it's a good place to do a II-V change and you're in E just as nice as you please. It'd work if you just went D-F#m-G-A, t...

Scott's right. Having a day job REALLY interferes with the important things in life.

Like gigging!

I think Ron hears somebody on the track playing what amounts to a B suspended, which kinda-sorta makes that F# minor a minor 7th with a taste of an 11th chord. Since my band doesn't have a fiddle player I get to do those licks on steel.

A country band that wears cowboy hats??

What a concept!

I think about D9 once in awhile too.Be nice to have everything pitched a little lower, but the thought of all that transposing gives me the willies.

And I don't mean Nelson.