Brad's going to London! 25 Nov - 1 Dec

[Brad Bechtel]

I just confirmed today that I will be in London, England for the Flash Forward 2000 conference. If anybody can recommend anything I should do during my "copious spare time" (hah!), or if any UK steelers would like to get together, let me know.
This is my first time in the UK, so I'm VERY excited.

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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

[Rick Schmidt]

Brad....I think your'e gonna have a blast in swinging London!!! Just buy a cheap all day pass for the Picadilly Line (aka "the Tube" / subway) and get off in at any of the stops in the middle of town and "dig it baby yeah!!!"

BTW...besides all the usual touristy things, ( i.e. Big Ben, Trafalgar Square....etc.) I highly recommend a stop at the British Museum!

[Cliff Swanson]

Brad,

Don't miss the Tower of London. If you think things were good or "better" in the old days, this will cure all of that in a hurry!

Have a great time.

Cat

[Brad Bechtel]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

[Max Laine]

For musical instruments, check out the Victoria & Albert museum. They have a collection of musical instruments that are truly pieces of art! No lap steels thou...

Max

[Janne Lindgren]

Hi Brad, I visited London a couple of weeks ago and just want you to know. It is hard to find any kind of country music club there, or some place where you can listen to steel pickers. The Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace and the Tower are of course places you should visit. My favorit thing to eat is the english breakfast with bacon, sausage, egg, beans, tea, bread and marmelade. And for lunch you drink a Guiness beer or two. Janne

[CrowBear Schmitt]

i had a great time in London when i was there. i learned how to play Darts while drinkin' pints in the neighborhood pub.
the English have beautiful parks.
Tower Bridge is great and i personaly liked the Imperial War museum.
Have a good time Brad
Steel Swings like a pendulum do ...

[Rick Schmidt]

Brad....watch out for those "pints"! I fell in love with Guiness & "bitters" etc. till I found out that each glass has something like 2000 calories!!!!

[Brad Bechtel]

So far it's been a blast. It's very easy to get lost here, but I haven't minded in the least. I just walk around until I get tired or until I find a tube station, then take the underground(subway) back to my hotel.
The ale here is wonderful, as are the museums. Almost all of the vintage guitar stores seem to be clustered on Denmark Street. I saw only a few lap steels in these stores - a Magnatone Varsity, a Framus (in poor condition), and a beautiful Gibson EH-150 (for 800 GBP).
I have to wait until the end of the conference to hit the Tower of London and the rest of the tourist attractions.
Cheerio!

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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

[mickd]

Brad
glad you're having a good time.
If you haven't already found Rathbone St, its worth a visit to see Ivor Mairant's shop (last time I was there he had a very nice Continental Tricone) and also Hobgoblins (they have an early Dobro steel unless they've sold it recently & they usually have a few cheap dobro copies). Its just off Oxford St near the Tottenham Court Rd end.
If you want to see really highly priced rare guitars take a trip to Vintage & Rare in Earls Court (5 mins from tube) but they don't often have steels.
Drop me a line of you need any help
Mick

[Matt Hutchinson]

Hope you had a good time. Sorry I didn't get to meet you, I ended up busy every night last week so I didn't get chance.
Maybe next time!