"What on earth is that!"

Trevor Carey-Smith · Post by **Trevor Carey-Smith** » 7 Nov 2007 5:31 pm

I know the Pedal Steel is a relatively unusual instrument, but here in New Zealand it is literally unheard of.

I have my Linkon D10 set up in the lounge and when anyone visits I usually get a comment like, "What is that?".

My current answer is: "Its a guitar on legs.... I'm lazy."

And before that: "Its my pedal-powered electric guitar."

These are getting a bit tired for me... anyone got some good one-line descriptions?

Trevor.

Fred Shannon · Post by **Fred Shannon** » 7 Nov 2007 6:02 pm

Larry Bell calls it his electric cheese slicer. Dunno'.

phred

Paddy Long · Post by **Paddy Long** » 7 Nov 2007 7:04 pm

Trevor I have been known to refer to mine as a "Taranaki Gate" ....!!!

Rick Abbott · Post by **Rick Abbott** » 7 Nov 2007 7:44 pm

It's like bagpipes.......only with strings....I pump my right foot to blow it up and release the bloated undercariage with my other foot...and knees.

Steve Norman · Post by **Steve Norman** » 7 Nov 2007 7:57 pm

"the only thing in the band that sounds good"

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 7 Nov 2007 8:25 pm

Paddy, for the benefit of those of us unfortunate enough not to be New Zealanders, could you explain?

Emmett Roch · Post by **Emmett Roch** » 7 Nov 2007 9:06 pm

I had to Google it, Brint. It's what we call a "wire gap" in Texas, like a gate without a frame.

Jim Walker · Post by **Jim Walker** » 8 Nov 2007 12:01 am

I like Steve's answer the best!

I've found that if I tell them what it really is they want to stand there and talk the whole break and I don't get to go pee. If I tell them it's a electric piano they just shake my hand and walk away. LOLOL

JW

Micky Byrne · Post by **Micky Byrne** » 8 Nov 2007 1:29 am

Trevor, you will find weird comments all through your steel playing days even in places where they are seen quite frequently. I have had comments like was it a Zither!!! Last I heard was from a very smart dressed woman sitting in front of me at a club I was playing at. In the break, she came up to me and asked "Is that some kind of Piano??"

Micky Byrne United Kingdom

Jani Peter Sandvik · Post by **Jani Peter Sandvik** » 8 Nov 2007 5:45 am

i use to call my steel a cat mangel

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 8 Nov 2007 11:49 am

An electric table,don't you know.

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 8 Nov 2007 12:21 pm

Ironing board for sadists...

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 8 Nov 2007 3:01 pm

By any other name it is still a "vulgar display of wealth"

Paddy Long · Post by **Paddy Long** » 8 Nov 2007 7:33 pm

Brint - a "Taranaki gate" is a widely used name out this way for a temporary gate, which is usually comprised of stretching lengths of wire across a gap in a fence, with just one pole, or branch off a tree as the steadying bit at the end. This is then attached to the nearest fence post to provide a temporary closing of the gap in the fence!! A lot cheaper than putting in a proper farm gate. Taranaki is a province in NZ which has a high volume of dairy farms !!

Ivan Posa · Post by **Ivan Posa** » 8 Nov 2007 9:38 pm

I describe my steel as a knitting machine. If you have ever seen an older style knitting machine the similarity is fairly close. Also when I first started to play my kids said it sounded like a strangled cat.

Tommy Alexander · Post by **Tommy Alexander** » 9 Nov 2007 5:31 am

As a guy came up to the bandstand at break-time and asked me, "what kind of piano has strings like that?"
I told him that most all pianos have strings, but this one, you have to play it a little different!
He was satisfied, and walked off...........

Roger Edgington · Post by **Roger Edgington** » 9 Nov 2007 8:19 am

It's an electric pitch bending processor.

Al Udeen · Post by **Al Udeen** » 9 Nov 2007 8:52 am

I'd say, Its a keyboard that sounds a lot better than a piano! Then hit em a lick!

Roger Francis · Post by **Roger Francis** » 9 Nov 2007 8:58 am

Some guy in a club gave mine a name when he was bragging he new the name of every instrument on stage, he was doing perty good untill he got to the steel and called it a SLIDE PIANO.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 9 Nov 2007 5:54 pm

steve wins this one!

Steve Norman · Post by **Steve Norman** » 9 Nov 2007 7:33 pm

admin · Post by **b0b** » 10 Nov 2007 8:58 am

It's an honest question. I usually say that it's a "pedal steel guitar".

What surprises me is that I get the same question about my marimba. I thought everyone knew what a marimba was. I can remember not knowing what a pedal steel was (long ago), but I think I must have learned about xylophones and marimbas at a very early age.

Matti Viitala · Post by **Matti Viitala** » 10 Nov 2007 9:19 am

Egg cutter.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 10 Nov 2007 11:24 am

When I built my first lap steel in 1963, the other guys at our sessions used to call it the Electric Barbed Wire Fence. ...and the way I played it probably sounded like one...

b0b wrote:...What surprises me is that I get the same question about my marimba...

If you think that's bad, try telling someone you're going to be giving a recital on the Cittern ! And almost everyone I meet thinks a Lute is a wind instrument ! Don't even think about having to explain a Hummel, Kneeharp, Trichordia, Symphonie, Viola da Gamba, Viol, Psaltery, Scheitholdt, Crumhorn, etc.

And most people think the word "racket" means noise, not the name of an instrument that makes that noise !

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 10 Nov 2007 11:44 am

It's a manually operated pitch approximator.

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