The Springfield Guitar Company.

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 18 Feb 2008 6:14 pm

Hi James, remember Wembley ?
Basil

James Kerr · Post by **James Kerr** » 19 Feb 2008 1:56 am

Basil,
I do remember Wembly very well, I also remember Basil Henriques too, I started out in the Hawaiian Guitar field like many others and was a member of the "Tape Club" before we had anything like Forums or YouTube, your name and playing were something I looked up to. I was taught to play by Bob Martin of Wishaw, who was a member of the Club too and was with us at Wembly.

When I was up in the loft pulling out my Pedal Steel once more I came upon a complete set of 78 rpm records dated 1929 of Robert Yapp with accompanying sheet music from the New York Academy of Music.

Its good to hear from you.

James Kerr.

Malcolm McMaster · Post by **Malcolm McMaster** » 19 Feb 2008 7:52 am

Hi Jimmy, welcome to the forum, I was one of Donny's students , playing with Country Blues at that time, I bought Stuart Logan's guitar, identical to the one in your photograph, and played it for about six years.My good mate Willie Gamble sends his regards. Willie and I are currently rebuilding an old Springfield that belonged to the late Pat Kelly from Dundee , believe it may have been a prototype model with a different rod connection and a varnish type finnish.Good to hear from you.

David Langdon · Post by **David Langdon** » 19 Feb 2008 8:43 am

Hello Jim, welcome to the forum. I met you briefly around 77-78 when you had a flying visit to Nottingham and you brought a steel for me to try.
In the early 80s an aquaintance of mine bought a Springfield that had been messed around with and wouldn't stay in tune. I took it to bits and cleaned up all the years of gunk and had it playing good as new.
I also met a couple of chaps at a gig a couple of years ago, and they both had Springfields tucked away under beds. I think they came from the Mansfield area. So they are still out there!

The one british made steel I'd love to track down is the Pete Wilsher made 'Driftwood'. I think he's back from Africa now, so it would be interesting to see if he still has one of these keyless guitars.

I always remember that your guitars were so much lighter to carry, and they had the best cases ever.
Dave.

Paul Frank Bloomfield · Post by **Paul Frank Bloomfield** » 19 Feb 2008 9:06 am

Hallo James
Look what I found in my vast collection of pedal
Steel things I've accumalated over the years.
You sent me these when I lived in Swansea S.Wales
and that was a long time back.
All the best
frank Bloomfield . Corfu

James Kerr · Post by **James Kerr** » 19 Feb 2008 10:03 am

Boy's.

I am amazed by all this, thank you all for your kind comments, and Frank Bloomfield for the Brochures, I don't think I have one of those myself.

I must say this a very good community, and it really surprises me just how many Steel Players there are still around Scotland and England, It pleases me to know I have so many friends and if I get to know where you all perform, I will certainly come along.

Jim Gorrie · Post by **Jim Gorrie** » 19 Feb 2008 10:58 am

Jimmy ~ at present there are 7,244 members on this forum and I'm pretty sure that most of them have little knowledge of the workings of the pulling system on your steels. Some may have been intrigued when they read the following :

James Kerr wrote: . . . . it is a bit unusual in design, but very accurate and pulls any number of strings, all starting and ending at the same time, even though they may each be going a semitone or full tone, and of different guages, It is of course an All Pull system.

The turnbuckle type bellcrank is definitely a departure from that with which most "forumites" are familiar, so how about doing a post explaining how it works along with some close-up photos of the bellcranks and the changer.

I'd bet that a few have looked at the end plate at the changer and wondered how to tweak the tuning on the raises and lowers

This forum is full of members who are always eager to find out about new or different concepts.

Regards,

Jim G.

James Kerr · Post by **James Kerr** » 19 Feb 2008 11:22 am

Jim,
I will certainly do as you ask, having played many types of Guitar, I know that there are not many which can pull different guage strings, different distances simultaneously, starting and ending at exactly the same time, without any "Lash" as Americans would call it, or free play as I would term it, where one string starts pulling, to be joined some time later in the movement by other strings attached to that Pedal or Knee Lever.

I posted some photos of the pull system earlier, but if more detailed explanation is needed then I will be happy to do that

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 19 Feb 2008 7:31 pm

I wish I had known about your company when I was living in Birmingham. I would certainly have been one of your customers.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 19 Feb 2008 7:38 pm

Does it tune from underneath?That's the same way a Blanton works.

James Kerr · Post by **James Kerr** » 20 Feb 2008 2:21 am

Stu,
It does indeed tune from underneath, I can't say I have heard of Blanton, there are so many Manufacturers I can't keep up with the designs, I will do a search to see if Blanton comes up.

James. xxx

Allan Thompson · Post by **Allan Thompson** » 20 Feb 2008 3:27 am

Jim,
Donny Johnston plays a Blanton now, try to catch up with him and have a look at it. I think they were built in Texas. They are built like a tank, and weigh the same.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 20 Feb 2008 3:47 am

Here's the underside of my Blanton.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 20 Feb 2008 3:52 am

Jim,They were built by Jerry Blanton in Texas,I think he quit building them in the early 80's,It looks like your tuning system is similar...My Blanton tunes up quickly no need for a wrench.I always wondered why no one else used that system...I guess that you and Jerry Blanton think a like?Stu

James Kerr · Post by **James Kerr** » 20 Feb 2008 4:01 am

Stu,
That is exactly the same type of tuning, just different method of hooking them up. This system is very accurate. I have never seen a Blanton, things like that are scarce over here.

James.

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 20 Feb 2008 8:51 am

Jim,That is so amazing that both you,and Jerry came up with the same system...great minds and all of that!I was talking with Chuck Back who builds Desert Rose guitars and he was also wondering why nobody else ever went with Your's/Blanton's system it just works so well.Stuff like this I find fascinating...I can hardly build a sandwich correctly,Stu

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 20 Feb 2008 12:15 pm

Jim was a great innovator, and it's a shame that there wasn't more of a market for his guitars.

There are still some good builders in the UK, with Ronnie Bennett and Dave Wheelhouse to the fore.

I have recently had a close look at Dave Wheelhouse's latest Sheffield guitar, and I think that mechanically it is as well engineered as any guitar I have seen on both sides of the pond. It has incredible attention to detail.

James Kerr · Post by **James Kerr** » 20 Feb 2008 2:38 pm

Ken,
The main reason why I stopped making Guitars was the Election of "The blessed Margaret Thatcher" who put 6 million out of work in her first year in office, followed closely by The Poll Tax in Scotland. With so many out of work, the market just dried up.

James.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 20 Feb 2008 7:53 pm

James Kerr wrote:...The main reason why I stopped making Guitars was the Election of "The blessed Margaret Thatcher" who put 6 million out of work in her first year in office, followed closely by The Poll Tax in Scotland...

She was one of the reasons I emigrated to California. That woman was a union-busting social-services-eliminating witch who made Ronald Reagan look like a left-winger. She singlehandedly destroyed the England I was brought up in. It will never be the same again. May she rot in hell.

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 21 Feb 2008 5:48 am

Alan Brookes wrote:
James Kerr wrote:...The main reason why I stopped making Guitars was the Election of "The blessed Margaret Thatcher" who put 6 million out of work in her first year in office, followed closely by The Poll Tax in Scotland...
She was one of the reasons I emigrated to California. That woman was a union-busting social-services-eliminating witch who made Ronald Reagan look like a left-winger. She singlehandedly destroyed the England I was brought up in. It will never be the same again. May she rot in hell.

Alan - why don't you say what you mean??

The recession in the UK at that time bit deeply, and many small businesses went to the wall. James, are you not tempted to make just one more guitar for yourself?

Tony Smart · Post by **Tony Smart** » 21 Feb 2008 6:07 am

Alan Brooks wrote. "May she rot in hell".

Now come on Alan, that's not fair. - She could give hell a bad name.

A lot of people likened her to Hitler, only she was worse because she did it to her own people. She single handedly dismantled the industrial base of this country.

Archie Nicol · Post by **Archie Nicol** » 21 Feb 2008 6:30 am

She also had a better moustache!

James Kerr · Post by **James Kerr** » 21 Feb 2008 6:43 am

Attilla The Hen.

Ken,
I must say the thought had crossed my mind to build just one more, how about a "Kit Version" that customers could build themselves, as in "Kit Car"

I'm off to the workshop.

James.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 21 Feb 2008 6:39 pm

Ken Byng wrote:..Alan - why don't you say what you mean??

I was trying to be polite. To say what I really think about Margaret Thatcher I would need to use language that would make the polar ice melt, that would burn the balls off the fourth brass monkey...

Dave Wheelhouse · Post by **Dave Wheelhouse** » 23 Feb 2008 2:22 am

Thank you Ken for your compliments about my Sheffield PSG, they mean so much to me. There are many fine builders of steel guitars throughout the world, some we know of and some we don't, but I trust that all this info etc will help to lift the profile of the PSG.

Best wishes to all,
Dave.

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