WHAT IS THAT THING CALLED?

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 22 Mar 2008 2:00 pm

You mean there's more to THE STEEL GUITAR than running that metal thingy up and down the strings and making that great wrrreeerrrr wrrrooooo wrrrreeeeeeeeerrrrnnnn sound?

Guess I better check out that Jerry Byrd guy...

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 22 Mar 2008 2:08 pm

it's always gonna be 'steel guitar' or 'dobro' for me.....so sue me!!

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 22 Mar 2008 6:45 pm

Ray;
The "six string finger pluckers" actually had the instrument first! of course you knew that. We steel (Hawaiian) players are the ones that deviated from the way the "guitar" was originaly played.

But I agree with you about all the loud noise, stomp boxes and junk.

In fact distortion was undesirable at first. And amplifiers were not meant to overdrive the signal into tube saturation. But of course the quest for more volume led guitarists to turn it all the way up... and behold something that the amplifier designers never wanted became a pleasing sound to many ears.

I must admit I love the sound of a smaller amp pushed hard into light saturation, than a larger amp with tons of headroom and a totally clean sterile sound. (for lap steel) For pedal steel I usually want a very clean signal with no overdrive.

Dom

Don Kona Woods · Post by **Don Kona Woods** » 22 Mar 2008 9:04 pm

Ed says,

I never get tired of telling people about the instrument. I refer to it as a Hawaiian steel guitar. It was invented in Hawaii and we use a steel to play the notes.

Likewise.

It is rare that a person can correctly identify the Hawaiian steel guitar.

I attend 2-3 steel guitar conventions each year. I fly to these conventions and at the airport and on the airplane I show my Hawaiian steel guitar and inform people about it. There is a lot of interest in how it works.

However because it is electric I have limitations in demonstrating it.

Hmmmm, I guess I need one of those small cube amps!

Aloha,

Don

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 23 Mar 2008 5:05 am

totally clean sterile sound

Can also be interpreted as "Accurate" and the overdriven as "Bastardized"

became a pleasing sound to many ears.

Probably, but the majority of lap steel players play either Country or Hawaiian style where distortion is most definitely NOT desirable.

Rick Alexander · Post by **Rick Alexander** » 23 Mar 2008 5:49 am

I like "Biscuit Board" - it's down home, it's Americana . .

Seriously - "STEEL GUITAR" is what I call it, because that's what it is.
Then if further clarification is needed, I'm only too happy to launch into a diatribe about the convoluted nomenclature of Steel Guitar.

Like many others, I detest the term "Non Pedal" - it infers that something is lacking, when in fact nothing is.
It's like calling a bicycle a "non motorcycle" or something.
BUT it seems to be a necessary evil for purposes of clarity - as in "Non Pedal Session" - a term used to differentiate from PSG.
I sure didn't coin that phrase, it just landed on my lap . . . .

Steve Atwood · Post by **Steve Atwood** » 23 Mar 2008 6:05 am

I like retronyms, so I call mine a "nonpedal steel guitar".

Retronym = "A word or phrase created because an existing term that was once used alone needs to be distinguished from a new development, as 'acoustic guitar' in contrast to 'electric guitar'".

So a Weissenborn would be a double retronym -- an "acoustic nonpedal steel guitar", which is too complicated, so I'd never own one.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 23 Mar 2008 6:36 am

WHAT IS THAT THING CALLED?

LOVE.

Steve Gorman · Post by **Steve Gorman** » 23 Mar 2008 7:52 am

I just tell them its a steel guitar.

One time a fellow told me, "That's a purty sound you're making with that electric table!"

Another time, while listening to an entertainment/talk show on the radio, a woman calls in with a question - she had seen on TV, an instrument with "two necks, the player sat down behind it, it had lots of strings and he played it with a steel bar. The sound was just beautiful" and she wanted to know what the instrument was.

The host told her "a Dobro, they're real popular in country music."

Man, I had a hard time concentrating for the rest of the morning.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 23 Mar 2008 11:40 am

The first home made lap steel I ever made, back in 1963, I painted black and stencilled the words "SOLID STEEL" on the body. You'd be surprised at the number of people who said to me, "I can't believe it's made of solid steel: it seems much too light for that."

Chris Drew · Post by **Chris Drew** » 23 Mar 2008 2:32 pm

The "non-pedal" thing irritates me slightly, like it implies that a Steel Guitar without pedals is something one should "graduate" from, onto a Pedal Steel.

Surely the distinction is the addition of the word "pedal"... as the pedals are an addition to the Steel Guitar.

I do ride those "non-motorcycles" though...
( Good analogy, Rick! )
A motor is an addition to the bike, but the word "bike" happily encompasses both bicycles & motorcycles.
Some people do however insist on calling proper bikes ( ie, the ones without any of that silly engine rubbish ) "push-bikes" (!) - not even "pedal-bikes"... why is that?
Surely a push-bike is a motorcycle with a problem...

Not as bad as spelling it "peddle" though, eh?

Steve Gorman · Post by **Steve Gorman** » 23 Mar 2008 3:00 pm

Not as bad as spelling it "peddle" though, eh?

What's wrong with that? People peddle steels here all the time...

Chris Drew · Post by **Chris Drew** » 23 Mar 2008 3:57 pm

Steve Gorman wrote: What's wrong with that? People peddle steels here all the time...

hehe, if you're lucky, it's a peddle steal

Eugene Cole · Post by **Eugene Cole** » 14 Apr 2008 3:18 pm

Rick Alexander wrote:Like many others, I detest the term "Non Pedal" - it infers that something is lacking, when in fact nothing is.
It's like calling a bicycle a "non motorcycle" or something.

Rick; I concur that the "Non Pedal" label is a neccessary evil. This term for me does a good job of distinguishing between Scooter Steel, Motor-Steel, and Pedal Steel. If I am talking to someone that is familiar with PSG's I will use the "non pedal" nomencalture to describe a distinction.

For example I use "Hawaiian guitar" to desribe a style/genre of music; but I think of Hawaiian guitar as a style and genre which is played on a variety of Steel Guitar types; including Biscuit Boards.

Terry VunCannon · Post by **Terry VunCannon** » 14 Apr 2008 5:42 pm

It is a "Manuel Pitch Approxamator".......

Rick Batey · Post by **Rick Batey** » 14 Apr 2008 6:33 pm

Daryl Smetana · Post by **Daryl Smetana** » 14 Apr 2008 8:08 pm

Since I play [or attempt to] slide guitar, fretted or un, with a bar or without, pedals or not, I say SLIDE guitar. Usually works, and if they are interested in more, THEN I attemp to educate. SLIDE encompasses all, not to diminish any. I love pedal, non, slack key slide, bluegrass, blues....BTY? is slack key slide welcome in THIS forum? Just wondering.
D

Eugene Cole · Post by **Eugene Cole** » 15 Apr 2008 9:07 am

Terry VunCannon wrote:It is a "Manuel Pitch Approxamator".......

I think you meant "manual pitch approximator."

"Manuel Pitch approxamator" is a nickname for a few people with a specific first name that lack proficiency at singing and/or playing on tune.

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 15 Apr 2008 10:54 am

Daryl Smetana wrote:Since I play [or attempt to] slide guitar, fretted or un, with a bar or without, pedals or not, I say SLIDE guitar. Usually works, and if they are interested in more, THEN I attemp to educate. SLIDE encompasses all, not to diminish any. I love pedal, non, slack key slide, bluegrass, blues....BTY? is slack key slide welcome in THIS forum? Just wondering.
D

As I (And a lot of others) understand it, the terminology "Slide Guitar" refers to the way of playing STANDING up with a slide AKA bottleneck on the finger and the guitar played in its regular orientation.

Sorry to appear to contradict you, but Steel guitar is NORMALLY played with a TONE BAR, Bar, or STEEL, that's the accepted terminology for the instrument's accoutrement, unless you wish to re-write the book..

BTW what is "BTY" ? and also what is Slack Key Slide ? Please elucidate..

John Rosett · Post by **John Rosett** » 15 Apr 2008 11:02 am

Fan- "What do you call that little instrument you're playing?"

Jethro Burns- "I call it Bruce."

Joe Stoebenau · Post by **Joe Stoebenau** » 15 Apr 2008 11:13 pm

I was a french horn major in college (still play horn) and while walking down the hallway with my horn out of the case a girl walked by and asked "is that a baritone sax?" I was stunned as this was one of the top music schools. I simply nodded and said yes!

When playing acoustic music I refer to my guitar as a Dobro, no matter what brand I'm playing as that seems to have become the generally accepted name for all resonator style instruments.
when playing electric, its a steel guitar.

Dave Jetson · Post by **Dave Jetson** » 15 Apr 2008 11:27 pm

"Steel guitar" if it's played with a steel.

I might call it a lap steel if I want to be specific about what kind of steel guitar it is.

But to me, "steel guitar" means "instrument played with a steel" and covers both pedal and non-pedal varieties. The name of this forum seems to back up the way I use the words.

Steve Atwood · Post by **Steve Atwood** » 16 Apr 2008 3:01 am

I bet with the price of gas the way it is now, a lot of people will be buying acoustic lawnmowers.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 16 Apr 2008 5:24 pm

Daryl Smetana wrote:...is slack key slide welcome in THIS forum?

I didn't think slack key was ever played with a steel. What with frets present, no riser nut, and very low string tension, you'd have a hard time not hitting the frets with the steel.

Del Bonn · Post by **Del Bonn** » 21 Apr 2008 9:25 pm

Well, lately I point to the amplifier and just say
that it's an electric guitar. Of course, I do suppose that those bars of new complex materials are still called "steels" but I stand by my old conviction that a silver bar gives the best tone on a non-pedal instrument strung with traditional round strings.
However, the old Psaltery and "10 string instruments" of biblic times were sometimes played with a bow. What about the double-neck Derby of 1910? Bowed or plucked? And the Contra-bass before that...I believe it could bowed or plucked.
Call them what you will, I still recall the days when they sounded like a musical saw (some still do)....ouch. -DelB

The Steel Guitar Forum

WHAT IS THAT THING CALLED?

You and you're new fangled ideas, Ray!

Retronym

What Is That Thing Called?