PSG, it will float or it will sink

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 24 Dec 2008 5:31 am

They already sell about everything there is for PSG.
As difficult as it was I think I have stumbled on to something new...
Let me introduce you to my new product. The PSG Life Preserver.
I often wondered if when I got angry with my PSG and I threw it in the lake would it float or sink.
If you turn the PSG upside down it kind of looks like a barge.
Since it looks like a barge and if it should sink, would I lose ownership or salvage rights because I didn’t go down with the ship?
Rather than take that chance it appears the only solution would be to have the PSG Life Preserver attached to my Steel.
I don’t know of anyone, whether player, listener or spouse who hasn’t wanted at one time or another to pitch a PSG into the Lake.
I didn’t post this in Humor or For Sale because I am looking for serious discussion about a common PSG issue here.

Rick Barnhart · Post by **Rick Barnhart** » 24 Dec 2008 5:44 am

Bo, I'm certainly not a marketing genius, but there are not a whole lotta lakes in my neck of the woods, so I'm not sure PSG floation devices would sell that well in Arizona, but I have considered retro-fitting my guitar with side impact airbags. I've nearly thrown it through my window on a couple occasions.

Billy Murdoch · Post by **Billy Murdoch** » 24 Dec 2008 5:49 am

Good subject Bo.

When I first got interested in buying a steel I searched the many music stores in the area and constantly looked the buy and sell ads in the various papers and Mags,I had never even met a steel player or seen a guitar up close.I ended up buying an expensive Emmons SD 10 from a shop which was about 600 miles away.
There were many times when I thought of giving it the "float"test but the high price I had paid always brought Me to My senses.
I often wonder where I would be if I had managed to get a "cheap" starter!
Merry Christmas
Billy

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 24 Dec 2008 7:30 am

Reeve said that an MSA Millennium will float.

Chris Buchanan · Post by **Chris Buchanan** » 24 Dec 2008 8:15 am

It sank-you owe me 1500 bucks.

Roger Crawford · Post by **Roger Crawford** » 24 Dec 2008 8:18 am

I know for a fact that a bag full of golf clubs will sink!

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 24 Dec 2008 8:33 am

Bo Legg wrote:PSG, it will float or it will sink?

Bo, my ex-wife already did that experiment.

Tamara James · Post by **Tamara James** » 24 Dec 2008 8:42 am

Is there a way to have it protect itself from a sledge hammer? I've been tempted several times....

Michael Maddex · Post by **Michael Maddex** » 24 Dec 2008 10:22 am

Bo, I think that people have made some good points here. If you could design the flotation device as an inflatable air bag, this would meet two concerns at once. Further, if this airbag/float was made of Kevlar(R), that might provide some protection from Tamara's sledge hammer. With the proper sensing devices, it might also provide a modicum of protection from the dread 'Dropped Bar'.

HTH.

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 24 Dec 2008 10:41 am

A Dekley won't float. My traction goes up in snow when I haul it in the truck.

Lewis John Foote · Post by **Lewis John Foote** » 24 Dec 2008 10:53 am

howdy, ive seen a few golf clubs disappear under the waves, but your normally near water when you miss a good shot,thats the nearest place to show your displeasure, i suppose a steel would be okay, with outriggers on it, lew.

John Drury · Post by **John Drury** » 24 Dec 2008 10:57 am

"I often wondered if when I got angry with my PSG and I threw it in the lake would it float or sink."

Bo,

I am thinking you would have the last word!

I have never been pissed of at any of my steels before. I am sure they get fed up with me a lot though!

OTOH, If you see a drowning steel player, Bobbe always told me: Throw him a Session 500.

Not sure what he was going for, do they double as a flotation device?

Ron Sodos · Post by **Ron Sodos** » 24 Dec 2008 11:17 am

I don't even know what you guys mean. I love it....
Never been frustrated. I just keep practicing a minimum of an hour a day and gig as much as i can.

Just keeps getting better.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 24 Dec 2008 1:01 pm

I thought the standard was:

If you see a drowning guitar-player, throw him his amp...

If you see a drowning steel-player, throw him both his amps!

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 24 Dec 2008 4:00 pm

Ron Sodos

I don't even know what you guys mean. I love it....
Never been frustrated.

Ron, I can tell you’ve never tried to replace a broken string on a Sho-Bud during a gig.

Bill Patton · Post by **Bill Patton** » 24 Dec 2008 7:38 pm

UPS has done extensive research on this subject, in addition to their well-known studies on dropping PSGs from the backs of trucks, running them over with forklifts, and throwing them over bridges. If anyone has an answer to the float-or-sink question, it's UPS.

Michael Strauss · Post by **Michael Strauss** » 25 Dec 2008 4:44 pm

Time to write to David Letterman.

Tommy Young · Post by **Tommy Young** » 25 Dec 2008 7:11 pm

DEAR ABBEY will have to answer this ???? BO

call her up!!!!!only one that can't be stumped is what I was told hahaha

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 25 Dec 2008 8:22 pm

Tommy, I had contacted Adby before I posted this Topic.

DEAR ADBY: I attend a number of Pedal Steel guitar events, and a pet peeve of mine is when one or more of the women come up to the stage and immediately pull out pictures of their grandchildren, their children's weddings or their pets and proceed to show them to me while I’m trying to play.
I know these women are proud, but they should realize that not everyone wants to look at these photos. There are times when I itch to say something, but I'm afraid they would reply with something like, "Oh, you're just jealous because I got a picture of Buddy Emmons and not you.
One woman dominated the entire conversation at one of my gigs. I resented her standing in front of me while delivering her pictures and lengthy description of each one of her boyfriends and ex-husband to me as well as those that dance by.
What should I do when I find myself in this situation again when I just want to pitch my Pedal Steel Guitar in the lake -- as I know I will? – BO LEGG

DEAR BO: Don’t blame your poor Pedal Steel Guitar (what the heck is that). It would be better and not rude to suddenly have an "urgent call of nature" (in Missouri I think you would more likely say “Pardon me lady while I go take a dump”, and excuse yourself to go to the restroom. I'll bet if you do, others at the table will join you. No I don’t mean they will all join you in taking a dump. And should you see a friend on the way back, from taking a dump it also isn't rude to stop and chat for a moment. Be sure you don’t have any toilet paper hanging out your pants and be sure and wash your hands. You might also try a little of that bathroom Polo Cologne. When you get back to the table, raise another topic of conversation. Please!
A very Merry Christmas one and all! Adby

Charles Curtis · Post by **Charles Curtis** » 26 Dec 2008 10:33 am

Bo, you might name it a, "double Mae West", (the nick-name for the CO2 vest of 50 odd years ago that we used). You could use a balloon attached to a pressure switch inside an A-14 oxygen mask that could puncture another CO2 cylinder that would activate a vest at each end????

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 26 Dec 2008 11:58 am

Charles, I'd like to have something more like the original tied to my PSG.
If I got the urge to throw my PSG in a lake I would take a look at those cylinders and get a different urge.

Charles Curtis · Post by **Charles Curtis** » 26 Dec 2008 3:34 pm

I'm sorry, I just can't resist. What was that Mae used to ask; is that a bar of candy in your pocket, big boy, or are you just glad to see me?

Russ Wever · Post by **Russ Wever** » 26 Dec 2008 3:45 pm

Ralph Mooney may be the authority on this,
as once when he was carrying his Fender
going from one room to another at a motel,
he cut the corner too close going around
the outdoor pool and the Fender headed
straight to the bottom.

~Russ

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 26 Dec 2008 6:01 pm

Jerry Byrd once got so annoyed with a steel guitar which sounded continally dull that he threatened to throw it into the river. The next day the tone improved out of all proportion for no apparent reason other than the guitar didn't like the idea of water.

As a merchant seaman, Woody Guthrie was shipwrecked three times during WW2 and carried his guitar, banjo and mandolin every step of the way.

I guess the flotation of a PSG isn't that daft of a question. Did anyone lose a steel guitar in the New Orleans floods ?

Ned McIntosh · Post by **Ned McIntosh** » 26 Dec 2008 11:01 pm

Check out the accessories suppliers to the helicopter industry, especially offshore helos. They have these nifty little flotatation bag thingies that attach to the skids etc and stay stowed and inconspicuous until they contact water when BLAMMO! they inflate and stop said helo from sliding into a watery grave. Inflation times are very quick, it is best not to be in the immediate vicinity when the go off, a bit like an airbag.

A couple of these nifty widgets on a steel ought to do the trick. I'd put one on the pedal-rack and perhaps the second one at the rear of the cabinet so it isn't visible from the audience-side. Might be just the shot for steel-players on cruise-ships or in a maritime environment (piers, floating restaurants, riveboats, Titanic-replicas or re-enactments etc).

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PSG, it will float or it will sink

PSG, it will float or it will sink

multi-purpose PSG protection device

Never been angry at my steels.