Noel Boggs Tuning on the "Shasta Masters"

Blake Wilson · Post by **Blake Wilson** » 15 Jul 2009 4:49 pm

I have an iTunes collection called "Noel Boggs The Very Best" and subtitled "The Shasta Masters". These are quite "loungey" type recordings featuring accordian and very little of the Western Swing feel is present. But I love the record and wonder what tunings Noel was using during this later phase of this career. It sounds almost Leavitt-like in places.

Thanks,

Blake

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 15 Jul 2009 6:58 pm

My money would be on A6th & E13th.

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 16 Jul 2009 1:32 pm

Andy was correct. I will now do a little name dropping. Noel and I were good friends and at one time I would go over to his house in Lynwood, Ca. for some tutoring. There wasn't anything he would not explain or show me. When I first got married in 1949 he subbed for me on the Ole Rasmussen Band here in Los Angeles. Noel alsways leaned towards pop music and Western Swing.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 16 Jul 2009 3:07 pm

Blake:

I don't know a thing about his tuning, but that CD has the absolute classic Fender lap steel tone and is probably my favorite steel CD.

Mostly pop, like Birth Of The Blues, Coquette, Perdido, Lover, etc:

Everybody should have it. It's been out over 10 years, but is still available at Amazon. I saw the individual songs available for download earlier today.

http://tinyurl.com/mtjpse

You can get the CD itself at the above link.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 16 Jul 2009 3:36 pm

I have that CD--one of my favorites is Tenderly. I love the tremolo from the amp. It sounds just like the tremolo from the early 60s Standel amps--an almost pitch-vibrato quality to it. It could be the magical Fender Brownface tremolo.

Frank Freniere · Post by **Frank Freniere** » 16 Jul 2009 4:20 pm

http://pedalsteelmusic.com/tapes/A-001.html

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 16 Jul 2009 5:32 pm

I also have the CD. It's great. His version of Beautiful Ohio is luscious. He inspired me to record a ukulele version of it (on my website now).

Kevin Macneil Brown · Post by **Kevin Macneil Brown** » 17 Jul 2009 6:16 am

A desert island disc to me for sure. Funny, but When I hear swing-style steel in my head, it pretty much always has that Boggs tone!

Blake Wilson · Post by **Blake Wilson** » 17 Jul 2009 8:54 am

Andy are Noel's A6 and E13 tunings in your big Lap Steel book? Too lazy to check right now...

Nice to hear other folks like this record. I believe I got mine as a download off iTunes for $10 or so. There are other Boggs collections there called "Steel Guitar Masters Vol 1-3". Any word on these?

Blake

Erik van Beek · Post by **Erik van Beek** » 17 Jul 2009 11:09 am

What kind of amp did Noel Boggs (or any other major steelplayer at that time) before they started using Standell amps, Fender?

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 17 Jul 2009 2:29 pm

I never knew Noel to use anything but a Fender Amp. He and Leo Fender were very close and Leo used a lot of Noel's advice. I'm sure Leo provided Noel his Amps and Steels at no charge for the exposure when he played with Bob Wills and Spade Cooley. Usually the Amp was a single 15" Speaker.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 17 Jul 2009 2:41 pm

I would bet that amp on Tenderly is a brown Fender Pro, early very 60s.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 18 Jul 2009 12:34 am

Blake:

Thanks for mentioning the 3 "Steel Guitar Masters" CDs available on the Internet. I didn't know they were available. I found a couple at Amazon and the other 1 is at Rhapsody and Napster.

They apparently do NOT exist on CD. You have to buy the mp3 download for either .89 or .99 per song. Or you can purchase each volume as a unit.

I just downloaded the 20 tracks that are not on the Varese CD that you and I have. Took about 10 minutes after I sorted out duplication with the CD.

Here are the tracks you need to get. Anything not listed is on the Varese CD.

Steel Guitar Classics (it may or may not be called Volume 1):

Tenderly
My Diane
Over The Rainbow
Morning Dew
Little Coquette
Liza
Nighty Night

Steel Guitar Classics Volume 2:

All tracks:

Blues Boogie
Worried Mind, vocal Jimmy Wakely
Sheik Of Araby
Panhandle Rag
On The Alamo
Blue Hawaii, vocal Jimmy Wakely
Steelin' Home
Alabama Bound
When I Lost You, vocal Jimmy Wakely
Swanee River
At Sundown
Birth Of The Blues

Steel Guitar Masters Volume 3: nothing, all 12 tracks also appear on the Varese CD.

Additionally, Amazon also has a single track called Boggs Boogie, which is apparently taken from a Jimmy Wakely CD that is not part of the Steel Guitar Masters series.

I'm virtually certain that the titles above that do appear on the Varese CD are alternate versions rather than duplicates. (Birth Of The Blues, Steelin' Home, Tenderly, etc).

Some of these recordings were previously released decades ago on either 45 or LP, but I think some of them have never been released in any form.

They all appear to be from the same era as the CD and feature the same instrumentation. Many have spoken introductions, which leads me to believe that they are all from Jimmy Wakely transcriptions from the late 50s/early 60s when Noel had his group at the Hollywood Plaza hotel.

Sound quality is excellent. The downloads use the Lame encoder at over 200 KB bitrate.

Blake Wilson · Post by **Blake Wilson** » 18 Jul 2009 9:39 am

Mitch:

Thanks for doing the dirty work and sorting out the dupes on these collections. Nothing worse than buying tracks you've already got, eh?

Blake

PS: By "dupes" I mean duplicates, not "deceived persons"...

Drew Howard · Post by **Drew Howard** » 18 Jul 2009 10:16 am

Country Steel Guitar Masters, Vol. 3 @ Amazon