How Many Dekley's Out There?

[Lonnie Zsigray]

Ulric,do you know the model George L it was? I'm leary about using a humbucker because I don't want to loose the tonal characteristics of the guitar.I like the brightness of it with this single coil.A friend of mine suggested a tapped coil but I don't know how to wire something like that or what type of switch to use etc..Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Lana Carroll]

I have a lovely dark red dekley that I bought off the forum here a while back, and I know it was owned by one or two folks from the forum at some point or other. The pedal board has some damage to it due to UPS shipping issues, but other than that it is pristine.

I don't have a picture handy, but it is really beautiful!! And it plays well too...

[Richard Ellison]

I have a S10 Dekley 3pedals 3knee levers. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me the year it was manufactured. The only number I can find would seem to be the serial number... 101-0176. Checking the Dekley manual, this serial number series is not shown. I hope someone can help solve the mystery.

[Jim Smith]

I have a S10 Dekley 3pedals 3knee levers. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me the year it was manufactured. The only number I can find would seem to be the serial number... 101-0176. Checking the Dekley manual, this serial number series is not shown. I hope someone can help solve the mystery.

If I remember correctly, the 101 serial numbers were for the semi-pro model that sold with 3&3. Yours is the 176th one made, so I'm guessing 1978-79.

[Aaron Benolkin]

I'm new to the forum, so I thought this would be a good first post. I bought my Dekley from another forum member a couple years ago(Stu Schulman.)I don't have much experience playing different pedal steels, but I love my Dekley. I'm really impressed with how well it stays in tune.I bought a collapsible dolly to help haul it around. Many thanks to Stu for helping me navigate this crazy Pedal Steel world (I've played lap steel for quite a few years, but the pedals are a whole different world.) I don't know much about this particular Dekley, other than I'm really proud to own it.

[Cliff Kane]

Hi Aaron,
welcome to the forum! This place is awesome. That's a great looking guitar. I wish I had a Dekley, I really like the design and build quality. Definitely a great contender in the shadow of the giants. You should try a volume pedal with side jacks, like a Goodrich, you can get your foot closer the pedal bar.

[jeff reynolds]

!!!!! I want my Red Dekley S12U 7X5 back.!!!!! It was just like the one Russ Tkac shows in his pics. In fact that might be my old Dek. It was my first Gigable Steel and it stayed in tune better than the 3 I own now. Had a tone that was a cross between the Fender400 & MSA's.
SIT Silencer (ST12) strings always sounded best on that Guitar.

Billy Carr sold it for me when I wanted a Different Steel. It went to someone in Mi or OH I think.

If you have or know who has my old red Dek let me know

[John Floyd]

This one is an Absolute Winner!
This Was Delivered to Me on 10/12/99. Is an early Christmas and birthday present from my youngest daughter. It is absolutely like Brand New in all respects. The Case even looks new and has all The Original Owners Manual and Paperwork with it. Looks like it was completed on October 21 1980, So it will be having its 29th Birthday in about 8 days. Whats amazing is the condition of it for a 29 year old guitar. This one had to be a Closet Guitar for most of its life. I am the 3rd owner and its going to see some use now.

Tone and sustain, its all right here. Sounds great thru my Walker Stereo Steel Preamp and when I plugged it in I had to re adjust all the tone settings to 12 O'clock and it sounds perfect. Tone to the Bone.

[Aaron Benolkin]

Thanks Cliff, a new volume pedal is definitely on the wish list. I use the Ernie Ball Volume Pedals all the time for my lap steel and regular guitar playing, so I have a few around. It seems to work fine, but I imagine one with side jacks would be a little more comfortable. So many instruments and accessories to buy and only so much money. Someday...

[John Floyd]

http://dekley.com

Just getting this started, I will be adding a forum soon.
Jim Smith has agreed to participate and give technical direction.
I will be looking for Pictures and further documentation to put on the site.
The Forum will require a Dekley Serial number in order to become a member and post, All others will have View only priviledges.

[Scott Howard]

I finnaly put my Dekley in the case for a while. I don't really need it at the moment with my double neck back together. I may try and make it a Universal a little later on. I have found the only problem is in finding some factory pedals . My 12 string only had 3 pedals and I have found 2 more . These are great guitars and it looks like you have a real nice one. They last forever and are really underated.

Does yours have the panel that is removed by six screws or the plastic bushings that screw in and hold the end of the cross rods . I have the older one here now that has the screw in bushings.

[John Floyd]

Scott
Mine has the 6 Screws for the back Panel.
Dekley provided in advance for expansion, all drilling is done for adding extra pedals and knee levers. There are some really nice features on the Dekleys and Great Workmanship.
They are Heavy, but isn't every instrument that has great tone and sustain, Thats what I have always found. I'm 68 years old and I can Move it around just fine.

http://dekley.com/

Please Check out The Website and I just added The Dekley Information Forum. We would welcome You as A New Member. You Can Post pictures of your Dekley on here, One Picture per post until we Get the Next Software Update which is due any day now, Then you can post mutiple pics per post. You can post Audio,Video etc., Its a Full Featured Multimedia Forum and Has an Arcade Game Section also, If You like playing the Old Syle Arcade Games.
Jim Smith has agreed To participate and Keep us on the straight and narrow on Dekley Information

[Scott Howard]

John
I just did a pedal reversal on a 12 string like yours with the six screws and a panel , because it was already drilled for the 11 pedals. It belongs to a friend and I did it until I could see if I was going to be able to play that way. By far the easiest for me to convert because the body was drilled . On my MSA I had to remove the front and center rails and have them drilled.

I call mine the oddball because the feet are reversed. There are some pics earlier in this post. I did a post on the different things I noticed on the early and later guitars. I like both and would have bought the other one but I have to many guitars now.

[Lonnie Zsigray]

This is great to have a dedicated site for us who own/enjoy a Dekley steel guitar.Not sure which of the stamped numbers on mine are the serial.One is on the end plate at the keyhead end and the other is much smaller at the underside of the base.But I am registered on the site.Don't quite understand how to upload a picture so perhaps someone can assist me with that.

[John Floyd]

Lonnie
You have to make a post much like you do on here.
Then below the text box where you make your post there is an item named Attachment Click the Browse button and search for the picture file you want to send from you computer, when it is listed in the file box, go down to the bottom and click SEND.
Note you have to have one Item of text (such as a Period) in the text box, even if you don't have any message to post.

Its real Simple once you get used to it. Right Now you can only post 1 picture for each post, but with the next software update You will be able to post multiple Picture or Items. The Software update is due any day now.
John

[Lonnie Zsigray]

Thanks John,I'll give that a shot.

[Scott Howard]

I opened the case on mine and the last 4 digits of the serial are 0008. Does that mean it is # 8 of that body type? Still plays and sounds great . Also does anyone know if a SD is just labeled a single neck? By the serial number chart mine is listed as a pre 79 single neck and it does not appeard to have ever been a double neck. The holes for a rear neck are drilled but have no evidence of ever having a screw in them.

[John Floyd]

I wondered about that too Scott, We have our resident Dekley expert Jim Smith Available, Lets ask him that, I would like to know that too.
John

[Jim Cohen]

As for the original question of this thread (How Many Dekleys are Out There?), you might find the chart of brands in this thread of interest: http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... highlight=

It shows the relative ownership of Dekleys vs many other brands among over 500 Forumites. FWIW.

[Lonnie Zsigray]

This question would probably best be answered by Jim Smith.My serial number is 101-0112.I see where Jim indicated that the 101 series were semi pro 3&3.Mine is a 3&4.What was the "build" difference between the semi-pro and pro outside of the levers,if any? Any idea how old mine is?

[Jim Smith]

I opened the case on mine and the last 4 digits of the serial are 0008. Does that mean it is # 8 of that body type? Still plays and sounds great . Also does anyone know if a SD is just labeled a single neck? By the serial number chart mine is listed as a pre 79 single neck and it does not appeard to have ever been a double neck. The holes for a rear neck are drilled but have no evidence of ever having a screw in them.

You are correct. The last four numbers mean that it was that number made of the model indicated by the first three numbers.

Based on your description, I'd say yours is a single 10 on a double body that we called the Loafer. The three number prefix for that model was 120 Similarly, 122 was the prefix for a single 12 on a double body.

I believe when your guitar was built, we drilled all the holes in all of the double neck tops, and then covered the holes with a pad if it was going to be a Loafer model.

[Jim Smith]

This question would probably best be answered by Jim Smith.My serial number is 101-0112.I see where Jim indicated that the 101 series were semi pro 3&3.Mine is a 3&4.What was the "build" difference between the semi-pro and pro outside of the levers,if any? Any idea how old mine is?

Sorry, my memory has faded a lot in the 30 years since I was at Dekley. There were a lot of model numbers, and we could have done better at coming up with a more meaningful representation of the model in the three numbers we chose for that. We tried to do better when we switched to the SlimLine models, but there's only so much you can do with three numbers.

To add to the confusion, the owner's manual (that I wrote most of) doesn't describe the differences very well, and left out some of the model numbers too.

I "think" the 101 series was the original professional model single 10 with 3&4, and the 010 series was the semi-pro model with 3&3. The main visual difference was that the semi-pro model had black anodized aluminum parts.

I would guess that your guitar was made in 1977 or 1978.