| Author |
Topic: EMMONS Stereo |
Rick Collins
From:
Claremont , CA USA
|
Posted 22 Jan 2010 11:10 am |
|
Somewhere I have read about an early Emmons guitar that was designated as an "Emmons Stereo".
Does anyone own one of these?
How does it work?
Many thanks |
|
|
|
Jim Mathis
From:
Overland Park, Kansas, USA
|
Posted 22 Jan 2010 12:07 pm
|
|
According to what I have read, Buddy originally played for the Emmons to be stereo, but after a very few were made, maybe only 3 or 4, he realized that he was sort of alone with this idea, so he dropped the plan and Emmons steels have been mono ever since.
So, how many Emmons stereos are left out there?
_________________
Jim@MathisPhoto.net |
|
|
|
chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
|
Posted 22 Jan 2010 12:26 pm
|
|
| go to the steels for sale column, click on 'early 60s emmons for sale' , scroll down to the beautiful set of pictures posted by chris lucker...one of the very few people who could answer your question. |
|
|
|
Chris Lucker
From:
Los Angeles, California USA
|
Posted 22 Jan 2010 2:11 pm
|
|
That Emmons of mine I posted photos of -- Emmons #2 -- is no longer Stereo. That is a tall single coil mounted directly to the cabinet. It is not mounted to the neck as on every Emmons guitar after #3, I think. The single coil you see is a quarter inch taller than the "normal" Emmons single coil.
I have learned a lot about very early Emmons guitars by studying my own collection, but I really appreciate Mike Cass and Herb Steiner for showing me the way.
Here is a photo from the 1964 Emmons brochure. Here Buddy Emmons is promoting the Stereo Emmons, but the guitar he is playing has non-Stereo single coils. The Emmons #3 that Mike Cass is restoring is the only Emmons I know of that is still "Stereo." So many were changed to single coils.
 |
|
|
|
Doug Palmer
From:
Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
|
Posted 25 Jan 2010 2:10 pm stereo
|
|
Big Ron and Buddy dropped that idea pretty early. I have seen a few of them. Top 5 strings went through one amp and the bottom 5 went to a different amp. Great idea but not very practical.
Doug
_________________
Emmons D-10, ST-10,LD-10 III, NV-112,Fender Deluxe Reverb. Authorized wholesale dealer musicorp.com! |
|
|
|
Chris Lucker
From:
Los Angeles, California USA
|
Posted 25 Jan 2010 2:14 pm
|
|
| And strings 5 and 6 went through both amps. The fields overlap. |
|
|
|
James Mayer
From:
back in Portland Oregon, USA (via Arkansas and London, UK)
|
Posted 25 Jan 2010 3:20 pm Re: stereo
|
|
| Doug Palmer wrote: |
Big Ron and Buddy dropped that idea pretty early. I have seen a few of them. Top 5 strings went through one amp and the bottom 5 went to a different amp. Great idea but not very practical.
Doug |
I'm planning on having my steel split in stereo between bass and treble strings. It will have a toggle so it can be played "normal", as well. I can think of plenty of interesting uses for this type of setup. Have any of you ever tried it? Doug, why do you feel it's not practical? |
|
|
|
Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
|
Posted 25 Jan 2010 4:34 pm About those stereo sounds for steel guitar................
|
|
Jeff Newman some years back was promoting the use of Stereo Chorus.........and two amps. It sounded pretty awesome to me.........not for every song played but for any number of them on which it was musically appropriate.
Anyone else?
This week's Bobbe Seymour's news letter deals with these guitars in somewhat greater detail for those who might be interested. |
|
|
|
Doug Palmer
From:
Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
|
Posted 25 Jan 2010 4:47 pm stereo
|
|
James, when playing in true stereo you need not only 2 amps, but a stereo volume pedal as well. AB made a special pot for that but I don't know if anybody does that today. Then there are the cables. As I understood it was hard to set the amps to get a balanced sound. Let me know how it works for you.
Doug
_________________
Emmons D-10, ST-10,LD-10 III, NV-112,Fender Deluxe Reverb. Authorized wholesale dealer musicorp.com! |
|
|
|
James Mayer
From:
back in Portland Oregon, USA (via Arkansas and London, UK)
|
Posted 25 Jan 2010 5:12 pm
|
|
Well, at the moment, I have a stereo steel where each pickup goes to it's own ouput. It's not divided by bass and treble strings, but by bridge and neck pickup. The custom pickups that I have on order will allow me to seperate bass and treble strings as well.
I've modded an Fender vol/tone volume pedal with a stereo volume pot and stereo blend pot......so it's a stereo vol/pan pedal. The stereo Y cable is $2 at Radio shack.
I don't plan to run to two different amps, but to two different channels of my Deluxe Reverb. Right now, I'm able to simply pan between effects chains with the setup I just described. I'm pretty excited to be able to run seperate EQs and effect on bass and treble strings. Hopefully, I'll have the project finished by this weekend. |
|
|
|
Butch Pytko
From:
Orlando, Florida, USA
|
Posted 28 Jan 2010 5:21 pm Emmons Stereo
|
|
| I can still vividly remember being at a Ray Price concert & seeing Buddy Emmons playing his Emmons Stereo--December 1964, San Diego,CA. Ray Price even promoted Buddy's new guitar during the concert. He said something like "Buddy is playing his own new steel guitar that is currently being sold as the Emmons Stereo". I was thrilled to see Buddy, but even more thrilled about his new guitar. Buddy gave me Ron Lashley's phone no. & within a month I called to order a guitar. On the phone I told Ron that I wanted a guitar exactly like Buddy's, which at that time was a D-10, 8 pedals, & black mica. I didn't get knee levers, because I don't think Buddy had them on his guitar. Anyway, Ron didn't say anything about knees at that time, so, I didn't get any. Don't know if they were even available at that time. Anyway, I must of said something about STEREO, concerning the pick-ups, & Ron immediately said you don't want the stereo pick-ups, as we found them to be unstable & producing overtones. He said Buddy was using standard mono Emmons pick-ups & if you want the guitar to be exactly like Buddy's, then thats what we highly recommend. I wish I still had that guitar! |
|
|
|
Rick Collins
From:
Claremont , CA USA
|
Posted 29 Jan 2010 7:56 am
|
|
It seems (I've never tried it) that if one is going to use two amps, a slight delay into one amp would achieve a more dynamic sound than an attempt to separate strings at the pickup.
Stereo to separate each instrument (when recording) __ yes, but not to separate the output of one instrument (steel guitar). |
|
|
|
James Mayer
From:
back in Portland Oregon, USA (via Arkansas and London, UK)
|
Posted 29 Jan 2010 7:50 pm
|
|
| Rick Collins wrote: |
It seems (I've never tried it) that if one is going to use two amps, a slight delay into one amp would achieve a more dynamic sound than an attempt to separate strings at the pickup.
Stereo to separate each instrument (when recording) __ yes, but not to separate the output of one instrument (steel guitar). |
With my setup, I can do just what you describe. But, I can also do things that simply aren't possible with the above method.
If you want to play eastern melodies on a single string, it sounds great to have a bass string drone with a different sound. Pluck a bass string every now and then and time the treble-string melody with the repeats. This can't be accomplished by simply splitting it the more traditional way that you have described.
It actually works great. I finished soldering about an hour ago and have been testing it.
One of the switches goes from "normal" to "split". One switch reverses the field so I can send either the treble strings or the bass strings (or either pickup, in "normal" mode") through either effects chain. The other is a phase reversal switch.
It sounds really cool when playing octaves with the treble strings clean and the bass strings with the tone rolled completely off and an ambient delay with plenty of repeats. |
|
|
|
Dean Parks
From:
Sherman Oaks, California, USA
|
Posted 29 Jan 2010 8:05 pm
|
|
James
Congratulations on your setup, it looks great. I'd love to hear soundbytes sometime!
-dean- |
|
|
|
