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Topic: Excel Jerry Byrd Frypan - Pictures and Sounds And More |
Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 2 Apr 2011 10:12 am |
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I recently acquired an Excel Jerry Byrd Frypan. It's a nice instrument and currently strung up with an E7 tuning. Here's a link to a page with more pics, sound files, specs and some more trivia. I'll have all the sound files tabbed out within a week or so. I know this tuning has been covered by many others but perhaps I've stumbled onto a few uniques twists that it has to offer.
Excel Frypan Page
Greg
Last edited by Greg Cutshaw on 2 Apr 2011 3:43 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Stephen Abruzzo
From:
Philly, PA
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Posted 2 Apr 2011 11:59 am
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Hey Greg...that's a sweet steel and I bet it sounds great in E7. I tried to listen to your clips but got the following remark on all the links:
404 Error File Not Found
The page you are looking for might have been removed,
had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
* If you typed in the URL, please check the spelling
* You can try to click the Back button and try another link |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 2 Apr 2011 1:27 pm
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Stephen, the sound clip links are fixed and should work now.
Doug, the E7 tuning is pretty limited. I am stringing it up for E13 next for a month or so and then will likely end up with C6/A6 which is what I am most used to. Some of the sound samples show ways to get diminished, augmented, 13th and other chords with string bends. The last chorus of Texas Playboy Rag shows a neat augmented 7th at the 7th fret in B using a string bend behind the bar at 2:26 into the song.
I'll be posting so sounds with E13 later recorded with a solid BJS bar (more sustain) and the Princeton Reverb (fuller tone) for comparison.
Greg |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 2 Apr 2011 3:06 pm
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| That is one of the later serial numbered frypans. The earlier guitars had a cover on the bottom. I was going to buy one in Hawaii that was serial 141, which didn't have the bottom cover. Fuzzy and I couldn't connect before he went back to Japan, so I didn't buy it. |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 2 Apr 2011 3:36 pm
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This one has "JB009" stamped on the end of the peghead and does have a removable cover on the back.
Greg |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 2 Apr 2011 9:37 pm
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That's a early one then, and a really low number! It sounds very good to me. Nice playing too! 
In the pictures I couldn't see the bottom very good... |
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Kelvin Monaghan
From:
Victoria, Australia
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Posted 2 Apr 2011 10:20 pm
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Hey Greg,I just Ebayed one of these myself ,although a 6 not an 8 like yours hope to receive it in the next few days.I don't yet know the serial number but certainly hope it sounds as nice as your clips.
An interesting thing,it comes with legs included in the case.
I will post some photos as soon as it arrives .
Kelvin |
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Don Kona Woods
From:
Hawaiian Kama'aina
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Posted 2 Apr 2011 11:32 pm
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I enjoyed your playing, Greg. 
I like the tone of the Excel. I have one myself which I bought quite a number of years ago. My number is 083.
I like it because it travels easy on the airplanes. I just took mine to Dallas for the Texas Steel Guitar Jamboree. The next trip for it will be the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Assn Convention in Hawaii. So it is seeing a lot of travel.
Aloha, 
Don |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2011 6:08 am
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I have a long scale Excel frypan.
Here is the Certificate of Limited Edition:
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2011 8:35 am
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So is mine (at 24.25") a long or short scale?
Greg |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2011 10:38 am
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Greg,
Just check your serial number.
If it starts with "A", that short scale, if it starts with "B", that's long scale. |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2011 10:54 am
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No "A", No "B", just "JB009"
Greg |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2011 11:03 am
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Greg,
Maybe you've got one of those bootleg ones that Shot Jackson was making.  |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2011 11:08 am
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Cool! If it's a Jerry Byrd/Excel/Sho-Bud and rare enough to fetch $6k on ebay I'm gonna sell it and buy 4 Goldtones and bolt them together for a quad.
Greg |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2011 11:10 am
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| Sounds like a deal! |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 3 Apr 2011 12:47 pm
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There are some unresolved issues regarding the JB Fry Pans.
There were the original 300 sold with a certificate signed by both Shot and Jerry, late 70s, early 80s. ...Then there are some other ones with a certificate signed only by Jerry, not Shot, 1990s? And it’s not certain whether Jerry’s signature is printed or hand signed on those. ...Then there are others with a Different sequence of serial numbers ...and finally, we have reports of two JB Fry Pans with the same serial number!
So more than the original 300 were made and sold, one as late as 2003. This probably doesn’t affect the value of the guitars, but it would be nice to have a verifiable record of what was made when and by whom.
Check these threads:
Click
Click
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2011 1:22 pm
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 3 Apr 2011 2:54 pm
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| The later style I mentioned, has a textured surface on the metal, on the top of the round "pan" area if I remember correctly. I wondered how they did that. John Tipka and I compared his early model to the new one Fuzzy had for sale. and dimensions on the late one were very slightly bigger, like diameter and height of the round section. No bottom cover, and it came with legs in the case. |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 3 Apr 2011 3:28 pm
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I opened the back cover (darn, pry voided the warranty) and found a map signed by someone named A. Earhart. Just looked like a bunch of islands in the Pacific so I tossed it out.
No markings inside the cover.
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Raymond Jones
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 3 Apr 2011 3:39 pm Fuzzy - JB Frypan
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Serial number - 181, with no JB in front, this on the top of the head. Solid back, eight string, long scale. Proper hard case. Sounds good. When I got this a few years ago I wrote Fuzzy as to when it was made. Got no reply. Would like to find out. The finish looks hand done, a disc sander "waving" down the length of the guitar? Thanks for the discussion. Was there any "X" marks the spot on any island?
Cheers - Ray |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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... you're killin' me Greg! 