What Is That Thing

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 3 Nov 2006 9:03 pm

Years ago Hank Penny called it an electrified African zither. I always called it a divorce kit. Jody.[This message was edited by Jody Sanders on 03 November 2006 at 09:04 PM.]

Jim Bob Sedgwick · Post by **Jim Bob Sedgwick** » 3 Nov 2006 10:13 pm

The next time you are asked how long you have been playing, look at your watch and reply, Ohh, about an hour!!

Kyle Everson · Post by **Kyle Everson** » 3 Nov 2006 10:26 pm

"it looked like he was playing a table."

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Kyle Everson
Sho-Bud Pro-II
Fender Twin Reverb
Goodrich 120

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » 4 Nov 2006 12:51 am

Hey Gene,
If they ever ask you if "you've been playing that thing your whole life" ?
I usually say " Not yet...."

You've got a beautiful attitude, man.
respectfully,
-John

Robert Jones · Post by **Robert Jones** » 4 Nov 2006 9:25 am

I have often be called a keyboard player. Imagine that!!!!

I would finally tell them it was a steel guitar and that went way over their heads as well.

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Mullen Royal Percision D-10 Red Laquar Pearl inlay 8&8
"Life is too short for bad tone".

Tommy Allison · Post by **Tommy Allison** » 4 Nov 2006 9:16 pm

My favorite is the horizontal pitch approximator.

Herbie Meeks · Post by **Herbie Meeks** » 4 Nov 2006 9:39 pm

While playing some gigs with Bill Drake.
around the Bay Area,
Bill used to ask,
How many miles, do you get per gallon
out of that thing, Bill was a real showman
and a hot lead guitar player.
I was saddened at his early demise in a
Auto wreck near San Jose

Herbie

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Mark Treepaz · Post by **Mark Treepaz** » 9 Nov 2006 9:03 am

Here's a thread from a little while ago that contains alot of similar info:
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum15/HTML/012929.html

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Sho-Bud LDG, Gretsch Syncromatic Lap Steel, Bach Stradivarious 37 Trumpet, Getzen Eterna Flugelhorn, Fender Precision Bass (pre-CBS)

Walter Stettner · Post by **Walter Stettner** » 9 Nov 2006 9:43 am

Over here in Austria the Zither is really popular - so guess what? I have already been compared to Anton Karas (of Third Man Theme fame!)

Kind Regards, Walter

www.lloydgreentribute.com
www.austriansteelguitar.at.tf

Dale Bennett · Post by **Dale Bennett** » 9 Nov 2006 9:59 am

Thanks for the laughs guys, you have brightened my day. db

Paul Redmond · Post by **Paul Redmond** » 12 Nov 2006 8:58 pm

A few months ago I was packing up my stuff ready to go home from a local jam session. A little old lady came up to the front of the room and watched me for a few minutes, then told me that she played the organ at her church. She noticed that I had only used a few of my eight 'bass pedals' all evening!! She wondered how I could get so many different chords using only those few 'bass pedals' I explained that those weren't bass pedals and that they were used to change the pitch of certain strings. It took a while to convince her that it was a guitar and not a keyboard!! She never did comment on the fact that it didn't have any black and white keys. I turned my amp back on and gave her a little demo of how a pedal steel works. She stood there for a minute with a dazed look on her face, then thanked me for my time, and left with a look of total confusion still on her face!! I did forget to tell her that the 'bass' notes that she had heard actually came from the bass player's bass guitar. Oh well!!
PRR

Bryan Daste · Post by **Bryan Daste** » 14 Nov 2006 2:15 am

At a show a few months back this tremendously drunken woman came up to me after the set.

Her: "So...."
Me: (pretend to be busy doing something with my cords)
Her: "So, you play the KEYBOARD, right?"
My keyboard player: (big smile from across the stage)
Me: *snicker* "No, this is a pedal steel guitar..."
Her: (makes ??? face, grabs keyhead to avoid falling over)

I tried to show her how it worked, but she kept losing focus and staring off into space.

The band spent the rest of the evening deciding what the funniest combination of objects would be to slip into this woman's pocket (in order to make her say, "What in the hizzeck did I do last night?" the next morning). We decided on (a) a tooth and (b) a polaroid picture of a guy missing a tooth.

;P[This message was edited by Bryan Daste on 14 November 2006 at 02:17 AM.]

Thomas Bancroft · Post by **Thomas Bancroft** » 14 Nov 2006 11:46 am

The one reference that bugs me is when someone calls it the Steel Pedal. When anyone asks me what that is, I tell them it's a bread slicer.

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Mullen D-10, Nashville 1000, Alesis Midiverb, Too Many Guitars!

J.P. Masiongale · Post by **J.P. Masiongale** » 6 Dec 2011 10:12 am

At a recent steel jam, I had the opportunity to talk with Larry Prater from Missouri and he recalled:

Once when a group of new folks came to their weekly show and they were just enthralled with the way the steel guitar sounded but they didn't know what it was, and so after the show, they were talking with Larry and a fellow finally broke down and asked, "What is that beautiful instrument? I've never heard anything like it before." and Larry told him it was a steel guitar and that settled his curiosity.

Fast forward to the following weekend when the same group came back for another helping of entertainment and brought some more friends with them. One of those friends was also amazed by the steel guitar even though he also didn't have a clue what it was. And just like the week before, when the show was over, he was talking with Larry and asked him what that beautiful instrument was that he had been playing. However, before Larry could answer his question, the fellow who had been there the week before wondering the same thing, and now consider himself an expert on the subject, blurted out, "Oh, that there is a IRON guitar."

When I heard about that, I had to really use self control to keep from wetting myself because of spontaneously induced laughter. But I'm sure someone else has one that will top this one.

Post by **Joey Ace** » 6 Dec 2011 11:31 am

Recently I've been describing it as
"Ten Mechanically Controlled Monophonic Oscillators".

People leave me alone after that.

John De Maille · Post by **John De Maille** » 6 Dec 2011 12:17 pm

After 30 odd years of playing, I still get asked questions about what it is, I play. I usually try to intelligently explain to them what it is and what it does. Some get it, most don't. I try to be a diplomat about it. We've gotten a few jobs because of how it makes the band sound, amazingly.
The funniest remark, one time, was when a guy thought I was rolling a big "ball bearing" around the strings. I guess from where he was, he couldn't see the whole length of the bar. It really had him confused. Most people are inquisitive about it and I like that. You never know, it might start someone playing these stringy things.

J.P. Masiongale · Post by **J.P. Masiongale** » 6 Dec 2011 12:32 pm

I usually refer to it as trying to play a set of bedsprings, ten strings all with individual minds. But the monophonic oscillator is one I've not heard before Joey, very creative.

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 6 Dec 2011 12:40 pm

My supervisor and I had a conversation where I mentioned that I liked learning new instruments and that I was currently trying to focus on steel guitar. He kept making references that didn't make sense. The word, "steel", had thrown him off. He thought I was talking about steel drums. I've learned that it's pointless explaining what all the pedals and levers do to a non-musician.

Zane King · Post by **Zane King** » 6 Dec 2011 5:46 pm

Oh don't worry too much about it. You would be surprised at how little the general public knows what is what instrument in any given band.

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 7 Dec 2011 9:30 am

Zane King wrote:Oh don't worry too much about it. You would be surprised at how little the general public knows what is what instrument in any given band.

Zane is absolutly correct. My own sister and her husband went one night dancing and she couldn't wait to call me the next day and tell me what a good band they heard. I asked if they had a steel and she said, I don't know. I asked if they had a fiddle and she again replied, I don't know but they had drums. The patrons in clubs have no idea (unless they are muscians) even what instruments are in a band, much less what a steel guitar is. I guy one night called it a floor fiddle.

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What Is That Thing

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