Ordered a Dusenberg Ponoma today.

[Kevin Shiflett]

I had been eyeballing the Dusenberg for some time. Thing is every place I came across in the US was selling them for $2500 to $2700 before shipping!

Then I came across Thomann cyberstore and got one shipped out of Germany for $1500 USD including shipping.

Thats still alot of cash for a lap steel but I sold a bunch of old gear I never use on EBAY and decided to buy my own Christmas present.

I think it will fir the bill for what I intend to use it for.

In my band *country and enough rock to satisfy the natives* I am the lead guitar player so most all night I am twangin' away on my Telecaster but there are songs where there is little to no lead guitar.

On those songs I will use the Ponoma to play chords and generally try to fill the same space that a pedal steel would. I'm not talking Paul Franklin here, mostly just nice chords that I can make weep a bit with the palm benders. I have no illusions about trying to do any fancy right hand picking while trying to push down levers at the same time!

The band already likes my attempts so far with a normal lap steel hooked into a vol pedal for nice ambiant sounds so I thinking things will only get better with pedals set up to work like a Pedal Steels A-B pedals.

If nothing else the capo should make life more fun when playing in other keys. Great idea, dunno who it has not been done before, least as far as I know.

[Thomas Temple]

Isn't playing Santa to yourself a great thing, at least that way it is the right size, color, make and or model!! Good luck with the new Christmas Toy.

[J Hill]

Kevin, will you come back to this thread and tell us how you like this guitar? Also tell us how do-able that palm bender is. I'd love to hear your first impressions.

[Tom Pettingill]

Thats a smokin deal Kevin!

When buying just the Dusenberg multibender bridges I've found that getting them out of Germany is also the cheaper option. They run around $300 shipped out of Germany while Dusenberg USA has them priced at $582

[Kevin Shiflett]

O yea, I'll post a few pics and give my first impression review once I get it.

[Alan Brookes]

...If nothing else the capo should make life more fun when playing in other keys. Great idea, dunno who it has not been done before, least as far as I know.

Well, you can do the same thing by just slipping the right size metal bar under the strings.
I shall be interested to hear how you get on with this instrument. I've been thinking of building one with similar attributes. When I do I shall make the fingerboard translucent with a light underneath it so that the frets light up in the dark.

[Kevin Shiflett]

When I do I shall make the fingerboard translucent with a light underneath it so that the frets light up in the dark.

Now that would be cool. There are a few guitar pedalboard makers that use colored led lights and clear plastic of some kind.

[chris ivey]

the capo is what i think is the coolest part of those steels as long as it works well.

[chris ivey]

alan...make the lights changeable according to capo position....so the fret markers readjust to the capo position......no charge for this idea.

[Alan Brookes]

The fret positions would have to be fixed in order to be able to paint the fingerboard black while leaving the fret areas seethrough. Anything more would require computer processors. For instance, you could have the fingerboard be one big long LCD screen and then program the positions of the frets. You could also have a program where you tell it what key you're playing in and it lights up the positions on the fingerboard, but all that would need technology well beyond my abilities.

[Carl McLaughlin]

.I have also been looking at the dusie,and would like to hear your impressions.Also can you give the exact site you ordered from,and how long it takes to get to you from Germany??.Much appreciated..Carl

[J Hill]

You might want to try to negociate on the one you see in the list here:

http://www.thomann.de/gb/steel_guitars.html

[Kevin Shiflett]

Thats the site I got mine from. The Euro to USD exchange rate is about 1.30.

When I went to buy it my total cost came in at 1143.44 EURO.

For some reason the price dropped a good bit on the Thomman site when I selected shipping to the US vs what they list. Local taxes i guess?

[CrowBear Schmitt]

Kevin, considering your order was export(out of the eec), the vat (value added tax) was knocked off
approx 20 %
the us customs will probably apply import duties tho'...

[Alan Brookes]

...the us customs will probably apply import duties tho'...

You would think so, but my experience is that they rarely do. I've been buying guitar parts and model railway supplies from Europe for years and I've never received a charge from customs. On the other hand, when I've sent finished lap steels and steel guitar parts to England they've almost always been charged UK Customs. I guess it's a matter of enforcement.