<SMALL>But as time went on, singers and musicians broke away from traditional country music--the big culprit was the invention of electric instruments</SMALL>
That quote was taken from a thread over in the Music forum.
Which made me wonder, has anybody ever made an acoustic pedal steel? One that has to be mic'd ?
(I'm assuming that electronic microphones don't qualify as "electronic instruments").
Carroll Benoit of Benoit Guitars had a 10-string Resonator tuned to C6 he had built at the Dallas show. Reece Anderson played it on Saturday afternoon and it really sounded great. Carroll said he's thinking of calling it an acoustic steel.
It didn't have pedals, it looked like his other resonators (beautiful!!). I'm sure it could be tuned to E9 or whatever.
I guess I was thinking more along the lines of something that sounds more like an acoustic guitar.
But without the electric pickups, could you ever get really long sustain, without a lot of attack, and still be HEARD (even without a microphone) ?
Think of an upright bass along with an acoustic guitar and a mandolin and a banjo, with some sort of acoustic steel in there, too. Could it ever be heard over the other instruments?
Could you enclose the entire under-side of the guitar, including all the mechanics?
I saw a TV show with Alan Jackson one time where they did "Mercury Blues". On this tune the steel man played an round hole acoustic guitar in the Dobro style. I think it was tuned in open D. Years ago in California there was a guy named Tex Carmen who used to play a Martin flat top like that too. Also on the Trio (Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris) record of "To Know Him is to Love Him" David Lindley played the break on an acoustic type steel. I believe it was one of those type which had a hollow neck.
------------------
Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney tuning.
Paul Franklin plays an instrument called 'The Box'. It is featured, as I recall, on the Dire Straits' tune 'You and Your Friend' on the album, 'On Every Street' (also on 'On the Night').
I'm not sure if it has pedals or not, but it is an acoustic steel with a very different tone from a Dobro/Ped-A-Bro or even a Wiessenborn or other acoustic steel.
FWIW
------------------
<small>Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Emmons D-10 9x9, 1971 Dobro
David...no, you couldn't get really long sustain on a acoustic guitar (playing it "steel-style"). This is precisely why they electrified guitars, so they could be heard equally with the other instruments playing (over the drums, brass, etc.). Adding the mass of some sort of changer would only diminish the sound (and sustain) of an acoustic instrument. This is exactly how a violin mute works. It reduces the vibrations transmitted to the body of the violin by virtue of its added mass, and gives a softer, sweeter sound.
Paul Franklin Sr made a prototype of an acoustic pedal steel guitar. (Not a pedabro.)
It was on display at this booth at the convention a few years ago.
As far as I know, he only made that one.
