Emmons String Machine

[Bunky Markert]

I stopped by Atomic Music in Beltsville, MD today to find this item for sale, which they have listed on ebay as well, link below. From what they told me, this may be 1 of 3. There's a video included in the link that explain it. For your entertainment pleasure.

FYI: They also have a Sho-Bud Pro I single neck steel guitar on consignment. A pretty guitar, it looks as though it never made it out of the basement.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Emmons-String-m ... 564bbc1165

[Len Amaral]

I had one ofthese that I purchased from the Pembroke Pickin Parlor in Pembroke, MA and sold it to a fellow steel player Billy Marshal from RI. It sounded like an angry bees nest when I had it....*L*

[Len Amaral]

I had one ofthese that I purchased from the Pembroke Pickin Parlor in Pembroke, MA and sold it to a fellow steel player Billy Marshal from RI. It sounded like an angry bees nest when I had it....*L*

[Bunky Markert]

Hello fellow Rehoboth-ite, different state though. Yeah, they had an electric guitar plugged into it when I stopped by, and it did not have a particularly appealing sound. Kind of harsh and buzzy, like a Univox fuzz from the olden days. But it looked pretty bulletproof, cool case.

[Len Amaral]

Hi Bunky:

The three transducers that originally came with the unit were difficult to place under the strings correctly to get the unit to give the synth vibe of a chorus of violins. I'm talking at least 30 years ago and fuzz is still with us. Just like delay, reverb, chorus, flanger,etc.

[Jim Smith]

I still have one of these that was modified to put the three transducers on one plate, so it would work with strings 3, 5, and 8 or 4, 6, and 10.

If anyone is interested in it, I can pull it out and see if it still works. Not sure what it's worth, but certainly nowhere near what that seller was asking. Make me an offer.

[Bunky Markert]

Here's another oddball item for sale that they picked up from Emmons:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Early-Prototype ... 35bedc9d98

[Bill Bassett]

The whole idea of this device was not single note bluesy guitar licks, it aw s multi-string sustained string section sound. Hence 3 pickups, one for each of three notes in a triad.

Played with care, skill and good taste, it's a very cool effect that may never be heard again in this day of digital everything.

[Jim Hussey]

Hey Bunky, I never did understand that new math stuff. If Atomic Music has #1 of 3, and Len has #2 of 3, and Jim has #3 of 3, guess I have #4 of 3?



New in the box, been in the attic for decades.

[Ransom Beers]

$699.99?

[Chris Lucker]

I have 5 of 3. I think Chance Roulette has 6 of 3.

[Doug Beaumier]

I've bought and sold 3 of them in my lifetime... so far.

Here's what Buddy Emmons said back in 2002:

As for the String Machine:

I can't say how many were made as I was not in the business end of the Emmons Guitar Company but at best it was relatively few.

I don't remember the exact year they came out but I used it on a 1975 recording so it would have to have been a year or so before that.

The Foxx Tone Machine was my choice because of it being the distortion unit I was using for my work at the time.

I have no recollection of the settings or functions. I used it solely for string sounds. Three rods mounted vertically on the end of my guitar, and attached to those rods were three horizontal rods with single pole pickups that swiveled over the strings I chose for the harmonies. Most of the time I used strings 4, 6, and 10 for wide inversions and a fatter sound.

I used it mostly for demo sessions but the song I mentioned above was Canon in D Major on the Flying fish label. The album title is Buddy Emmons / Steel Guitar and referred to it as the "Rainbow album."