ZB Pedal Steel Guitars - Please help!

[Chuck McGill]

Josh you just hit on the main reason for selling this beauty. My back will not stand it. This is a young man's ride and not for the faint of heart. Get her to the gig and she won't let you down. Dreamy sound, tons of sustain and a mojo that won't quit. Playing a vintage ZB is a "mantra" that some can't quite understand. Joel does. And that makes me happy to know. What a great pic.
Oh and by the way I still have my Scranton D10 to the left

[Joel Martin]

Took #1159 out for the first time last night! It spent the day getting some fixin by Jim Palenscar. Sounded pretty amazing at the gig - just gotta come up with better licks!

[Chuck McGill]

Looking good Joel. It would be nice to have a pic of every owner sitting behind it. I have one in the studio I posted earlier.

[Joel Martin]

oh that would be a blast! are you ever in touch with Mr Elder? I don't know him!
cheers
Joel

[Josh Rossow]

Here's an early one thats on Ebay right now, looks pretty clean.

[B. Greg Jones]

That one is in nice looking shape. #1065 was invoiced on April 6th, 1967 to Ted Solesky.

Greg

[Ben Elder]

It would be nice to have a pic of every owner sitting behind it...

For my part, I don't think one has ever been taken. (Gigging, St. Louis and paparazzi are three of the words least used in sentences beginning with "I".) In my "Scary Guitar Room," there's not room to do much, certainly not set up a tripod, trip the self-timer then slide on picks and assume a convincing posture. (The pedal steel location faces the wall at a distance of only about four feet--just far back enough to watch Bruce Bouton year after year on the TV.) Sitting down at a steel in there is much like shoehorning an astronaut into a Mercury space capsule. (I have an old Burma-Shave sign hanging over the door which reads, "He Needed Space.")

Those pics that were on the Forum I took at my neighbors' house across the street when they went on vacation for three weeks in '09 and we were watching the place, checking the mail, etc. I dragged the D-11 over there and wouldn't you know, I suddenly went into the hospital and was stuck there until after they got back. (Fortunately, neighbor Jim is a handyman and had enough mechanical sense even to disassemble a ZB.)

Sorry for not being able to complete the trifecta.

[Chuck McGill]

Photoshop?

[Jon Hyde]

Hi all,
I got this excellent ZB a couple months ago - I have slowly been getting it to where I like it - mostly trying to get the knee levers closer together as they were a far reach for me when I got them.




It plays pretty nicely and it sounds great - I'm in the process of removing some replacement rods and adding in some of Michael Yahl's excellent new rods. I'm noticing that 2 of the levers slide very easily back and forth and can pop out on the front apron side:







How do you go about anchoring these so they can't come loose? This one is the right/left but I have the same issue on the left/right.

[Dave Zirbel]

Just sharing - today I replaced the A and B pedals and linkage with Kline parts in my S10 ZB. It made a huge difference in pedal feel and accuracy. It feels like my Kline, which is more smooth than a ZB. There is a lot less noise coming from underneath and the guitar weighs a little less. I will take her out for a test run this Wed. (opening for the Outlaws ). I may leave the C pedal off and put E to F# on a knee. Here's some pics. Looks crude but plays like a dream.

It would great to have some fabricate Kline parts made for ZB conversions. I think Paul Redmond did this before?
More positive results are that it's way easier to balance the pulls and the cabinet drop I was experiencing is gone, robably due to the fact that it requires less pressure for the pulls to bottom out.

[Joel Martin]

Hi Ben! Nice to see ya on this thread! Too bad about the pictures. When did you get 1159? We're practically neighbors!

[Jon Hyde]

With the help of some friendly ZB related emails I got it fixed. A simple 3/8" shaft set collar did the trick. Obvious enough but I was grateful for the help. Thanks to Greg and Russ!

[Ben Elder]

When did you get 1159?

Joel:

I bought it off the Forum from Andrew ------ in Maryland ca. 2008. (Ad is probably searchable here.) I loved the ideas of that extra lower string and a Scranton ZB. Trouble is, the A pedal may as well have been in the next county and pressing it meant taking a KL with it. I'm 6'1" and raised it 2", but it just wasn't as comfortable as my pristine (Bakersfield, celebrity history) D-10.

At least I kept that one. But for all the ZB-chasing I've done, two of the most unassuming (non-student) ones that got away probably would have served me the best: my first S-10 and a weathered, converted SD-10, both Phoenix-era. I've followed the S-10 across the continent via the SGF through five owners since I sold it on eBay. The last of those has more or less said something to the effect of cold, dead hands.

[Andrew Buhler]

I still miss that D-11 from time to time. I should have done what Chuck did--give it a full refurb. Great sounding and sustaining guitar. Sounded very different from the later ZBs I've owned as it had a very distinct midrange character. Maybe those Zane wound pickups; I don't know. I still have some recordings I made with that sucker and I am afraid to listen to them because my heart drops. Glad to see it's currently being enjoyed. Here's an old pic of the guitar...plus one of the nicest looking ZBs I was stupid enough to let go of (Billy, let me know if this one ever pops up again!).

Jon Hyde's guitar is also a classic, killer sounding ZB. Great Tom Brumley Rick Nelson-era tone. I tend to stay away from this thread as it always gives me the itch to purchase another great ZB...

[Chuck McGill]

Andrew your exactly right. Those scrantons have a mid range growl. I have been playing my D10 since I sold the D11 and have fallen in love with it all over again.

[Kevin Hatton]

That's because the Zane guitars were built differently than the later ones. Pickups also. The upper mids are more pronounced in the Zane guitars. They started welding the changer caps on also in the 70's guitars. Big mistake.

[b0b]

I just got some new legs from Kevin Hatton. They work perfectly. Thanks, Kevin.



More pictures of the guitar are on my blog at http://b0b.com/wp/?p=616.

[B. Greg Jones]

Zane was constantly experimenting with pick-ups. Resistance, windings, etc. Even thoughout the 70's all the pick-ups varied some. I measure the ohm rating on each pick-up on every guitar that I work on and they are all different, even on the same guitar. I have seen them from wound from 7k on the thinnest tap to 50k on the heaviest. I dont think there really is a standard ohm rating on the ZB pick-ups. Another thing I wonder about, would the age of the maple and type of finish have anything to do with the tone of the guitar?? I know the castings were different in the 60's too. As far as welded changer caps. I have only worked on one that was that way and I dont think it hurt it any. There are a few 66' ZB's built with solid stainless fingers in them and they sound great!!! I have one, Todd Brown, John Borchard, and Tom Brumley's black D-11 are all that way. I will agree that the Zane built guitars do seem to sound a little better than the later ones.

Greg

[Russ Tkac]

Anyone here get that nice CZB blonde /black for $610? nice buy.

[Chuck McGill]

An absolute great buy on this guitar.

[Jon Hyde]

Finally took the the new/old ZB out to the gig (sorry for the dark picture it is, after all, a gig...). Sounds monsterous. Really enjoyed hearing it in the band for real. String spacing is going to take some getting used to! Going to be an awesome addition to my already awesome stable of steels. Got a few mechanical things to work out yet and yes, it weighs a ton. Ordered a split case yesterday.

[Michael Yahl]

Hey guys, just finished up 49 of these.

Replacement pull rod for ZB pedal steel guitars. These rods are made from steel and are similar to OEM equipment.

This set contains 1 rod assembly which is 27" long O.A.L. and are designed to replace or add any rod length needed. Just measure and cut with a pair of heavy duty wire cutters, then file the end smooth.

The ZB experts tell me that there no standard lengths, therefore, the end user will be required to cut the rod to the required length, bend the 90°, and drill the hole for the hairpin clip if required. The rods are way over length which will provide for a number of test bends, if neccesary, prior to cutting and bending to the final length. The LH rod is also threaded 3/8" longer than is neccesary and may be trimmed to adjust for final length after bending. The drill diameter required for the hairpin clip is Ø.0469 (3/64"). It is small and may appear difficult to do but is achievable.

Rods are Ø1/8" with #6-40 RH and LH threads.

Find them on my website here:
http://www.psgparts.com/Pull-Rod-Cut-to ... -000-1.htm

They ended up costing a bit more than I intended but nothing about them is standard stuff.




Just wanted to stick this in here with all the ZB stuff.

[Russ Tkac]

Looks first class Michael!

[Henry Matthews]

Here's a few pics of my ZB. Gregg said mine is from Brumley era in late 70's. Mine doesn't have the horns. This is an awesome sounding guitar and records good also. I did however take all the old crossbar stuff and converted to the more modern bell crank type mechanism. It did not change the sound of guitar at all and it plays and stays in tune much better. It was a long trial and error process getting everything to work right but finally got it going. It now sorta looks like a Cline underside with the yokes for pulling two or more strings on E9th and C6th set up with springs like a push pull. Wouldn't work on E9th because of changer position but works fine on C neck. Don't have any finished pictures but will post some later.
I do have one problem with the pickups picking up pedal noise. It also did it with orginal ZB undcarraige even worse tha now. Pups are mounted directly to guitar body is why. Does anyone have a fix for this? Would some other type pups work for guitar but really don't want to change them--Henry

[Lane Gray]

Microphonic pickups can usually be corrected with a rewind. I'd give Jerry Wallace a call (he's in the phone book for Artesia N.M.), he might be willing to do it, although all those taps might boost the price beyond his basic rewind rate.