Building a Steel? Help

[Donny Hinson]

Okay, let's see if I've got this straight:

Your neighbor is gonna spend dozens of hours where he works (and probably risk getting fired) making parts for something you want, but apparently know very little about.

Is that about it?



I know that sounds a little harsh, but the reason steels cost thousands of dollars is that there's a lot of work that goes into building one. It might be better if you bought parts and tried to build one, or you could disassemble and rebuild a "clunker".

[Tony Williamson]

save your money, buy a Williams guitar.

[Ned McIntosh]

Well-intentioned though all this advice is I think we may have missed the point here.

Jeff appears to want to design and build a single pedal-steel guitar, not enter into mass-production or build to sell to others. He just wants to design and build a pedal-steel. To see if he can. To see how it has to be done. To see how many parts he has to design and make and assemble. As a learning exercise. To see if he can actually do it, and perhaps to end up with a decent, playable instrument at the end of the process...or maybe not.

I don't think he is concerned about how much it will cost compared to buying an existing steel because that isn't the point. I don't think he is worried about the time taken to design and build because he isn't constrained by either. He just wants to try.

I do think joining the steel-guitar builders forum is one heck of a good idea. I lurk that forum from time to time. I don't build 'em, I just play 'em, but all the same I can learn from the guys who do design and build - and I can admire their dedication and skill as well.

Jeff has access to machine-tools which the old builders would have given their eye-teeth for. He also has enthusiasm, or he did until he asked for our opinions. As I remarked, although well-intentioned, perhaps we haven't been as encouraging as we might have been.

I'm not criticising anyone in particular because I can see the plain old-fashioned good sense in all the replies. Indeed, my reply might be the least helpful or useful of all so far.

All I can say to Jeff is to join the steel-guitar builder's forum, and go for it! You will never know if you can do it unless you try. After all, we all sat down for the first time behind a pedal-steel with that very same thought in our minds. Then we began...

[Jos Roderkerken]

When you're done it could end up like this.

this is like the zombie apocalypse in psg land

[David Stilley]

It's more like the end of the first terminator movie after the stripped down skeleton of the terminator crawls through the industrial press. You're right Ned, we could and should have been a little more supportive of this man's ambition and dream. After all he could end up with something like this, very impressive:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... uilt+steel

This thing even has polycarbonate fret markers that have LED's under them to light up the thing in the dark. Must look if you haven't seen this.
Best of luck on your endeavor Jeff!

[Joseph Barcus]

been there done that? buy one already build

[Jeff Scott Brown]

I see a number of posts in this thread that appear to be poo-poo-ing the idea of building a PSG because it will end up costing more money and will be a lot of work. I don't think that he ever expressed that his goal is to save money or that he thought it would be easy. Maybe the guy just wants to have a guitar he built himself. If that is the case, I say go for it if you think you can make it happen. It could be a cool thing.

[Herb Steiner]

I once broke a guide off one of my fishing rods and the guy that usually repaired my stuff was on vacation, but he said "go ahead and fix it yourself, it's easy."

It WAS easy, and that ultimately led to me wanting to assemble my own high quality fishing rods. This involved purchasing rod blanks, high quality guides, reel seats, cork grips, other components, making my own jigs for wrapping threads, finishing materials, et al. I wound up making a couple dozen rods, some of which I still fish with, some I gave to friends, and some I sold at tackle swap meets for good bucks.

I spent a ton of money doing so; probably more than what I would have spent on factory made high-end rods even though I sold some of those I made. But I did get the experience and good feeling in knowing I acquired a skill related to one of my passions. And there's something about catching a trophy fish on a rod you made yourself that's priceless.

So if that feeling's what the OP is seeking, I would say to him "go for it."

[James Morehead]

Jeff, give me a shout, I have a few tips that may be useful to ya in your endeavor.

[Rick Barnhart]

I see a number of posts in this thread that appear to be poo-poo-ing the idea of building a PSG because it will end up costing more money and will be a lot of work. I don't think that he ever expressed that his goal is to save money or that he thought it would be easy. Maybe the guy just wants to have a guitar he built himself. If that is the case, I say go for it if you think you can make it happen. It could be a cool thing.

Jeff, I've been thinkin' that same thing. I'll never attempt it, because a man's got to know his limitations, and I do. But, I'm certainly glad there've been builders willing to take the leap. I've got quite a collection of hand built customs. Go for it and make sure you post what turns out.