Need some help on very Old Steel Guitars

Bob Doran · Post by **Bob Doran** » 15 Jan 2003 9:41 am

My father-in-law played PSG in Iowa in the 50s and 60s.
He had no musical education but was totally gifted musically. Apparently he could pick up any instument and just begin playing it. My wife tells me bands all across central Iowa would just call him up and ask him to sit in at the last minute.
I would really like to find a PSG of a type likely to have been played by him at that time. Does anyone have an idea what he might have played?
Thanks a lot.
Bob

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 15 Jan 2003 10:15 am

More than likely a Multi-Kord, made by the Harlin Brothers in Indianapolis. Al Marcus is an authority on those instruments and could give you more detail, but they were essentially the first pedal steel. Other than that, Bigsby made the one recorded on the first cut that ever used pedal steel in the 'modern context' -- that is the A+B pedal sound Bud Isaacs created on 'Slowly' by Webb Pierce.

At that point, folks were rigging accelerator pedals and rod linkage to pull down through a hole cut through the guitar to raise a string - not the best mechanism.

When Paul Bigsby came along, and, later, Shot Jackson, there were more and more pedal steels available.

If it was the 50's it was probably a Multi-Kord or a Gibson Electraharp. If it was the 60's it could have been Bigsby, Sho-Bud, a Rube Goldberg special, or any number of smaller mfgrs that were popping up.

Have any pictures?

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro

Glenn Austin · Post by **Glenn Austin** » 15 Jan 2003 10:17 am

Larry, Who is Rube Goldberg. I hear his name alot on here.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 15 Jan 2003 10:59 am

Find him a Fender 1000, double neck 8-string.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 15 Jan 2003 11:22 am

I'm with Herb on this one. Having been there in the 50's and 60's I never saw anyone playing a Multi-Kord at all, maybe a Gibson Electrharp but the vast majority until ShoBud came out would be the Fender 1000's as HS stated. They were the state of the art in those days. Ralph Mooney made history using that guitar as well as Tom Brumley. When I got out of the Army in '63 most of the steel players in the LA area were playing Fenders. If you can get one of those it could be set up to about any tuning your father-in-law wanted to use.....JH

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

C Dixon · Post by **C Dixon** » 15 Jan 2003 11:28 am

Gotta go along with Herb on this one. I purchased my first PSG in 1956. It was a Fender 400 with 6 pedals. Dang I wish I knew if that guitar had any "cabinet drop". But back in "them" days, I did not know a cabinet drop from an eskimo igloo. Some say I still don't!

Was Rube, Molly Goldberg's husband during the glory days of B & W TV?

Come to think about it, did Molly ever even have a husband? Beats the heck out of me.

If she did, I KNOW that poor soul NEVER invented nuthun, cuz Molly woulda hit him over the head if'n he even hinted at it.

And who says women had NO rights back in them days. HUH? If they didn't, Molly never knew it. Nor did the wife of King Herod. And countless others

carl[This message was edited by C Dixon on 15 January 2003 at 11:29 AM.]

Bob Doran · Post by **Bob Doran** » 15 Jan 2003 12:26 pm

Thanks gentlemen.
Than really helps.
You mentioned "selection of tuning"
My wife tells me that when he got his first guitar, he had nothing to tune it to.
So he just picked a frequency.
Then later, he found out about keys and tuning, and had to re-learn the guitar all over again.
I would give anything to have been able to have met him.
I know the stories about his ability are true because he has a sister whom i have met.
She is a true savant, just like the rainman.
She was badly brain-damaged as a fetus due to gross neglect (had toxemia and seizures and was allowed to remain pregnant for 4 months!)
Yet she can play anything she hears, and can tell you the name of everyone in phone book and cemetary and their number and address. Yet cannot really carry on a conversation with her!
Bob
( my son got his granfathers rhythmn and emotion and my daughter his perfect pitch. I would kill for either- all i have is a memory like an elephant, LOL!)
Oh, and one other thing- a gift for surrounding myself with great musicians- that makes up for a lot!

Post by **Joey Ace** » 15 Jan 2003 2:10 pm

Rube Goldberg Bio.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 15 Jan 2003 11:08 pm

I used to enjoy Rube Goldberg's cartoons in the Sunday paper every week when I was a kid, like the Simplified Pencil Sharpener shown below. The term "Rube Goldberg" nowadays refers to any crazy, overcomplicated contraption.

A current post about Al Petty has a link to a web article about Al and his problems. The author refers to Al's Guitorchestra as "a Rube Goldbergian contraption with a keyboard, 44 strings, 25 pedals, a slew of levers"

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