PA Reissues....avaliable again !

Lap steels, resonators, multi-neck consoles and acoustic steel guitars

Moderator: Brad Bechtel

Rob Munn
Posts: 199
Joined: 15 Oct 2012 11:34 pm
Location: British Columbia, Canada

Post by Rob Munn »

Mindbending! A whole lotta work must have gone into these babies and I'm sure it was a total labor of love! I want one, I want one, (repeat 100 times and pray to the sun!). I am just a beginner to lap steel, but I've been following about your almost 2 decades of devotion to your art on this thread and I bow to you; (especially considering my own wood-working skills) and wow, all those Bigsby components I've been reading about for so long! Take any trades? Hey, I'll do some saving and get back to you.
Hey Todd, do you know if Jerry Garcia played an old pedal Clinesmith on his solo #1 LP? His pedal steel on that gem always got me to dreaming. Like the song "The Wheel", although not technically fantastic, the steel sounds so good; the sound still haunts me.
Rob
User avatar
Mike Anderson
Posts: 731
Joined: 26 Apr 2011 6:08 pm
Location: British Columbia, Canada

Post by Mike Anderson »

Hmm, I don't think Todd has been making them THAT long! Pretty young guy I think.
Chris Lucker
Posts: 3139
Joined: 11 Aug 1999 12:01 am
Location: Los Angeles, California USA

Post by Chris Lucker »

Jerry Garcia had to have been smoking some pretty heavy duty stuff to have been playing a Clinesmith.
Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.
User avatar
chris ivey
Posts: 12703
Joined: 8 Nov 1998 1:01 am
Location: california (deceased)

Post by chris ivey »

this does bring up an interesting point, though. had jerry gotten the steel guitar focus that he had for guitar, think of the custom steels that would have been created.
User avatar
Brad Bechtel
Moderator
Posts: 8146
Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm

Post by Brad Bechtel »

Rob,

Questions about Jerry Garcia playing pedal steel have been answered many times before on the pedal steel section of the Steel Guitar Forum. If a search doesn't turn up the answers you seek and you want to create a new topic about that, feel free to do so over on the Pedal Steel section (or Steel Players). Please don't change the topic we're discussing.

Carry on.
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
Chris Lucker
Posts: 3139
Joined: 11 Aug 1999 12:01 am
Location: Los Angeles, California USA

Post by Chris Lucker »

For those thinking I was making d disparaging remark about Todd of his guitars, I was not. I have a Clinesmith and love it. I was referring to the fact that Jerry Garcia died before Todd was making his steels.
Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.
User avatar
Rick Barnhart
Posts: 3046
Joined: 23 May 2008 2:21 pm
Location: Arizona, USA

Post by Rick Barnhart »

Chris, I'd love to see a photo of your Clinesmith, if possible. :)
Clinesmith consoles D-8/6 5 pedal, D-8 3 pedal & A25 Frypan, Pettingill Teardrop, & P8 Deluxe.
Chris Lucker
Posts: 3139
Joined: 11 Aug 1999 12:01 am
Location: Los Angeles, California USA

Post by Chris Lucker »

It had been on the Forum. Do a search or go to the Clinesmith site. It is a travel guitar that was originally like half of Joaquin Murphey's d8 Bigsby lap steel. It no longer gas the Epiphone style horseshoe pickup as Bigsby first used but has a later style Bigsby pickup.
It is seven strings rather than eight.
Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.
Chris Lucker
Posts: 3139
Joined: 11 Aug 1999 12:01 am
Location: Los Angeles, California USA

Post by Chris Lucker »

I thought the Clinesmith was in storage, but I found it.

Here it is. By the way, under the CLinesmith are three different volume/tone pedals-- a Rocco, a Bigsby and a Wright. I will post these pedals in one of the Wright threads as I forgot where folks were discussing vol/tone pedals:

Image
Image
Image
Chris Lucker
Red Bellies, Bigsbys and a lot of other guitars.
User avatar
Rick Barnhart
Posts: 3046
Joined: 23 May 2008 2:21 pm
Location: Arizona, USA

Post by Rick Barnhart »

Great looking guitar, Chris L. A Clinesmith lap steel is definately on my wish list. Here's a photo of my D-8/6 console with 5 pedals. I play it through a 59 Fender Bassman with a Wet reverb. It's got the tone and character I've been looking for.

Image
Clinesmith consoles D-8/6 5 pedal, D-8 3 pedal & A25 Frypan, Pettingill Teardrop, & P8 Deluxe.
User avatar
Tom Pettingill
Posts: 2246
Joined: 23 Apr 2007 11:10 am
Location: California, USA (deceased)

Post by Tom Pettingill »

Tom Pettingill wrote:
Rick Barnhart wrote:... Here's a photo of my D-8/6 console ...
Thats a beauty Rick! I'm a sucker for nice birdseye. Top shelf maple like that is getting harder to source and the price when you do find the good stuff is brutal.
User avatar
Andy DePaule
Posts: 2576
Joined: 20 Jun 1999 12:01 am
Location: Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
Contact:

TTT, Was a great read, Need to be back up IMHO

Post by Andy DePaule »

Was a great read while awaiting the two I have ordered from Todd.
One, a Murphy style 22.5" lap steel will be ready soon and the console is still about year away, but what a nice guitar to be dreaming about.
Giving serious thought to changing that order from a D-8 to a T8.
I really need to spruce up my playing to deserve these fine instruments.

This was so good that after 4 years of being inactive it deserves a TTT.
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project.
User avatar
Alan Brookes
Posts: 13218
Joined: 29 Mar 2006 1:01 am
Location: Brummy living in Southern California

Post by Alan Brookes »

Thanks for bringing this back into topic. After all these years it makes great reading, especially as it includes some of the greats who are no longer with us. A lot seems to have changed in ten years.
User avatar
Andy DePaule
Posts: 2576
Joined: 20 Jun 1999 12:01 am
Location: Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
Contact:

For sure...

Post by Andy DePaule »

Hi Alan,
Glad you agreed it is a great thread.
I've just been told by Todd that he is now got the JM lap steel about finished and just waiting for the case to arrive.
Also decided this is kind of a once in a life deal so changed my order from a D-8 to a T-8...
Some tings are worth a long wait, and this will be that! :D
Andy
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project.
User avatar
Daniel Baston
Posts: 117
Joined: 27 Aug 2018 9:32 am
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Post by Daniel Baston »

I was listening to some Hank Thompson today and heard a track that I *think* is a good example of the sound of wood vs aluminum necks on a Bigsby. I guess these are technically pedal steels, but this thread in this section made sense to me. Just for fun.

The track is the well-known "The New Green Light", the 1954 version. According to Praguefrank's Hank Thompson session personnel breakdown, this recording features Bob White and Pee Wee Whitewing on steel guitars.
http://countrydiscoghraphy2.blogspot.co ... art-1.html

The reason that I think this is a good example is, the end of the steel solo in the middle of the song features a call back to the last phrase of the melody, as played in the intro. It is about as close as you can get to having the same conditions to make the comparison. Compare the intro with the end of the steel solo (cue it up to 1:19):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWJa1lpoSBg

To me, the tone between the intro and solo are is ever so slightly different. If I was to guess, I would say it is Pee Wee on the intro, with metal necks and Bob White on the solo with wood necks. I would also say that they both sound equally great! The difference is pretty subtle, but I am fairly certain that I can hear it. Am I crazy, does anyone else hear the same thing? Just in case anyone else is interested! If this helps anyone decide what to order from Todd, then all the better (and that would be even more on topic :D).
Post Reply