Neil Flanz' steel on ebay?

Jesse Harris · Post by **Jesse Harris** » 29 Apr 2003 5:28 pm

can anyone shed any light on this
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2527244460&category=621

from the ad:

I bought this pedal steel from a gentleman in Waycross, GA. The case has "Gram Parsons and The Fallen Angels" stenciled on it. I've been trying to get in touch with someone who might know if this guitar was on the road with Gram Parsons. Anyway, I don't know the answer to that riddle but Waycross was Gram's hometown, so maybe. The guitar is one of the early ZB Custom guitars.

JB Arnold · Post by **JB Arnold** » 29 Apr 2003 6:26 pm

Well, I forwarded the link to Neil. We'll find out soon enough.

JB

------------------
Fulawka D-10 9&5
Fessenden D-10 8&8
Mullen Royal Precision D-10 8 & 5
"All in all, looking back, I'd have to say the best advice anyone ever gave me was 'Hands Up, Don't Move!"
www.johnbarnold.com/pedalsteel
www.buddycage.net

http://www.nrpsmusic.com/index.html

JB Arnold · Post by **JB Arnold** » 29 Apr 2003 8:17 pm

And this is what I got back...
The steel guitar case (or cases) which have Gram Parsons & the Fallen Angels name stencilled on them have been circulating on eBay for a long time now. For the record I never ever played a ZB or even had a chance to sit down at one of them. I played an all wood bird's eye maple Sho-Bud Pro ll on the 1973 Gram Parsons tour and never had anything stencilled on my case. This is just an advertising ploy to increase the value of the guitar. To the best of my knowledge Gram never used the Fallen Angels name after the tour was over.

I just emailed the person that bought the guitar and told him that he probably bought a fine guitar but explained to him what I just mentioned to you.
Neil Flanz

I suspected as much.

JB

------------------
Fulawka D-10 9&5
Fessenden D-10 8&8
Mullen Royal Precision D-10 8 & 5
"All in all, looking back, I'd have to say the best advice anyone ever gave me was 'Hands Up, Don't Move!"
www.johnbarnold.com/pedalsteel
www.buddycage.net

http://www.nrpsmusic.com/index.html

[This message was edited by JB Arnold on 29 April 2003 at 09:18 PM.]

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 30 Apr 2003 3:01 am

Don't you just love the 'aw shucks' approach of the little write-up at the auction.

Sure does sound like this fella is so durn genuine, and if he could simply verify it for you, you might have one great piece of history.. in fact you should buy it because you know that this simple honest fellow who sure wish he could verify it, just isn't up to the job.. but gosh durn it.. once you've bought it you know you'll find out so easy, and you will have a real treasure.

A pity he just didn't google search Neil Flanz steel player with Gram Parsons.

A lot of stuff gets sold like that on E-bay.

nick allen · Post by **nick allen** » 30 Apr 2003 5:04 am

To be fair, if you check out the e-bay entry now (scroll down), the seller has added the content of the email he got from Neil Flanz. I get the impression his intentions are to be completely honest...
Nick

Walter Jones · Post by **Walter Jones** » 30 Apr 2003 7:38 am

This topic reminds me of a ZB D11&10 that I bought from and individual. It had made the rounds on ebay with a roadcase that had been lettered " JACKSON 5" and had the NBC logo on it like the peacock feathers. When it was on ebay it was supposed to be a steel guitar played by one of the Jackson 5.

Now let me make it clear, the individual I bought the guitar from never implied that was the real deal, in fact we had a good chuckle about it.

The case in question looked more like a keyboard case ,it was an anvil case, ragged out interior but still solid as a rock. I rebuilt the case, made the stands in the bottom to hold the guitar, a divider for the pedal bar and rods. I lined it with a foam material that fit the guitar, my wife covered all with a green felt like material.

I tried everything from paint thinner to carb. cleaner and nothing would bring off the lettering so I just painted over it with a flat black paint. While I had it a lot of guys said "sell it, it will bring some big bucks, its a piece of Rock & Roll history.' I offered it to anyone that wanted it for $300, the cost of replacing it with a custom built case, guess what , no takers. I guess R & R history wasn't so important then.

The final episode is that we gave it to our son Greg as a Christmas present. One of the Kluson tuning keys was broken and I took it off and put it in a ring box and wrapped it up. You should have seen his face, trying to figure out the present. Then his mother gave him a treasure hunt type letter that he had to solve and search through the house to find it. We had it hidden under the basement stairs. I did the whole project in the basement because as you know ZB's are heavy.

Greg took the guitar back to Kentucky and restored it, D11&10, 8F&8K beautiful wood in the guitar and it plays and sounds great. It sure was fun and as Paul Harvey would say, "Now you know the rest of the story"[This message was edited by Walter Jones on 30 April 2003 at 08:40 AM.]

Chick Donner · Post by **Chick Donner** » 30 Apr 2003 9:58 am

Neil, Neil . . . you sat down at my ZB at least once on Broadway . . . I remember you thought the pedal action was horrible. I'm sure you played it at the Deeman's Den and I thought you also pounded on it at least once at the Gold Front (or Wheel, depending on year).

Best to you, buddy, CD