Mooney Setup

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 1 Jul 2004 12:49 pm

...anybody ever heard the"West Coast Country"album by George Hamilton IV?Some powerful Mooney on that record!

C Dixon · Post by **C Dixon** » 1 Jul 2004 1:32 pm

Moon was once asked how he set his tone controls. As usual Moon does not think or talk like any body on earth.

Cuz he responded, "No tone".

Upon looking at his amp, the bass, mid and treble were all at 0.

Only Ralph would say that. Or do that (probably). But then nobody can play like that. Truly one of the most unique and awesome steel guitar players of all time.

As the late and great Phil Baugh once said to the late and great Thumbs Carlisle (on the stage of the ISGC) after Thumbs had dazzled us with his wizardry,

"Thumbs, NOBODY can do that! NOT even YOU!!"

carl

Ray Uhl · Post by **Ray Uhl** » 9 Jul 2004 9:29 pm

I am a new member of the forum, but have been an avid reader for over a year. I couldn't think of a better time to post my first reply than to respond to the comments about Ralph Mooney. I met Ralph many years ago in St. Louis, when he was inducted into the hall of fame, and have "loved" seeing him ever since. A genuine nice person that's fun to visit with and be around.

We must always remember that pure genius is not the norm. I'm sure the greatest of players will agree, that Ralph's unique style is a stroke of genius.

I never tire of seeing Ralph perform. If he played clubs, I would probably be there every night.

Terry Sneed · Post by **Terry Sneed** » 10 Jul 2004 12:21 pm

After readin this thread and seeing everbody agreeing on what a great sound Mooney had
with the Fender steel, makes me wonder why did fender quit makin steel guitars, and why wouldn't they at least try to build a quality steel today? If they could build one with a sound close to the Fender steels of old, I bet they would sell like hotcakes.
Terry

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84 SKH Emmons Legrand D10
session 400'rd Steelin for my Lord.

[This message was edited by Terry Sneed on 10 July 2004 at 05:37 PM.]

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 10 Jul 2004 3:41 pm

Fender stopped making pedal steels because everyone wanted a different copedent on them. They didn't want to be in the business of making custom instruments - not enough profit when compared to mass producing Stratocasters.

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)

Tom Olson · Post by **Tom Olson** » 10 Jul 2004 4:28 pm

b0b -- I agree with your point about why Fender no longer makes PSG's.

However, in view of Terry's point, one does have to wonder why at least one current PSG builder is not offering Fender-style guitars. Perhaps weight is a major issue (from the large metal frames of the Fender PSG's)(?). Or maybe the casting would be too expensive for the demand.

Also, with as much interest in the "West Coast" steel sound and in the "Mooney" sound, in particular, it makes one wonder why there isn't at least one instruction course on that topic.

Dean Parks · Post by **Dean Parks** » 11 Jul 2004 1:32 pm

Russ-

How would you use hog rings to help with string breakage?

-dean-

Jim Florence · Post by **Jim Florence** » 11 Jul 2004 3:52 pm

The hog rings came in handy if you had an earlier Fender, They just had a hole in the changer that you put the string through. Fender picked up on this idea and started putting loops {looked like they might have been hog rings}on it to hold the string. As to the string breakage proplem I used to buy Tenor guitar "A" strings, I don't think they were selling "Guaged" strings at that time. You had to put a ball in the string, as it only had a loop. Then you installed the string with the ball turned down. I fought it for a long time, then finally tuned down
to D-9th. I still tune to D

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 12 Jul 2004 9:47 am

My memory may be faded from old age but around '68 or so I was playing at Walt's Club in Southgate, Calif. We had guest artists on Sunday afternoon and evening for a radio show. One Sunday we had Bobby Austin (Apt. #9) and he brought Ralph with him to play steel. At that time he was only pulling the 3rd string B to C# and not the 4th string G# to A. He was playing a Fender 1000 which I think was light blue or silver as I remember. I got to play guitar that day right next to him and watched his every move with awe. John, I mentioned this day on another post and told about his amp. It was a cabinet like the size of a Super Reverb but it had a 15" JBL speaker in the thing. It wasn't a piggy back though. The black faceplate said "Fender Showman" and it had a built in reverb unit just like the other combo amps. It had 4 6L6 power tubes so it must've been the same as a Showman unit. I'd heard that Fender was going to manufacture this amp for steel players but it never materialized as I've never seen another amp like that before or since. I did put a 15" JBL in a Super Reverb amp once but it just didn't have the power to make a good steel amp except at low volume. All in all, Ralph is a one of a kind talent and never sounded like anyone except himself. How many players can say that. His genius is in his simplicity. That one day I picked beside him I remember how I was floored by his flawless intonation and the ease with which he executed everthing. Have a good 'un...JH

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

John Daugherty · Post by **John Daugherty** » 12 Jul 2004 4:31 pm

Jerry, Back when I was hangin out with Moon, Leo Fender furnished all of Moons equipment. It would have been possible for Ralph to have a prototype that Fender wanted to field test.
I let Fender put a new pot in my volume pedal. Leo asked me to call every now and then to let them know how it was holding up. They also gave me a reverb unit when they first came out.
Like we have said many times, Ralphs equipment was secondary. I think he could have stretched a piece of baling wire, nailed it to a board and made it sound good.
I remember him telling me that he made his first pedal by attaching a kick starter pedal from a gasoline washing machine engine to his steel guitar leg.
For all you youngsters..... Once upon a time there WERE gasoline engine operated washing machines. (For people who did not yet have electricity)

Joerg Hennig · Post by **Joerg Hennig** » 13 Jul 2004 9:53 am

They didn't want to be in the business of making custom instruments - not enough profit when compared to mass producing Stratocasters.

It´s strange, they don´t seem to have any objections against custom instruments these days regarding standard guitars. Just look at the "Custom Shop" pages in their catalog, they even say they can build your guitar exactly the way you want it. At the prices they ask for those custom jobs, I often wonder if they really sell enough of those guitars to make it profitable. There must be other reasons still why Fender stays out of the steel guitar business. But this isn´t really about the topic - Ralph Mooney of course is one of my steel guitar heroes and biggest influences.

Regards, JH

Tom Olson · Post by **Tom Olson** » 13 Jul 2004 12:20 pm

Joe, valid point, but -- look at the prices of those custom shop guitars. Most of 'em cost at least as much as a top-of-the-line double-neck psg. This is compared to the price of a standard Fender guitar you can get for a few hundred bucks.

I'd venture that if you were to put down about 12 grand and asked them to build you a Fender psg, they'd probably be more than willing to oblige.

However, Fender knows that it wouldn't be worth their trouble to build psg's for what a small shop can build them for.

With that said, however, I seriously wonder if Fender Japan has ever thought of building a Fender psg. They currently build Fender non-pedal steels that look just like the originals. And, psg seems to be fairly popular over there. That would be cool . . . .

David Nugent · Post by **David Nugent** » 14 Jul 2004 3:21 am

There is an in depth interview with Ralph in "Steel Guitarist" magazine. It is in one of the back issues that b0b was selling on the Forum. In it he discusses his set up and how he achieved that signature tone. For instance, he stated that he sent the pickups from the Sho-Bud Super Pro he was using at that time to Fender to have them rewound to the same specs as his old 1000.