Steve Gambrell

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 23 Mar 2017 8:50 am

https://www.parkerwhitepruitt.com/obitu ... c-gambrell

Rick Barnhart · Post by **Rick Barnhart** » 23 Mar 2017 9:23 am

Thanks for posting this, Mike. Very sorry to hear of his passing. Stephen was certainly a cantankerous character. We had several good conversations. I'll just say he was kinda opinionated and knew how to push boundaries. I always hoped he'd make amends and come back around one day, but I guess it was not to be.

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 23 Mar 2017 11:48 am

Really sorry to see this.. steve and I had a many problems getting along , but seemed to reconcile them over the years, and even did some business with one another.

he was a longtime contributor here, and got to know a lot of us. I know he had some health issues last few years .. Rest In Peace my brother in Christ...... bob

Scott Shipley · Post by **Scott Shipley** » 23 Mar 2017 6:05 pm

Sure hate to hear this. We butted heads fairly often, but never stopped being friends.
Met right here on the forum years ago.
Rest in peace my brother.

Hook Moore · Post by **Hook Moore** » 24 Mar 2017 1:29 am

So sorry, my condolences..

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 24 Mar 2017 4:34 am

Sorry to hear this!Condolences to Steve's friends and family

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 24 Mar 2017 9:05 am

RIP Steve

Post by **Joey Ace** » 24 Mar 2017 9:53 am

RIP Steve.
We exchanged many emails, had our issues, but he always treated me with friendly respect.
Steve was quite knowledgeable and I enjoyed our discussions.

Charley Hill · Post by **Charley Hill** » 24 Mar 2017 11:58 am

Mike,

Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed our recent commentary about Steve.

Steve was a gentle giant. He was a sick man who loved everyone and most of all, a US Army Veteran.

Although he entangled himself into some egregious dialogues on the forum, he was very knowledgeable of music and loved people. Being disabled, I feel as though his sickness propelled his agitation which was manifested on the forum.

Steve truly cared about people. Russ Hicks was his HERO and he loved Mike Bagwell as a brother. He loved Steel Guitar and was more than an average Resophonic Player.

Steve will truly be missed as others who have gone on before him!

RIP STEVE!

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 24 Mar 2017 12:14 pm

Steve had issues that I recognized, but never experienced first-hand. We were friendly and congenial with each other, undoubtedly because he was a Masonic brother to me and to many here in Forumland, whether or not they were aware.

RIP, Brother Gambrell.

Chuck S. Lettes · Post by **Chuck S. Lettes** » 24 Mar 2017 3:23 pm

Sorry to see Steve go. We were friends, and I will miss him. My condolences to his family.

Edward Rhea · Post by **Edward Rhea** » 24 Mar 2017 7:22 pm

Rest In Peace Brother Steve

Jim Hartley · Post by **Jim Hartley** » 24 Mar 2017 8:10 pm

Very sorry to hear of Steve's passing. Like a lot of us, I butted heads with Steve a few times, in fact I looked forward to our friendly confrontations, but I always knew his heart was in the right place.

RIP Steve.

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 24 Mar 2017 9:41 pm

When I played at the Southern Steel Guitar Convention, Steve always talked with me, and I think he even played guitar on my sets. He was a great friend and a great musician-steel player and guitarist. RIP Steve. Miss you, buddy

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 26 Mar 2017 3:34 am

Steve and I would have long phone conversations about "stuff". We would solve the worlds problems. I think the last time we spoke was probably Nov or early Dec. Typically I would get a call from him or a VM in the early evenings every now and then and we would catch up on life.

I met Steve at a Saluda SC Steel show probably around 2005 . We had been internet and phone friends ever since. He used to tell me that I was his first SGF friend.

For those who didn't know, Steve was a very talented musician, guitar , dobro etc... He was also a very giving man, known to just give an instrument to someone who had less than he did, which was also very little.

He had a very big sharing heart.

I am very sorry to hear of Steve's passing but I also know that he was dealing with some very serious on-going health issues.

Regarding Steve's apparent cantankerous nature, lets be reminded that Steve was living on daily doses of meds which can easily cause our personalities to become erratic. We each have a cantankerous nature of some form. But he loved this forum and loved the members . To some degree, this forum was one way he was able to stay in touch with the world outside of his home.

Rather than discuss his opinions on the forum with me, he would call me. Sure , he had opinions, as do I, but we mostly laughed during our conversations . He really was quite an enjoyable person to speak with. We only met in real life a handful of times.

RIP Steve, gonna miss you.

Bob Strum · Post by **Bob Strum** » 26 Mar 2017 12:55 pm

We enjoyed doing the Saluda Show many times. The band and players would meet at the Waffle House after the show and hear wild tales of the performers. Some of us would go to a small town in Johnston, SC to a B&B and spend the early hours yaking. Steve had a bunch of stories and I enjoyed Steve. Rest now my friend.
Bob

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 26 Mar 2017 6:31 pm

I will miss his contentious posts here on the Forum. I'm sorry that I never got to meet him.

Ken Fox · Post by **Ken Fox** » 29 Mar 2017 4:47 am

Surely will miss our long telephone conversations! A great friend who would give you the shirt off his back! Steve really had a great heart and loved helping others!!

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 21 Jun 2017 3:30 pm

He wasn't as old as I thought he was.
What did he die of?

Godfrey Arthur · Post by **Godfrey Arthur** » 23 Jun 2017 12:27 am

Godspeed Steve. I missed the online forum banter but from the tributes above and below, you were an iconoclast.

You're in a better place now.

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 27 Jun 2017 4:08 pm

Oh no.

I'd missed this. I'm stunned. We'd lost touch with changes in our lives the last several years - used to talk on the phone almost every day!

He was one of my main supporters when I switched to B6-tuned Fenders after struggling with E9 pedal steel - and when he had financial problems I gave him my spare. We were like totally different, opposite coast, California rocker and Southern redneck brothers.

I'm really going to miss trying (often in vain!) to decode his Southern accent over the phone.

RIP buddy!

Bob Poole · Post by **Bob Poole** » 6 Jul 2017 10:21 am

Very sorry to learn of his passing.Talked to him pretty often as we had a lot of things in common besides just guitar.

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 29 Mar 2022 12:50 pm

I'm bumping Steve's remembrance because someone off forum was asking if I'd known him - and damn, do I miss his twisted sense of humor; kindness when I was feeling a bit beaten down in the early days...;when non-traditional steel was a bit controversial; and his BARELY understandable southern drawl (at least to a California Surfer - dudes).

And I have been asked about setting up 9+2 B6 Fender 400's = "Sneakycasters" in honor of Sneaky Pete.

The FIRST one I built - on a short-scale 400 frame - I gave to Steve when he had sold his steel due to medical bills, and had said the 400 really intrigued him. I *think* that was the only one he had when he passed away -

Does anyone reading this have a clue where it is/who owns it? Unless it's being played or kept as a remembrance I'd love to buy it back, or do some kind of trade. A couple of my kids knew Steve through phone calls and thought he was from outer space (knowing Steve he may have told them that!

) - one of 'em would get it when I join the jam session in the sky.

PM me if you have a clue. And remember Steve today if you knew him..and my late son, who was the youngest and got the most laughs out of him!

RIP Steve Gambrell and David Sliff....

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 31 Mar 2022 1:22 am

Jim ,thanks for giving Steve new life. I was just thinking of him the other day. I read the entire discussion again and I am reminded of many others that I was able to cross paths with due to this forum, you being one of them .

Steve along Mike Perlowin , for ex. Steve and I had many conversations about life and I also had many conversations with Mike P. I am glad to say they were both my friends. I am glad to have them both remembered along with others we have lost, such as John Fabian. John and I also spoke very often. So many of our friends lost over the years, its so easy to forget them.

The SGF is more than just Steel Guitars, that was just the starting point, its so much more than that. Its a treasure trove of friendships. Friends that we have only conversed with here, but when we meet them in person we have already known them for years.

Thx Bob ! YOU did this !

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 27 Apr 2022 12:39 pm

A "character" he was, if you ever met him, you never forgot him, a friend indeed to me, me to him.

Bill