T-8 Bigsby 9 pedal steel guitar

Jay Jessup · Post by **Jay Jessup** » 15 Jul 2018 11:24 am

The front neck is non pedal. The middle neck is tuned to D9, think of it as strings 1-8 of standard E9 just a full step lower. Pedals 5,6 and 7 are the standard A,B and C pedals, pedal 8 is the second string full step lower and pedal 9 lowers string 9 a half step(your standard E lower move but doesn't lower the 4'th string).
The back neck is C6, E on the first string to F on sting 8. Pedal 1 raises both C strings a full step to D, pedal 2 raises both A stings a full step to B, pedal 3 lowers strings 4 and 5 a half step and string 8 a whole step. Pedals 3 and 4 together are like standard C6 pedal 5 and 6. Pedal 2 is like standard pedal 4 and 2 and 1 together are sorta like standard pedal 7.
I've owned this guitar since the mid 90's and it has spent way too much time in its case so I think it's time to see if someone else would like to have it. I got it from Mike Cass and I believe it went through Paul Warnick's hands at some point. I haven't found anyone who knows who Gene Rettig was. It has the unusual feature of having 3 peg head tuners in addition to the standard bridge changers. I guess Bigsby figured that was the best way to get all these changes on this guitar, but it is pretty unusual. As you most likely can imagine this guitar sounds great, the push switch is bypassed but everything else on it works perfectly.
I'd like to get $16,500 for it and if possible I'd sure like not to ship it as this guitar is a real beast at 70lbs in the case. I've successfully packed and shipped pedal steels in the past but this one is a little daunting. Pics coming.

Jay Jessup · Post by **Jay Jessup** » 15 Jul 2018 11:31 am

Jay Jessup · Post by **Jay Jessup** » 15 Jul 2018 11:38 am

I've got more pics than this but must not have downloaded them to my computer yet let me know what else you'd like to see.

Jay

Abe Levy · Post by **Abe Levy** » 16 Jul 2018 6:55 am

Wow. Lovely guitar! Looks immaculate. What is the date/serial number?

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 16 Jul 2018 7:05 am

Abe Levy · Post by **Abe Levy** » 16 Jul 2018 7:11 am

Likely candidate...

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 16 Jul 2018 7:17 am

He is mentioned in the archives; https://steelguitarforum.com/Archives/A ... 385-2.html

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... 4ce7b96ba9

Jay Jessup · Post by **Jay Jessup** » 16 Jul 2018 7:29 am

Abe Levy wrote:Wow. Lovely guitar! Looks immaculate. What is the date/serial number?

Abe, It's 5/15/62, thanks for doing that search. Jay

T. C. Furlong · Post by **T. C. Furlong** » 16 Jul 2018 11:06 am

I just talked to Paul Warnik. Yes, the Gene Rettig Bigsby did pass through his hands at one time and Paul said it is the flamiest Bigsby he'd ever seen...and it looks to be in pristine shape. The moving tuners on the keyhead allow for a double raise which would be impossible on an all changer model. Super cool Bigsby for sure!

Jay Jessup · Post by **Jay Jessup** » 27 Jul 2018 10:42 am

jsaine · Post by **jsaine** » 11 Aug 2018 9:54 am

Drooling.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 11 Aug 2018 4:27 pm

I rarely encounter my surname so this was a surprise (thanks, Jimbo).

Dredging my ever-worsening memory, though, I'm sure I recall Bobbe mentioning Gene's name to me and asking if there was a family connection. I don't believe there is.

We were distantly connected to another 'Rettig' - Tommy, who was the youngster in the 'Lassie' or 'Rin Tin Tin' series (I can't recall which). I was told he was a third cousin of mine.

I'll get this out there upfront - 'Rettig' is German for 'radish' or 'radish grower'; needless to say I had to suffer that epithet all through grammar school.

It's an unusual name back in Britain (ours was the only family of that name) although less uncommon in America, I have discovered.

Mark Helm · Post by **Mark Helm** » 11 Aug 2018 5:02 pm

...Only a few letters to change!!!

Jay Jessup · Post by **Jay Jessup** » 13 Aug 2018 6:53 am

jsaine wrote:Drooling.

Jeff,
I have a lot on my plate the next few weeks but give me a shout in late August, I'd be happy to get it set up so you can play a little bit on it!
Jay

Jay Jessup · Post by **Jay Jessup** » 2 Sep 2018 10:28 am

Jay Jessup · Post by **Jay Jessup** » 16 Jan 2019 12:22 pm

OK Since this seems to be Bigsby week in the for sale section I thought I'd post mine up again. I didn't receive any offers first time around so open to offers and at this point I'd even consider shipping it.
Jay

Daniel Stein · Post by **Daniel Stein** » 16 Jan 2019 7:31 pm

Man this is a beast... To bad i dont have 15k and im in Richmond

Paddy Long · Post by **Paddy Long** » 17 Jan 2019 3:03 pm

Roger --- you could adopt that as your new stage name mate ....Roger Radish - The "Hot" new steel player. :-}

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T-8 Bigsby 9 pedal steel guitar

T-8 Bigsby 9 pedal steel guitar

You should buy it, Roger!