1955: Bud Isaacs, Bigsby & Red Foley

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 3 Nov 2005 7:43 am

I have a letter dated April 15th, l955 from Red Foley when he had his "Ozark Jubilee" program on TV.

It is in answer to a letter I wrote him concerning Bud Isaacs Bigsby guitar and the tuning he was using.

He wrote me a very nice letter and with Ricky Davis' help, I hope to get it posted so you all can take a look at it.
Erv

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 3 Nov 2005 9:05 am

Cool man.

Ricky

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 3 Nov 2005 9:28 am

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[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 13 November 2005 at 11:43 AM.]

Bobbe Seymour · Post by **Bobbe Seymour** » 3 Nov 2005 9:36 am

This is the stuff that makes steel guitar so wonderful, Thank you Erv and Ricky Davis.
Bobbe

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 3 Nov 2005 11:24 am

It just to show that you should NEVER throw anything away!
Thanks, Ricky!

Erv

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 3 Nov 2005 1:55 pm

Those were the days, huh? What a cool memento! Thanks for sharing that, Erv!

Rex Thomas · Post by **Rex Thomas** » 3 Nov 2005 2:13 pm

WOW!!

Brett Habben · Post by **Brett Habben** » 3 Nov 2005 6:51 pm

Erv,
That's amazing. One other thought after noticing the date. Amazing what Cabin Fever will motivate a man to do to maintain his sanity. Late Winter's the worst. I know it drove my dad to playing accordian.
Adios,
Brett
Formerly of
Route 1
Renville Minnesota

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 4 Nov 2005 7:25 am

Brett,
Did you ever know the Ammermanns from Renville? My two daughters both married Ammermanns.

Erv

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 4 Nov 2005 7:27 am

What a great concept. E9 and A6 tunings on the same neck. Revolutionary!

I still don't understand why everyone abandoned those two low strings, though.

------------------
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David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 4 Nov 2005 8:54 am

b0b, they just moved those low notes to higher octaves. As I understand it, Buddy Emmons split Buds pedals into the A pedal (raising both Bs to C#) and the B pedal (raising both G#s to A). I'm not sure where he had the D raise to E. Jimmy Day then lost one of the bottom notes (the E?) and added the middle E above the D string. Then I believe Ralph Mooney lost the other low string and added a high G# on top. Finally Buddy added the two "chromatic" strings on top (after originally having them on the bottom). I guess the Nashville sound in those days just needed the higher notes more than the low ones (still does, thus the continued popularity of 10-string E9). Today, for other kinds of music, it makes complete sense to add those low strings back on an Extended E9 or Universal.

E9 evolution, as I understand it from previous threads (any clarifications of this are welcome):

Bud Isaacs' original:
<pre> P1 P2
1 E
2 B C#
3 G# A
4 F#
5 D E
6 B C#
7 G# A
8 E
</pre>

Buddy Emmons split the pedals:
<pre> A B
1 E
2 B C#
3 G# A
4 F#
5 D E?
6 B C#
7 G# A
8 E
</pre>

Jimmy Day added the E in the middle:
<pre> B A
1 E
2 B C#
3 G# A
4 F#
5 E
6 D
7 B C#
8 G# A
</pre>

Ralph Mooney added the G# on top:
<pre> A B
1 G# A
2 E
3 B C#
4 G# A
5 F#
6 E
7 D
8 B C#
</pre>

BE added the "chromatic" strings:
<pre> A B
1 F#
2 D#
3 G# A
4 E
5 B C#
6 G# A
7 F#
8 E
9 D
10 B C#
</pre>

? added the C pedal, D and E levers:
<pre> E A B C D
1 F#
2 D# D,C#
3 G# A
4 E Eb F#
5 B C# C#
6 G# A
7 F#
8 E Eb
9 D C#
10 B C#
</pre>

Lloyd Green added the F lever:
<pre> F E A B C D
1 F#
2 D# D,C#
3 G# A
4 E F Eb F#
5 B C# C#
6 G# A
7 F#
8 E F Eb
9 D C#
10 B C#
</pre> [This message was edited by David Doggett on 04 November 2005 at 09:10 AM.]

Brett Habben · Post by **Brett Habben** » 4 Nov 2005 6:04 pm

Erv,
Small world. Yes, the Ammermanns are scattered around all the way up to Clara City. I would bet my dad knows your son-in-laws, or for sure knows their parents. I swear he knows everybody in Renville county. But I've been down here over 20 years and have kinda lost touch.
Adios, 'er, Farvel,
Brett

Danny Spinks · Post by **Danny Spinks** » 4 Nov 2005 8:09 pm

I still have my reply from Red Foley dated June 13, 1955. My letter to the "Ozark Jubilee" also asked questions about Bud Isaacs, but Bud had left the show and relocated to Phoenix.

Two other letters I have saved all these years is a reply from Buddie Emmons in March 1956, (it was still ie at that time), and a letter from Shot Jackson in August 1957, with a P.S. by Buddie Emmons. [This message was edited by Danny Spinks on 04 November 2005 at 08:17 PM.]

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 5 Nov 2005 11:41 am

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[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 05 November 2005 at 01:23 PM.]

T. C. Furlong · Post by **T. C. Furlong** » 5 Nov 2005 12:51 pm

April 15, 1955 is the day I was born.

Jussi Huhtakangas · Post by **Jussi Huhtakangas** » 7 Nov 2005 12:03 am

I have a split pedal version of the Isaacs tuning on one of my guitars and it's a very cool and versatile tuning, best of both worlds; basic A & B pedal changes and big fat jazz chords right there under your nose. It's also a very good tuning for Travis style thumb picking and the string breakage is minimal.