You Got To Look At This

[Andy DePaule]

I Dunno, Maybe and just maybe he made those "Tone Raisers" but the rest looks nothing like his workmanship.

Got to say that as I see things, a person who makes things with his hands develops a style over the years that is kind of like a signature. Most all of this steel does not come up to the quality of most of his work or as I'd say, his signature.... Maybe I'll be proved wrong?

Wonder what the heck is going on with all those little hand bags attached inside it?
Would be interesting to see it fixed up and playable.

[Jack Hanson]

Wonder what the heck is going on with all those little hand bags attached inside it?

I was wondering the same thing, Andy. My first thought was that it wasn't really a musical instrument at all, but a device for smuggling (jewels, dope?) that was made to look like a musical instrument.

Definitely a project worthy of restoration.

[Andy DePaule]

A device for smuggling!
You may just have something there!

I still don't see the hand of the master in most of that but maybe I'm missing something.
It's 2:45am here and I just got up for the usual reasons, then thought I'd stay up a little and check e-mail....
Think it's time to go back to sleep. Maybe the real reason for the little stash bags will become clear in my dreams and I'll wake in the morning with the answer?

[John Ford]

In my hands it wont get any better. But it does need a new home. I think someone can make it play. Somone obviously gigged with it at some time. I removed all the contraband from the pouches.

[J R Rose]

Oh Wow John!! You have open a can of worms their,ha!
What a project this would be. Would hope somebody has some knowledge of this or others like it. Thanks very much for getting more pictures. I would call the cables choke cables from early day autos or at least 40's & 50's. I would guess that the floor pedals were hooked the same way as knee levers. This could of started life as a straight steel and someone began to experiment with the pedals and knee levers. But the P.A. Tone Raiser brings into question other things. They appear to be a very good casting and the raiser is machined. My guess would be it started life with the Tone Raiser and other things have been added. Has anyone found any kind of Patent for something like this. And the P.A. does not necessarily mean Paul A. Bigsby. Without some kind of back story John it is going to be hard to come up with anything. Sure hope someone on here does. One of a KIND?? I never have seen anything like it. Would like to know more. J.R.Rose

[Kenny Davis]

I checked on Patents, and came up dry. I tried about a dozen different descriptions, but no luck.

Now I know why John was acting a little strange yesterday...he emptied the contraband from the bags! I've got a pair of pre-ban Sea Turtle boots that would match that small purse!

[Kenny Davis]

I wonder if Ross Shafer or Harry and David Jackson could shed any light?

[Andy DePaule]

A Comparison of the "PA" lettering style of these two show similar, but different lettering style.
The peghead on the left is a Bigsby Fry Pan steel and thought to be his first steel guitar from about the mid 40's.



Another consideration is this;
These are like the tone changer plungers on Bigsby's very first pedal steel built for Speedy West.
The thinking behind this design is very different than the ones on the Oklahoma steel. The ones with the Bigsby Plungers don't have roller nuts and the other does.



To me these seem to indicate that someone else is responsible for the guitar in Oklahoma. Also the one in Oklahoma seems to have parts taken from several other places, like the pickups and knobs that look like they came from a Rickenbacher.

On the other side of the equation is that Paule Bigsby did play steel a little and may have tinkered around with things like that Tone Raiser before he ever built a steel? Maybe if he did cast those two parts, he picked a lettering style he liked and later refined his choice of lettering style. That would explain the similar style, but it's all just conjecture on my part.
My experience with Bigsby instruments is nothing more than liking them and having an interest, but no actual hands on experience.
Would be interesting to hear some of the experts chime in on this?

[Jack Hanson]

I checked on Patents, and came up dry. I tried about a dozen different descriptions, but no luck.

Would your search have revealed patents that were applied for, but not granted?

If that possibility exists, it may suggest that "P A" has nothing whatsoever to do with Paul Bigsby, but rather denotes that a patent (P) had been applied (A) for. Much like Gibson's famous "PAF" labeled pickup of the late '50s.

Although becoming somewhat of a lost art today, there were undoubtedly tens of thousands of people with the skills to produce castings and do the machining of parts such as those during the middle of the last century.

I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Dickerson, who suggests it was a product of multiple eras. Perhaps a one-off personal instrument of a very talented tinkerer with access to a foundry and a machine shop who moonlighted as a steel player. It seems entirely plausible that the instrument was assembled from parts cobbled together from various sources and added to and modified through the course of a lifetime.

Nonetheless, it's certainly an intriguing instrument and a mystery well worth solving. Somebody, somewhere will recognize that unique pedal steel guitar.

[J R Rose]

Jack, I searched for patents and patents applied for and the only patent I found for Paul Adelburt Bigsby was the famous Vibrato. He did design and make some very early day solid body electric guitars with the inline tuner head like Leo Fender did later but Paul must never thought about a patent for them. Les Paul also was around and did some things with Paul Bigsby. Fellow forum member on here Deke Dickerson has a world of knowledge about Bigsby. I ran across it today in my search. He has history like you cannot believe but I guess he has never seen one of these guitars. The P.A. on the changer butt may not have anything to do with Paul Bigsby? And I did not find a Patent for a Bigsby Pedal Steel Guitar. Not to say it is not their? I am beginning to think it started life as you see it and different parts that they could get their hands on to complete. A one of a kind Home Made Steel. J.R.

[Pete McAvity]

I had a nightmare last night that this thing was chasing me down the hall and trying to eat me.

It was awesome.

[Bill McCloskey]

I'm still trying to figure out what went into all those bags attached to the inside of the steel. This guy carried quite a stash of something that he needed on a gig.

[Garry Vanderlinde]

I'm still trying to figure out what went into all those bags attached to the inside of the steel. This guy carried quite a stash of something that he needed on a gig.

He needed those wallets to stash all the money he made playing that thing

[Bud Angelotti]

Wonder what the heck is going on with all those little hand bags attached inside it?

The bags look like they might be "bumpers".
One looks like it's on a "knee lever".

[Richard Sinkler]

I'm still trying to figure out what went into all those bags attached to the inside of the steel. This guy carried quite a stash of something that he needed on a gig.

He needed those wallets to stash all the money he made playing that thing

No need for a pac-a-seat.

[Chance Wilson]

OK, I got a few emails about this. It's definitely not a Bigsby but the pedals and a couple KLs look like Bigsby pedals. Better pics without their covering would help to confirm. The pickups and knobs are from a prewar student grade Rickenbacher like on the non plated metal body models. The two different fonts between this one and the PA frypan aren't much of an issue because of the easy availability of cast metal and wood type. Aside from the rollers it looks like everything else could be as early as 1952. I think of Bigsby roller nuts coming around '58. Anyone have a good pic of a reverse Bigsby nut? I think of large rollers coming in the early 60s like the cams on Buck Trent's lowers. There's no scissor on LKL so it was probably a lower-anyone see an LKL stop?

[Andy DePaule]

Somewhere I have more photos of the top and underside, but right now can not remember the file name. I do remember that this guitar was from the 60's I think.

[Chance Wilson]

There were a bunch of interesting diversions in the 60s. There was another Bigsby keyhead in the late 50s purpose built for tilty tuners too.

[Andy DePaule]

Yes I had that file somewhere in my computer. Was looking for that one but couldn't remember the file name.
Anyway, the point I was getting at is that these were so different than the older steel from Oklahoma. Also came much later at a time he was almost finished building steel guitars. That was the reason I didn't think that the older one was a Bigsby just because everything about it was quite different.
Maybe someone else will know for sure?