What was your first pedal steel?

Pat Burns · Post by **Pat Burns** » 1 Sep 2005 10:10 am

..first one was a black Fuzzy D-10 with 8 & 4...

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 2 Sep 2005 3:52 am

Green Marlen S-10 3X4.

Jim Bates · Post by **Jim Bates** » 2 Sep 2005 5:26 pm

A Sho-Bud D-10 X-over model made in late 1968. Great guitar for the time, providing you knew how to set it up and tune it.

Thanx,
Jim

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 2 Sep 2005 7:48 pm

My very first PEDAL steel guitar was a 1942 Gibson Electra-Harp with 6 pedals and 8 strings similiar to Alvino Rey's , only his was 9 strings and had a few special things.

Mine had the full birdseye cabinet all the way to the floor and was NOT portable and very heavy, they only made about 12 of them before World War II. I bought it used in 1947. I really enjoyed it for many years.

It was very easy to change tuning setups , right on top of the guitar and had almost no limitations on raises or lowers. So I could try many different tunings on the pedals whenever I wanted.
The changer was very similar to the multi-kord changer that came along later. I owned and played it for about 20 years. I sold it, sorry too. then I build a 14 string with a multi-kord 8 string changer in the middle with 6 pedals. (A picture of it is on my website). then I went to D12's MSA's.
Wow! What a trip!......al

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My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus/

Chris Bauer · Post by **Chris Bauer** » 3 Sep 2005 5:40 am

I, too, started out on a blond 3x1 Maverick. For all the grief they get around here, I gotta say that I loved that guitar! It played great, looked cooler than anything I could have imagined at the time, and had a ton of music in it.

Now and then I stumble onto some tapes from back then and I even think it was a terrific sounding guitar, even compared to some pro models I've owned since. (And as a bonus, of course - unlike now - I actually had a solid excuse for playing like a beginner back then...)

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 3 Sep 2005 6:11 am

Red Baron (laughter dies down).
Your Mavericks were at least made of wood.
No so the Baron. I sold it the next day,
determined that I would never play pedal steel. I have since learned better with my Carter Starter.
I don't think a Red Baron would even start a fire.

Buck Dilly · Post by **Buck Dilly** » 4 Sep 2005 4:41 am

S-8 Push Pull, with a D'Armond pickup. Very nice sound.

Larry Weaver · Post by **Larry Weaver** » 4 Sep 2005 6:09 am

Having a chuckle about the Red Baron Charlie. That was my first steel too. Funny thing is, I still have the darned thing! I took it out of storage a some months ago to relearn PSG after a 20+ year layoff. 'Bought a D10 Derby a month later! Back to the storage bin for the Red Baron.

regards,
Larry W

Ricky Littleton · Post by **Ricky Littleton** » 4 Sep 2005 6:22 pm

1st real one was a Birdseye Maverick with the raised neck I bought in Huntsville Alabama.

Now the "first-first" one was a 8 string monster I bought from Dee-s Music in Dothan Alabama in 1978. Home-made with threaded pipe for the legs and 2 pedals. The owner said Julian Tharpe built it, but there's no way to verify that. Paid $100 for it and a Montgomery Ward Airline Tube amp.

Wish I had kept it, but ran on tough times and sold the guitar to my uncle for 50 bucks. Can't remember what happened to the amp, but sure wish I had kept them both. The guitar was pretty much unplayable but would've been a helluva a conversation piece.

Ricky...

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Emmons LeGrande - 8x4
Session 400 Ltd, Nashville 112,Hilton Volume pedal, Peterson VS-II Tuner
Dan-Echo, E-Bow, Ibanez Distortion, Bo-Bro, Ibanez Auto-Wah, PX4 Pandoras Box

Ricky Littleton · Post by **Ricky Littleton** » 4 Sep 2005 6:25 pm

1st real one was a Birdseye Maverick with the raised neck I bought in Huntsville Alabama.

Now the "first-first" one was a 8 string monster I bought from Dee-s Music in Dothan Alabama in 1978. Home-made with threaded pipe for the legs and 2 pedals. The owner said Julian Tharpe built it, but there's no way to verify that. Paid $100 for it and a Montgomery Ward Airline Tube amp.

Wish I had kept it, but ran on tough times and sold the guitar to my uncle for 50 bucks. Can't remember what happened to the amp, but sure wish I had kept them both. The guitar was pretty much unplayable but would've been a helluva a conversation piece.

Ricky...

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Emmons LeGrande - 8x4
Session 400 Ltd, Nashville 112,Hilton Volume pedal, Peterson VS-II Tuner
Dan-Echo, E-Bow, Ibanez Distortion, Bo-Bro, Ibanez Auto-Wah, PX4 Pandoras Box

Tim Lane · Post by **Tim Lane** » 4 Sep 2005 7:42 pm

MSA Sidekick - which was would go out of tune everytime it even thought about touching a pedal. THen a Sierra Artist(great guitar. Now I just got a Rains sd10.

Ken Williams · Post by **Ken Williams** » 4 Sep 2005 10:59 pm

My first pedal steel was a Hughey D10. I don't think John made many of them. It was a nice looking guitar. I wish I still had it.

Ken

Bud Harger · Post by **Bud Harger** » 6 Sep 2005 4:05 am

This is mine. A T-8, built by Harold Romero in New Iberia, Louisiana in 1955. Only one floor pedal, raised two strings, E to A6.

I have posted this before, but some of you may not have seen it. It still plays great.

[This message was edited by Bud Harger on 06 September 2005 at 05:06 AM.][This message was edited by Bud Harger on 06 September 2005 at 05:14 AM.]

Barbara Hennerman · Post by **Barbara Hennerman** » 6 Sep 2005 6:20 pm

I came back to Denver in 1960 and got a Fender 1000 from Happy Logan, the musician's friend. I didn't have a clue so Happy put me in touch with Bobby Chatfield. He gave me a few lessons and I was off. Boy, was I off. I was always changing my #11 strings. Seemed like about 10 a night. It was pretty though.

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 6 Sep 2005 9:15 pm

My first real pedal steel was an early Sierra. I'm sure it was very advanced for it's time, but it's time had long passed by the time I got it in 1975. It weighed about 900 pounds, and came in two cases, one for the guitar and one for the legs and rods. Ten pedals and one knee lever.

It had a cable operated changer that could raise or lower, but I don't remember much else about the changer mechanism. It didn't sound bad, but it was really frustrating to play because it broke strings constantly. and the pedal stops consisted of rubber bumpers under the pedals (!), so I had to carry around a plywood board to set it on.

I finally gave up on it after about six months, and didn't play steel again for seventeen years.

Glenn Dawson · Post by **Glenn Dawson** » 18 Nov 2005 2:52 pm

My first steel was a 1971 ZB D10 that I purchased from the original owner in 1984. I had the owner ship it from Virginia to Orlando Fla. where I was living at the time, by way of US Air. After several days of the guitar not arriving, I contacted U.S. Air, they could only trace it as far as Pittsburg Pa. They settled the claim. I would had rather had the guitar, beautiful two tone ZB like new. In 1996 I was looking through the local free ad paper here in the valley of Va. and came across an ad that read, ZB pedal steel guitar. I didn't reconize the area code. I had to call. Talked with the guy a few minutes. He didnt know much about pedal steel, he was a guitar picker and had loaned it to his buddy for about 10 years and just got it back.Said it was in pretty bad shape. I talked w/ him about the color etc. Then I asked him if the bottom neck had an odd key on the 10th string. He said hold on and let me check. When he got back on the phone, he asked '' how did you know'' I told him that that guitar had been stolen from Pittsburg air port. Then the phone went click. I later learned that the number I had called was in Pa. Guess I should have pursued that one.[This message was edited by Glenn Dawson on 18 November 2005 at 02:57 PM.][This message was edited by Glenn Dawson on 18 November 2005 at 05:34 PM.][This message was edited by Glenn Dawson on 18 November 2005 at 05:36 PM.]

richard burton · Post by **richard burton** » 19 Nov 2005 12:10 am

I made my first steel (and the second and third, until I'd just about got it right with number 7)

[This message was edited by richard burton on 19 November 2005 at 12:14 AM.]

Richard Cooper · Post by **Richard Cooper** » 19 Nov 2005 6:10 am

Sho-Bud Mavrick, all wood, from a Pawn Shop in Nashville in the mid 70's.

Nick Reed · Post by **Nick Reed** » 19 Nov 2005 10:42 am

Here was my first one, a Sho-Bud Maverick in 1985.

John Ummel · Post by **John Ummel** » 2 Dec 2005 6:38 am

Hey Nick,
That's one of the good Mavericks. Looks just like the one I started on in 1973. I've got an old photo of it. I'll get it scanned so I can post.
Johnny

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 2 Dec 2005 7:07 am

Mine was a super clean Sho-Bud LDG model. Sure wish I still had it.

Brad

Will Holtz · Post by **Will Holtz** » 2 Dec 2005 11:00 am

I got a used Carter Starter in March of 2003. About a year later I was confident that I was going to stick with pedal steel and I upgraded to an almost new Carter S-10. It's been fun!

David Wren · Post by **David Wren** » 2 Dec 2005 1:12 pm

My first "pedal" steel was an old Kent electric 6 six guitar. I made a lever mounted behind the bridge to lower the 3rd string 1 fret (major to minor), motorcycle cable connected this to a huge barn hinge, which served as the "Pedal". Luckily I had my mother's D8 Blonde Sho-Bud to play on, so real soon I bought a real used (and wobbily)D10 8 & 2 Sho-Bud (walnut) thanks to our family's friend in Nashville, Jack (Hos) Linneman.

I also made a one lever, one string "Electric Ice Cube Tray", with a hole in it to hang a mic on... but that's another story. Hey I was a creative kid!

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Dave Wren
'95Carter S12-E9/B6,7X7; Session500; Hilton Pedal
www.ameechapman.com

Fuzzy Plant · Post by **Fuzzy Plant** » 2 Dec 2005 4:13 pm

Back in the 1950s I played a double neck Danelectro Guitar/Bass. I really wanted a steel guitar, but couldn't afford one. Since I had another electric guitar, I removed the guitar neck from the double-neck, built a stand from 2x4s, 2 pedals from 1x2s, eyebolts to pull the strings down with 1/8" stranded cable and turnbuckles. I don't remember what guage strings I used, but I guess it didn't make any difference on this Rube Goldberg. I tuned it to a dobro G tuning. It was difficult to play, to say the least, but I loved it.
Then came the day in 1960 when I bought a Multi-Kord 6 string, 4 pedal. Hey man; I was now on the way. I used that until I moved out of state in 1969 for a short time. I sold it along with a talking steel system I built, with the help of an old friend Les Paul. Then, in 1978, I bought a grown-up steel; the real-deal; a 1972 ShoBud Pro 2. I won't part with this one. Now, I really love playing steel, even though I'm not in the upper class of players. At my age now, I'm completely satisfied with the ability to play at all. I thank God for what talent He did give me, and I've been using it for His glory.
I played on a CD in 2000 along with two other men from New York State, and have just completed an instrumental CD of Gospel songs. If I died today, I'd die a happy picker.
Fuzzy Plant

Bob Snelgrove · Post by **Bob Snelgrove** » 2 Dec 2005 6:09 pm

1975, pete Grant reccommended a Marlen S12 and I ordered a new natural laquer one. What a beauty. Wish I still had it!

bob