1971 Emmons Resto - "James Blonde"

Andy DePaule · Post by **Andy DePaule** » 10 Feb 2019 4:59 am

Hi Mike,
What a joy to see that.
I'm sure it will bring years of pleasure to someone.
Best wishes,
Andy

Alan Bidmade · Post by **Alan Bidmade** » 10 Feb 2019 11:59 am

Beautiful... but we need to work on the name. Pedal steels are female, IMHO.
For example, my Ben-Rom is called Lorelei. Lorelei lured sailors onto the rocks on the Rhine with the beauty of her voice. Nuff said.

Mike Scaggs · Post by **Mike Scaggs** » 11 Feb 2019 3:22 am

Alan Bidmade wrote:Beautiful... but we need to work on the name. Pedal steels are female, IMHO.
For example, my Ben-Rom is called Lorelei. Lorelei lured sailors onto the rocks on the Rhine with the beauty of her voice. Nuff said.

HAHA, Well at least James Blonde is a Ladies Man... Now if I could only get an Aston Martin DB5!

Gary Spaeth · Post by **Gary Spaeth** » 11 Feb 2019 4:25 pm

what kind of joint is there where the two necks connect? is it a half lap? i see screw holes in the c6 joint.

Mike Scaggs · Post by **Mike Scaggs** » 11 Feb 2019 4:37 pm

Gary Spaeth wrote:what kind of joint is there where the two necks connect? is it a half lap? i see screw holes in the c6 joint.

Yes a lap joint with a slot on mica guitar for part of the mica to tuck in.

Douglas Schuch · Post by **Douglas Schuch** » 11 Feb 2019 4:59 pm

So Mike, you mention that the lacquer Emmons guitars were veneer - did they finish out the body slightly thicker than the laminate guitars, use a thicker veneer than you use, or did they double it up like you do? Just curious.

Mike Scaggs · Post by **Mike Scaggs** » 11 Feb 2019 5:06 pm

Douglas Schuch wrote:So Mike, you mention that the lacquer Emmons guitars were veneer - did they finish out the body slightly thicker than the laminate guitars, use a thicker veneer than you use, or did they double it up like you do? Just curious.

Well I am not an expert but my guess is yes, the bodies were somewhat thicker. Mica is .060 thick and standard veneer is .024. When I do conversions it does take two coats of veneer which is not a problem at all.

john widgren · Post by **john widgren** » 11 Feb 2019 5:21 pm

Good on ya Mike!

Jim Schofield · Post by **Jim Schofield** » 11 Feb 2019 5:36 pm

Nice work. I like that the modification rather than keeping it all original doesn't seem to be frowned at and as much as I like the kitsch appeal of Brazilian Rosewood Formica (maybe?) that Maple seems like it was made for that instrument.

Jerry Roller · Post by **Jerry Roller** » 11 Feb 2019 9:37 pm

Mike, would you mind telling me where you get the veneer? Also, you donâ€™t seem to need any information but I have a sheet of mica backing that appears to be thickness of mica that is much cheaper than an extra layer of veneer. By the way I agree you do beautiful work.
Jerry

Mike Scaggs · Post by **Mike Scaggs** » 12 Feb 2019 3:56 am

Jim Schofield wrote:Nice work. I like that the modification rather than keeping it all original doesn't seem to be frowned at and as much as I like the kitsch appeal of Brazilian Rosewood Formica (maybe?) that Maple seems like it was made for that instrument.

I have talked about doing a Brazilian PP with herringbone trim for awhile now. Maybe the next one I'll do that. One problem is the wood is grossly expensive

Mike Scaggs · Post by **Mike Scaggs** » 12 Feb 2019 4:00 am

Jerry Roller wrote:Mike, would you mind telling me where you get the veneer? Also, you donâ€™t seem to need any information but I have a sheet of mica backing that appears to be thickness of mica that is much cheaper than an extra layer of veneer. By the way I agree you do beautiful work.
Jerry

Hi Jerry,

The wood comes from a dealer I found on eBay. There are a lot of good vendors selling their stuff on eBay and have lots of choices too.

I would never use Mica as a backing for veneer as wood will not bond to that slick surface on the top of mica as you can imagine. Honestly, one of the hardest parts of doing these guitars is getting the old mica off! Emmons press glued their mica (I believe from the late 60s early 70s on) and that stuff is on there like cement. I'm sure there are people on this forum that have much more knowledge than myself on the history of Emmons process of gluing mica.

Cheers,

Mike

Mike Scaggs · Post by **Mike Scaggs** » 12 Feb 2019 12:13 pm

Jim Schofield · Post by **Jim Schofield** » 12 Feb 2019 9:06 pm

I better just check that I have this correct, when you say "Mica" I have assumed you are referring to "Formica" or "Laminex" the paper and melamine resin product we put on kitchen bench tops?

I was assuming Mike from the look of it that the original "Mica" was faux Brazilian rosewood.

Okay, also I think when you say "PP" you mean a push pull pedal steel? Yes even BRW in veneer costs an arm and a leg and I shudder to think what it would cost to build one of those boxes out of solid BRW.

Mike Scaggs · Post by **Mike Scaggs** » 13 Feb 2019 3:12 am

Jim Schofield wrote:I better just check that I have this correct, when you say "Mica" I have assumed you are referring to "Formica" or "Laminex" the paper and melamine resin product we put on kitchen bench tops?

I was assuming Mike from the look of it that the original "Mica" was faux Brazilian rosewood.

Okay, also I think when you say "PP" you mean a push pull pedal steel? Yes even BRW in veneer costs an arm and a leg and I shudder to think what it would cost to build one of those boxes out of solid BRW.

Yes! "Formica"
PP = Push Pull

If I decide to do a Brazilian Rosewood guitar down the road, it would be veneer. The body would be the original straight grained maple. Emmons used that as they believed it was the best choice for tone and I would have to agree as do many others.
Now there are other builders using solid figured wood for bodies and their guitars sound good, but nothing truly sounds like a PP although some have come close IMHO. At the end of the day the tone mostly comes out of your hands, at least I believe that...

Cheers

Jim Schofield · Post by **Jim Schofield** » 13 Feb 2019 2:54 pm

Okay, thanks Mike I had assumed that I knew what you were talking about but you know what they say about assumption.

You said "but nothing truly sounds like a PP although some have come close IMHO", are you looking for a argument regarding tone?

Mike Scaggs · Post by **Mike Scaggs** » 13 Feb 2019 3:52 pm

Jim Schofield wrote:Okay, thanks Mike I had assumed that I knew what you were talking about but you know what they say about assumption.

You said "but nothing truly sounds like a PP although some have come close IMHO", are you looking for a argument regarding tone?

No arguments from me on tone as that is a very subjective subject. There is no BAD tone only wrong tone for the song! A pretty famous session player taught me that ðŸ˜€

Nick Reed · Post by **Nick Reed** » 16 Feb 2019 9:14 pm

was that the "Bill Poe" P/P

Mike Scaggs · Post by **Mike Scaggs** » 18 Feb 2019 4:18 am

Nick Reed wrote:was that the "Bill Poe" P/P

Hi Nick! I don't know the whole history on this one. It had a plate on the apron that said "Gil" when I acquired the guitar. I bought it from a guy up in KY named Logan Holt... I have another D10 PP too that is a pretty nice Rosewood guitar that I will restore once this one is done.

Johnie King · Post by **Johnie King** » 18 Feb 2019 7:10 am

I wonder if this steel is spoken for. This may be a keeper for you sheâ€™s going to be incredible.

Johnie King · Post by **Johnie King** » 18 Feb 2019 7:16 am

On the tone of a push pull all I can say on some steels Iâ€™ve owned about thirty minutes of practice time is all I could take. On a push pull practice time turns into hours of pleasure.

Mike Scaggs · Post by **Mike Scaggs** » 18 Feb 2019 9:02 am

Johnie King wrote:I wonder if this steel is spoken for. This may be a keeper for you sheâ€™s going to be incredible.

It is not spoken for yet as I have not put it up for sale. I don't like doing that until the project is completed and this one has many hours so far and more to go. I am hoping for a completion in March/April timeframe

Mike Scaggs · Post by **Mike Scaggs** » 18 Feb 2019 9:05 am

Final color... Time for a cut and buff next

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 19 Feb 2019 11:25 am

As ever you are doing a brilliant job Mike. This guitar passed through my hands a couple of years ago. It had incredible tone, and killer birds eye veneer.

Mike Scaggs · Post by **Mike Scaggs** » 20 Feb 2019 3:22 am

Ken Byng wrote:As ever you are doing a brilliant job Mike. This guitar passed through my hands a couple of years ago. It had incredible tone, and killer birds eye veneer.

What a beautiful guitar Ken! One difference between ours is the trim. Yours has the traditional Emmons trim you would find on most all lacquer Emmons. When I did this guitar I set the trim on the edge like a 1964 Emmons because I really liked that look, plus its VERY rare to find an old Emmons with trim like that. It was a lot more precise work cutting it in but worth it to me. I think I will be using chrome frets too. I jury is still our for me which pickups I will use. I have one set of chrome 705s left that may go on this guitar or I will use some single coil Emmons if I can find a nice set.

The Steel Guitar Forum

1971 Emmons Resto - "James Blonde"

What a joy

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