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Topic: Got it one piece at a time! |
David Mitchell
From:
Tyler, Texas
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Posted 6 May 2019 5:07 pm |
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This is video of my Half EMCI/ Half Carter I started building from parts I would find on eBay and the Steel Guitar Forum. I first bought the welded EMCI raw frame from a guy on eBay for $160.00 Same guy sold me NOS maple butcher block boards for the top sound board and also the EMCI neck. I had no changer fingers but by luck of the draw I bought a Seirra Artist changer on the Forum and the fingers from it worked perfectly in the EMCI changer frame and body. Struck the EMCI welded on stop plate just right. I got the EMCI undercarriage parts from Jim Palenscar Steel Guitar shop in California. I had a set of legs and I found a 32" 3 pedal pedal bar from another eBay seller. I got two Carter keyheads when I bought out Andy Hinton's shop after his death in Louisiana. The changer axle I found in my dad's shop amist a bunch of scrape metal. I think this guitar sings like a bird because of that axle whatever it is made out of and also I bolted everything straight to the butcher block maple only using a light coat of Amber Shellac for protection. I certainly wouldn't want to cover the violin I built with mica so I carried that theory to steel guitars. I had a mica MCI that was very good but it wouldn't speak in the upper register like this Frankenstein I built.
It gets better! This week I bought the C6th parts I need to complete the back neck from Johnie King! I have enough pedals and EMCI steel shafts to complete the project. I just started playing 3 months ago but here's a video of me playing ol' Frankie before he receives the back neck. I have 2 more EMCI bodies I fitted with ZB and Carter hardware but have yet to finish them. I got it one piece at a time and you'll know me when I come through your town!
https://youtu.be/Cf3OvYwSmzk
https://youtu.be/Bf17aCW7LJg
https://youtu.be/o-nBlzkYbPM |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 6 May 2019 6:10 pm
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Sounds mighty fine to me, David!
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David Mitchell
From:
Tyler, Texas
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Posted 6 May 2019 6:14 pm
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| Thank you Donnie! Beginners luck. Never built a steel guitar until this one. Junior Knight helped me rod it up. That's the part I dislike the most. Those bent hooks get me every time. I either cut them too short or too long. I really don't know what I'm doing. Witch doctor. Lol! |
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Johnie King
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 7 May 2019 3:21 am
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| David sounds very good an cool man your right one piece at a time good job on your build: |
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Larry Dering
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 7 May 2019 3:55 am
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| Nice sounding steel. Looks great. |
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David Mitchell
From:
Tyler, Texas
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Posted 7 May 2019 6:45 am
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Johnie and Larry I thank you all very much. The aluminum EMCI frame is almost a finished guitar so this doesn't make me a builder by a long shot. Very little woodworking has to be done. You just place a single board in the top of the frame. No rails to build either in the undercarriage. Just put the adjustable cross shafts in the holes already drilled in the frame. I uses ball bearing sleeves in this guitar instead of nylon. About $5.00 a piece but it doesn't take a lot of them. I didn't even have to build a lower return stop plate because it comes welded on the EMCI frame. All the holes were drilled and tapped for the pedal stop screws. A welded frame EMCI body is probably the perfect kit guitar for dummies like me. The hardest part was figuring out where to put the knee levers and of course finding room for the reversing levers. I can only imagine what I'll run into when I put a C6th neck on it. I have developed a huge respect for builders like you Johnie that can build one from scratch and it's beautiful and works perfectly. I cringe at some of the ridiculous cheap prices I see them selling for used. If they only new what it takes to build a machine like a pedal steel and make it flawless looking too.
I'll be asking lots more questions here in the future about these things. Jerry Fessenden told me how to put pickups in one. I asked a question on Facebook how do you put pickups in without all four screws falling off when you turn the pickup right side up. Jerry said he stands his up on the keyhead end then puts all the springs on it and inserts it horizontally rather than vertically. After he told me I felt like a dummy. I tried it and it went right on no problem. Tricks of the trade. Big thank you to bOb for creating and maintaining the Steel Guitar Forum! You guys and gals have a world of information here that I read all the time. |
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Quentin Hickey
From:
Nova Scotia, Canada
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Posted 9 May 2019 5:22 pm
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| Yeah it has that tone distinct to emci. Sounds great man! Is it welded end plates? If I remember correctly I think you said it was. |
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David Mitchell
From:
Tyler, Texas
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Posted 10 May 2019 5:42 am
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Thanks Quentin! Yes I purchased 3 welded frames for EMCI on eBay from a guy that is selling Fred Gretsch's old stock of Sho-Bud's and EMCI's. Gretsch bought both companies and only built a few Sho-Bud's and terminated the company. I don't think he ever built a single EMCI guitar after he bought them out. That stuff pops up on his eBay site now and then but it's months of waiting in between. He's not very talkative either. He's short in conversation so you can't get much info from him.
I asked him if he had any EMCI changer fingers and his answer was " What I have for sale is on eBay". Lol! |
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