It's done! Junior's new Guit-Steel

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 19 Feb 2020 8:43 am

Mike's flying it up to Nashville so Junior can (hopefully) debut with it at the Opry this Saturday.

https://www.stevensguitars.com

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 19 Feb 2020 8:52 am

Beautiful! All that routing...itâ€™s really a work of art. The metallic finish puts it over the top. Iâ€™m sure Junior is going to make it sound great. Have all his guit-steels had that dual bridge pickup arrangement?

Mark Paulson · Post by **Mark Paulson** » 19 Feb 2020 9:38 am

My thatâ€™s beautiful. Well done !

Bill Groner · Post by **Bill Groner** » 19 Feb 2020 9:44 am

It is a beaut. It won't look any better than it does right now. Once Junior gets going on it, it will be well worn, but that's the price you pay when you make good music like Junior does. I hope it feels like an old friend to him.

Allan Revich · Post by **Allan Revich** » 19 Feb 2020 10:06 am

Very cool!

Still, I wonder what has become of the stolen one. Itâ€™s not like it can be easily resold, and even if a dishonest collector bought it, theyâ€™d never be able to show it to anyone.

Larry Lenhart · Post by **Larry Lenhart** » 19 Feb 2020 10:18 am

That really is a work of art !! simply beautiful !!

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 19 Feb 2020 11:37 am

Fred Treece wrote:Beautiful! All that routing...itâ€™s really a work of art. The metallic finish puts it over the top. Iâ€™m sure Junior is going to make it sound great. Have all his guit-steels had that dual bridge pickup arrangement?

Big Red (the stolen one) had a Sho-Bud single coil hacked into it by Junior... here's a pic I found:

I asked Mike and he said Junior wanted the original setup for Ol' Blue... I believe Mike hand-winds these and has the covers 3D printed. This one is #4... Junior owned 1&2 I believe, #3 is white and is in the hands of a collector I believe. The guitar Junior is playing right now is Ol' Yeller, #1, and is on loan from a museum. I got to watch Big Red being built in Alpine TX... after Mike moved to town I thought I'd died and went to Heaven.

I think Junior read a bunch of the same children's books that I did... Ol' Yeller, Big Red... maybe the next one will be named Misty?

EDIT: forgot that the top (six-string armpit) guitar also has the dual pickup arrangement... that's a signature part of Junior's sound, and is made up of a pair of Mustang/Duo Sonic II pickups... they're RWRP just like a Stringmaster, so... humbucking!

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 19 Feb 2020 3:04 pm

Stephen Cowell wrote:[EDIT: forgot that the top (six-string armpit) guitar also has the dual pickup arrangement... that's a signature part of Junior's sound, and is made up of a pair of Mustang/Duo Sonic II pickups... they're RWRP just like a Stringmaster, so... humbucking!

Thatâ€™s the neck I was curious about. Looks like the switching is at least 3-way for each neck. Those pups might be humbuckers when theyâ€™re both on, but it looks like they can be switched on and off individually as well. I know Iâ€™d want that. As if....

Thanks for the great pics and info, btw.

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 19 Feb 2020 3:22 pm

i met mike stevens at a namm show a long time ago. his work is astounding.

i had a fellow bring in some strange beautiful custom made instrument one day to see if i could work on it for him. he opened up the case and i told him "mike stevens made that"....he was stunned. i had never even seen it, but i knew by the workmanship who made it!

Jesse Pearson · Post by **Jesse Pearson** » 6 Mar 2020 12:36 pm

Great work...It's better eye candy then the original.

JB Bobbitt · Post by **JB Bobbitt** » 7 Mar 2020 8:34 am

How come they never show pics of the steel part being played?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 7 Mar 2020 8:52 am

If you watch some of Junior's videos, it does show the steel neck being played.
Erv