.advice on purchasing a pedal steel

[Jeannette Petty]

I live in the Clear Lake City.Tx area near NASA. There aren't any pedal steel associations that I've found. MY father plays a Gibson double neck steel from the fifties and has taught me to play as well. I play the accordion and fiddle. We have looked at buying a pedal steel just for pleasure playing, but have a few questions. He had a fender 2000, but a family member on Ohio has it. So, as a beginner to the pedal steel would like to know how much is enough. I love the C6 tuning over the E9, bit want both on the guitar. There is such a broad spectrum to choose from. Need advice for a beginner.

[Bob Hoffnar]

There are many great steel players near you. Track down Will Van Horn. He teaches steel near you.

[Larry Jamieson]

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=383864

This is a nice MSA with both C6 and E9 necks. These guitars are solid as a rock, play well and are bullet proof.

[George Haedicke]

I have been a Pedal Steel Guitar player for 8 1/2 years now. I bought my first one in March 2014. I always use the E9 neck in both my 3 pedal and 8 pedal steel guitars. When I first started taking lessons in 2014. I had a lot of trouble with the pedals. So what I did was I practiced for multiple hours in one day. And the most I have ever practiced was 7 1/2 hours in one day. the reason why I use the E9 neck all the time is because I know that E9 is a more important and common neck than C6. C6 is called the jazz neck.

[George Haedicke]

I have seen in a lot of books recommending Student Model Steel guitars that usually have 3 pedals and 2 levers. Single neck Pedal Steels are the best for beginners. I have been a pedal steel guitar player for 8 1/2 years now. When I first started out 8 1/2 years ago I was practicing all the time. I still do practice a lot on pedal steel. It took me a lot of hard hours practicing in my early years as a Pedal Steel Guitar player. I have played all of my favorite songs on pedal steel guitar. I remember the very first songs I have ever learned was Sleepwalk, and Fire On The Mountain by the Marshall Tucker Band. It does take a lot of hours of practicing but when the steel guitar player practices for so long over the past 7 to 8 1/2 years you are going to be noticing the pedal steel guitar is starting to cry. Another thing is that on the Pedal Steel Guitar when the player picks each chord with the volume pedal up and as the chord rings out put the volume pedal about half way down. You know that you are getting good at pedal steel guitar when the instrument starts to cry. All the musician has to do is to put pride in their work.

[Dave Hopping]

The SGF Classifieds are a good place to start browsing. That way you can get an idea of the marketplace. It's also good to browse through the websites of the major builders to se who has what at what price point.If you like C6 you'll probably be thinking in terms of a D-10 8X4(or 5). Larry's post about that MSA Classic is informative.MSA's are robust guitars, well made,and they made a lot of them, so they tend to be reasonably priced on the used market. They're pretty heavy, which is a consideration if you plan to gig.

As you look around you'll think of specific questions--and you may well get answers to questions you haven't yet thought of.

[Jeff Peterson]

Listen constantly to steel recordings..start weeding out sound you like, sound you don't much care for. Research what they played, what they ran through, etc. Read the forum for opinions on what you like and you'll get an idea what they used.
Then comes the biggie....take the time for a road trip and try out every steel you are able to. If you're like 80% of steel players I know, you'll buy something that won't satisfy you..trade it in on another, and do the same thing all over again for an amp, and again for effects.
Don't be discouraged, you might get lucky and not lose all your money...or end up with payments. Keep searching, it's the stuff steel players are made of. You'll get there. And while all this is going on, you'll be playing, practicing, jobbing, and honing your chops and theory....which is the fun of doing it all. And as a bonus, you'll meet great players and people and have a fabulous career that should be illegal.