Smithsonian Bigsby

Will Ellis · Post by **Will Ellis** » 17 May 2022 2:54 pm

Stopped in the American History museum in DC today before playing 9:30 club tonight and was delighted to see Bigsby on display with a little paragraph about Buddy Emmons. I figured I’d look up the lineage of the guitar on the forum, but after a little searching it seems maybe this hasn’t been discussed on here. Does anyone know more about this guitar? They also had Elizabeth Cotton’s Martin and Steve Cropper’s Esquire+Harvard on display.

Colin Swinney · Post by **Colin Swinney** » 17 May 2022 4:05 pm

Did players have to get a roadie underneath to operate the pedals on that? Seriously, how did anyone reach those lol?

David Ball · Post by **David Ball** » 17 May 2022 4:28 pm

Interesting 8,10,8,10 neck setup.

The Smithsonian has so much great stuff that lives in storage areas and is rarely displayed to the public. I used to make appointments to study specific instruments in their "hidden" collection, and it was always such a treat to see what other treasures that had squirreled away.

Back in the 80's or 90's, I was in one of those special rooms measuring some instruments I had made an appointment to see, and the archivist who was with me asked me to extra careful not to step on "any of Ella's stuff." The folding tables taking up much of the room held the newly acquired Ella Fitzgerald's stuff. I was practically leaning on her Presidential Medal of Freedom. So very cool.

It would be interesting to know the history of that particular Bigsby--bet that dropping a line to the Musical Instruments Curator could get an answer.

Dave

Kenny Davis · Post by **Kenny Davis** » 17 May 2022 7:24 pm

Wow - Complete with an ashtray!

Robert B Murphy · Post by **Robert B Murphy** » 18 May 2022 3:58 am

There you have it: The Smithsonian spells it Buddie!

Paul Bigsby did beautiful work.

The last time I was there Libba Cotton's 000-28(?) was in a display case to the left of the pendulum clock in the lobby. I'm glad to see this room is there.

Kenny Davis · Post by **Kenny Davis** » 18 May 2022 6:21 am

I think the name spelling has been discussed in the past on the Forum. It was spelled incorrectly on the guitar. The information card within the display spells his name Buddy.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 18 May 2022 7:42 am

No mistake. Buddy spelled his name "Buddie" for a while.

Chris Lucker · Post by **Chris Lucker** » 18 May 2022 8:10 am

Doug is correct. In fact, the 1964 Emmons brochure still uses the Buddie spelling and his autographed photo even has Buddie. The new Emmons Resound materials use the same photo but changed the autograph to say Buddy.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 18 May 2022 10:20 am

Chris - Do you have any info on the Bigsby? I believe you have mentioned there were very few quads built.

Chris Lucker · Post by **Chris Lucker** » 18 May 2022 11:11 am

There were six quads after November 1949. I don't know if any were built before November 1949.

Tony Oresteen · Post by **Tony Oresteen** » 19 May 2022 4:36 am

Very interesting. The two middle necks have the pedals. The 8 string has 2 pedals and the 10 string has 3. Anyone know the tunings and the copedent used by Buddie?

Jerry Jones · Post by **Jerry Jones** » 19 May 2022 6:59 am

More info on that guitar HERE

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 19 May 2022 9:27 am

Thanks, Jerry!

~Lee

Will Ellis · Post by **Will Ellis** » 19 May 2022 9:29 am

Jerry Jones wrote:More info on that guitar HERE

Awesome, thanks!

Chris Lucker · Post by **Chris Lucker** » 19 May 2022 12:01 pm

Paul Warnik had PeeWee Whitewing, this quad, Dick Waring and Vance Terry.
I got Vance from Warnik and he really wanted to sell me this quad, but it was too heavy and too deep to carry around in the case.
It was a bargain compared to Vance.

John Troutman · Post by **John Troutman** » 18 Mar 2023 8:14 am

Hi all,

I had not logged into the forum in way too long and came across this post. Iʻm excited that the National Museum of American History's 1954 Bigsby was sighted by a forum member! We felt it was important for the Smithsonian's permanent collection to include a Bigsby steel, so we went big with the quad. We placed it on display in a prominent location in 2019. It is still on view, and it is always fun to see visitors reacting to it--it is quite a sight to behold for folks familiar with Bigsby guitars as well as for people who have never before seen anything like it!

In December we opened a major, long-term exhibition on entertainment, called Entertainment Nation. On view in that gallery you will find Sam Nainoa's circa 1934-1936 Rickenbacher "frying pan." Sam was Joseph Kekuku's cousin and duet partner since they were small children in the 1880s, growing up and attending school together on Oʻahu. Sam later became extraordinarily adept at Hawaiian steel guitar and developed a unique style while touring North America and eventually running a Hawaiian music conservatory in Los Angeles. In 2018, descendants donated this guitar to the Smithsonian. Eight descendants travelled to D.C. in December for the opening event! It was an incredible experience. We are excited to keep this guitar on view for many years to come.

I hope you can come visit the museum to see these historic instruments on display, with the prominence that they deserve (note: this is what happens when a steel guitar fanatic is hired as a music curator!).