The Brisco Bud opinions

John Watson · Post by **John Watson** » 18 May 2023 6:51 am

Hello
Anyone have any feed back on the Brisco Bud pedal steel made by AL Brisco. I'm looking at getting a pedal steel - have played 8 string lap up until now. I want a guitar that has the basics in term of levers and pedals 3/4 and most importantly stable tuning, lastly - a guitar that will be reliable and not require major maintenance for 10 years. I would hope to get to be able to play at an intermediate level - classic country. Thanks

Wayne Brown · Post by **Wayne Brown** » 18 May 2023 7:17 am

are you thinking about the one on Kijiji or directly from Al.
thanks
wayne

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 18 May 2023 7:50 am

As far as I can figure, it is an upgraded Carter-Starter (Al Brisco had all the Carter parts after Carter closed). Now -- I have worked on C-S's and I'm a bit of an advocate for them. But a lot depends on how upgraded it is. They were intended to be inexpensive and were built cheaply. And priced accordingly.

The Kijiji Brisco Bud is priced over $1000 higher than what I would pay for a C-S. So I'd need to know a lot about what-all was upgraded.
$1900 is a good price for a 3+4 all pull guitar if it is a lot more solid than a Carter-Starter.
$600 is what I just recently bought, upgraded, and then resold a Carter-Starter for.

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 19 May 2023 7:34 am

Link to the advertisement on Kijiji.ca.

John Watson · Post by **John Watson** » 20 May 2023 8:32 am

Jon Light wrote:As far as I can figure, it is an upgraded Carter-Starter (Al Brisco had all the Carter parts after Carter closed). Now -- I have worked on C-S's and I'm a bit of an advocate for them. But a lot depends on how upgraded it is. They were intended to be inexpensive and were built cheaply. And priced accordingly.

The Kijiji Brisco Bud is priced over $1000 higher than what I would pay for a C-S. So I'd need to know a lot about what-all was upgraded.
$1900 is a good price for a 3+4 all pull guitar if it is a lot more solid than a Carter-Starter.
$600 is what I just recently bought, upgraded, and then resold a Carter-Starter for.

Thanks for the feedback Jon - really appreciate it. I'm thinking of buying new from Mr. B. What sort of upgrades would be of value in your opinion. I understand Al is quite well respected and known as being very knowledgeable of Pedal Steels.

John Watson · Post by **John Watson** » 20 May 2023 8:33 am

Wayne Brown wrote:are you thinking about the one on Kijiji or directly from Al.
thanks
wayne

Thinking of directly from Al. Thanks

John Watson · Post by **John Watson** » 20 May 2023 8:37 am

Brad Bechtel wrote:Link to the advertisement on Kijiji.ca.

Thanks Brad but actually I'd be thinking of buying directly from Al Brisco.

James Inkster · Post by **James Inkster** » 23 May 2023 2:19 pm

For what it's worth, last fall when I took the plunge I spoke to Al about this Brisco Bud. Hearing that I'd played lap-steel (of various flavours) for over 20 years he told me that the Bud was too much of a starter guitar and I'd want a more professional instrument.
Eventually he found me a lovely used Carter S10 3+4 and I'm glad I spent the extra money, as I don't see myself out-growing it.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 23 May 2023 2:55 pm

John Watson wrote: ......What sort of upgrades would be of value in your opinion........

sorry john. I missed your follow-up question until just now.
The most egregious shortcomings of the original C-S were the stops on the leftward moving levers. Al's description of the Brisco Bud mentions upgraded stops. So that is good. The upgrades I did to a C-S were of home workshop quality. I'd estimate $50 of time and material. Professionally machined, they'd maybe account for $100. If he upgraded the pullers so that they were movable instead of welded on, that would be worth a bit. But you'd need to go quite far to generate a thousand dollars of improvement (I'm still basing my calculations on my opinion that a Carter-Starter is worth round $600).

James's post just above is quite interesting in that it shows honesty on Al's part but it shows his dilemma -- he knows that his guitar is a student level instrument and he knows that someone who knows a quality instrument, in general, is going to see this pedal steel for what it is.

I will repeat -- I am a fan of the Carter-Starter. But when I bought one and then sold it to a really good mandolinist with fine instruments, I pointed out every single corner that was cut (cheap tuners, too, I'm just remembering). I needed to be sure that he understood that he was getting the best all-pull 3+4 steel he could possibly get for $600. But for another $1000 he would be in an entirely different class of (used) instrument. But $1000 is $1000 and he did not have $1600.

So with a full understanding, I was happy to put that guitar into his hands. If he stays with it and outgrows it, I may buy it back, just to be able to put a $600 guitar into another beginner's hands.

John Watson · Post by **John Watson** » 23 May 2023 4:37 pm

Thanks for the helpful feedback James and Jon.Good points!
John

J Fletcher · Post by **J Fletcher** » 24 May 2023 8:11 am

There was a nice used Carter D10 on Al's site a few days ago . Nice price too.

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