ZB Pedal Steel Guitars - Please help!

Rick Garrett · Post by **Rick Garrett** » 9 Jun 2006 9:53 am

I've got a 69 ZB Custom that I bought last year. The old thing is still in good shape and plays smoothly. No problem.

Rick

Larry Chung · Post by **Larry Chung** » 9 Jun 2006 6:32 pm

Russ, you know where to apply the pressure, eh? (:

The guitar on ebay is serial number 62, which means that it's an early Bakersfield guitar - great sounding guitars! - and the pictures of the underside look pretty clean. I'm sure it needs adjustment as most do, but very clean. Cool white pickups, too.

I've got PLENTY of ZBs, but they sure are great to look at!

All ZBest,
LC

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 10 Jun 2006 12:09 am

Took the ol' '69 Bakersfield D-10 out tonight for the first time in awhile. What a special sound with the Webb. Having good tone can be inspiring!

DZ

Curt Jarvis · Post by **Curt Jarvis** » 11 Jun 2006 4:43 pm

Hi Guys, I have just set up Serial # 1062 in my music room. It's a red D 10, 8 pedals 3 levers. This came from a guy that didn't learn to play it. I've restrung it sounds great E9 and C6. The E9 neck had strings that could never could have been tuned to the mordern E9 tuning and the pedals are not set up to resemble a modern copedent set up. Any ideas on how to set this up to use the modern tab and teaching systems. Also I saw Steel 0043 Black 12 String but seemed to be a more modern version of the ZB's. Great to see this forum out there.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 11 Jun 2006 7:04 pm

Dave, isn't it cool to hear that sound?

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 11 Jun 2006 7:40 pm

Yep, it's a cool sound!

Henry Nagle · Post by **Henry Nagle** » 11 Jun 2006 9:47 pm

I just got home from a gig with mine. It sounded great. Now if I can just figure out how to play like Dave, it'll sound even better!

Pat Kelly · Post by **Pat Kelly** » 11 Jun 2006 11:38 pm

So! How are we going here. how many ZBs were made and where? Where are they now?

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 12 Jun 2006 5:25 am

Just start using picks Henry!

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 12 Jun 2006 5:48 am

Curt;
what is the current pedal setup on the E9th on your ZB?

that would give us a starting point for determining the range of difficulty to bringing it close to a "modern" set up.

Truly "modern" may not be achievable or even desirable on that guitar... but bringin it in line with a "standard" E9 should be do-able, if you are stout of heart...

Tim Kauffroath · Post by **Tim Kauffroath** » 12 Jun 2006 6:57 am

Greetings ZB aficionados everywhere! Well here is admittedly a lengthy post –I’ve been wanting to get this out on this thread for some time but was waiting until I had pics to go along with it.

When I was 15 or so living in Tucson, AZ, and starting to "get good" on my 8 string fender 400 Pedal steel, my folks agreed I should step up to a better guitar –I was taking some lessons from Chuck Gillette in Tucson at the time and he and I tried a number of different makes and Chuck liked the sound and action of the ZB.

We then found that ZB had moved to Phoenix --we walked in off the street at a spot over by Sky Harbor airport --I believe it was a tool and die place or airplane parts deburring business --anyway, a little show room area was there with some Steels set up on the floor --then John Rutledge who was waiting on us was mentioned they had one just returned that they had given to a “major” steel player to play for advertising but had found out he had set it in the studio and was playing a different guitar on the road. Anyway there it was a D-11 in solid blue 9 pedals and 6 knee levers --serial # 0206 "repossessed" for the same price as the D-10 8/4 --I was the luckiest 15 year old in the world --I still have a hard time believing my folks borrowed the money to buy it - but I still have it today --and I also have the invoice --so here are pics (hopefully) of the ZB and the invoice.
A great memory to be sure and I have hauled that steel thousands and thousands of miles –the amazing thing is it could sit in the case for a year and pull it out and it's almost dead on in tune.

The pics are as it sits today –mechanically it is great –you will notice the original finish had faded except where I had my name in self adhesive letters on the front. There is a little bit of Lacquer checking in places but it’s really clean original.

I had some email conversation with fellow forumite John Rutledge who amazingly told me he remembered us coming in to the shop and he also weighed in on who he thinks he built the guitar for originally. Perhaps he would share his ideas at some time!

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 12 Jun 2006 6:58 am

Great photos!
(#1111)

Larry Chung · Post by **Larry Chung** » 12 Jun 2006 7:20 am

Hi Tim:

Way too cool! The ZB Blue is an AMAZING color. I have a D-10 that's faded to light grey, but sure enough, just under the fretboards... voila, instant skyblue.

D-11 = very cool
White 11-string triple-coil pickups = very, very cool

Great pictures, thanks for posting and sharing, too. What a wonderful story and a great way to start Z-week.

All ZBest,
Larry

Tim Kauffroath · Post by **Tim Kauffroath** » 12 Jun 2006 7:26 am

Larry,
thanks for the kind words and gee I didn't notice until just now --my D-11 was post #1111 -just how lucky can a guy get! Maybe I should play the lottery tonight- if I won I could buy more Steel Guitars!

Duncan Hodge · Post by **Duncan Hodge** » 12 Jun 2006 3:37 pm

Great looking ZB, Tim. I'm #0093 & #0127. I guess 007 and Agent 86 are around somewhere. Wow, 35 years with the same steel. You are the very epitome of "acceptance". It still looks fantastic and very well taken care of and loved. My blue D-10 is feeling under the weather at the present time, but with a little more of my tweaking I believe that it will be on the mend. I just get the feeling that I am hurting it whenever I work on it.
Thanks again for the great pictures and the history. How much did it cost in 1971?
Duncan

Curt Jarvis · Post by **Curt Jarvis** » 12 Jun 2006 5:06 pm

Thanks for the reply Dave, As clearly as I can explain it. Ped 1 takes sting 1 up 1,5 dn 2,9 up 1: Ped 2 takes string 2 up 2, 6 dn 1: Ped 3 takes 3 up 1: Ped 4 takes 7dn 1, 9 dn 1: Ped 5 takes 4 up 1, 8 up 1..... The rest ofthe Pedals and levers apply to the C6 neck. I would think that these throws would have worked for a different tuning. I am thinking I would like to have an A and B pedal atleast to start, would the best plan be to try to switch the 5 Ped from raising the 4-8 strings to the 5-10 and useing the 3 Ped for the 3 string A and avoid the 6th string? Is there something you would recomend to lube any of the mech. This Steel #1062 is all red would it have come from the shop that way? Thanks

Chuck McGill · Post by **Chuck McGill** » 13 Jun 2006 7:29 am

OOOO and Ahhh. What a beauty. I need to post pics of my Scranton #1067. Does anyone
know what an original case looked like?

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 15 Jun 2006 10:57 am

A case of the ZeeBee GeeBee's on a bad hair day!. My first pic of me playing the Greg Jones restoration of #0115 built around 1969/1970 in Bakersfield.

DZ

Russ Tkac · Post by **Russ Tkac** » 15 Jun 2006 11:24 am

Dave,

Makes me a bit sad I sold #202. But I still have my D11/10 to play. Greg does some nice work!

Russ

Tim Kauffroath · Post by **Tim Kauffroath** » 15 Jun 2006 11:27 am

Dave, That's one beautiful ZB! I've thought about having Greg do the full "treatment" on my #0206 --seeing yours makes me start having the shakes, cold sweats and my wallet starts jumping in my pocket.
Look out Greg!

Mickey McGee · Post by **Mickey McGee** » 15 Jun 2006 11:44 am

Tim,Thanks for the photo! My friend the late great Ed Black(Linda Ronstadt-Silver Threads fame) had a D-10 ZB Custom just like yours he sold the guitar to someone in Calif.when he made a purchase of "66" black Emmons D-10-this brings back a lot good times in my mind.Thanks,Mickey.

------------------

Russ Tkac · Post by **Russ Tkac** » 15 Jun 2006 12:59 pm

Mickey,

Check out this thread on Ed Black.
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum15/HTML/008643.html

Russ<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Russ Tkac on 15 June 2006 at 01:59 PM.]</p></FONT>

Duncan Hodge · Post by **Duncan Hodge** » 15 Jun 2006 4:33 pm

I have a question. Who owns the rights to the name "ZB Custom" these days? Is it still owned by Zane Beck's family, or is it a matter of public domain these days?
Duncan

Russ Tkac · Post by **Russ Tkac** » 15 Jun 2006 5:09 pm

Duncan,

I don't think Zane's family has any claim to it since it was sold. Greg Jones bought the bulk of parts and the rights may be held by him. Greg, any thoughts?

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 15 Jun 2006 7:43 pm

The name rights are still owned by Basil Smith's family.