Sghof

Craig A Davidson · Post by **Craig A Davidson** » 26 Jun 2001 7:18 pm

In a previous posting some names were brought up by Bobby Lee that sounded like good candidates. I would also like to suggest a couple more, who without their inovation, the pedal steel might have taken a little longer to develope. These two would be Paul Bigsby and Leo Fender. Freddie Tavares might have worked on the design, but I guarantee Leo had a lot to do with it. And Paul built some of the first pedal guitars. It's just a thought, now. I'm not looking for heated arguments.

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1985 Emmons push-pull, Session 500, Nashville400, 65 re-issue Fender Twin, Fender Tele

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 27 Jun 2001 2:22 am

Hm excellent choices nominate them.,although they are more widely know for there Guitar genius.

J D Sauser · Post by **J D Sauser** » 27 Jun 2001 8:17 am

While I share our fascination for those beautiful Bigsby steel guitars, Paul Bigsby came about 10 years late to be the first to build pedal steels... Check out Gibson, the Harlin Bros. and maybe even C. Wright for a little history lesson.
I think that at one time somebody will have to put up a separate "Builders HOF", maybe even as a subsection of the actual SG-HOF.
There are current members of the SG-HOF that would belong in there too.

... J-D.

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 27 Jun 2001 8:23 am

In a builders HOF, you would have to include Chuck Wright, Ron Lashley, Bud Carter and Gene Fields. Shot Jackson is already in the SGHOF, but he's another one who's more well known for his guitars than for his music.

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 27 Jun 2001 11:48 am

Not a bad Idea fellas also include Dwayne Marrs who for years has been a solid person of the Steel Guitar,Jim Vest great picking status and for his Idea of having a ISGC. And Paul Franklin Senior who deserves accolades if not for the great machine he produces,but for Paul Jr.who produces great music with such.And for guys in the trenches who continue the efforts Like Jerry Fessenden,Yes bud Carter,Fulakawa,the Sierra builders,and once again Maurice Anderson for his developement skills to the industry.The new JcH by Jimmy Crawford and John Hughey. this could go on forever. Without these people and I have omited others there cannot be a SGHOF in the future years.There should be a builders corner.

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CJC

Craig A Davidson · Post by **Craig A Davidson** » 30 Jun 2001 6:46 am

So that gives us a whole new avenue to go down. But still don't some of these early pioneer builders deserve to be there someday?

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1985 Emmons push-pull, Session 500, Nashville400, 65 re-issue Fender Twin, Fender Tele

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 30 Jun 2001 7:12 am

Didn't the Harlin brothers invent the pedal steel? I don't know much about them. Seems that they should get some recognition.

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (E9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic)
Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)

Craig A Davidson · Post by **Craig A Davidson** » 30 Jun 2001 8:58 am

Bobby that is so true and that's what I'm talking about. The people that built them. I really have a place in my heart for Leo and Paul. There are others and some were before Bigsby. But, Buddy wanted metal necks like a Bigsby, not a multichord, or any of the guitars Gibson made. I think Leo and Paul deserve something. I guess they would be modern-day inovators.[This message was edited by Craig A Davidson on 30 June 2001 at 10:00 AM.]

J D Sauser · Post by **J D Sauser** » 30 Jun 2001 7:30 pm

Harlin Bros. vs. Gibson... I am too young to really make a statement here, but I lean towards Gibson. It seems true that Harlin Bros. must have had a Patent first (I don't have the date nor a copy of the Patent if somebody has it, I'd like to have it) as they did win a law suit against Gibson which forced to Gibson to go back and issue later models with a raise or lower only changer (vs. the previous raise and lower changer).
Based on the little information I have about the Gibson side of the story, the invention was brought to the attention of Gibson by a machinist by the name of John Moore, an amateur player of Winsted, Connecticut (and apparently also guitar teacher in Ohio) before or during WW-II. Prototypes were made at the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo during the war and Wilbur Marker demonstrated the Gibson Electraharp in 1944. Commercial release of the early Gibson Electraharp was officially may have been only after the end of WW-II (?) . As I understand, Alvino Rey was also heavily involved into the whole deal (now, here's one fella I'd like to spend an afternoon noon with, drinking tea and listening to old stories!

).
One fellow Forumite, Al Marcus, with whom I have been so fortunate to be able to exchange a couple of e-mails on this subject, could probably share some more insight, as he played an early Electraharp (right Al?) for many, many years.

I have had much less insight into the Harlin Bros. history. Maybe that's why I still lean towards Gibson...

Anyway, I would really wish we could start a new thread about all this, as this is a very dear subject to me and I would really like to see the "enigma" resolved.
Update: Just done it myself: History or the Pedal Steel Guitar (Let's have it!).

As for metal necks: I think it was fellow Forumite David Wright, son of pioneer guitar builder Chuck Wright (right, Wright?) that not too long ago posted a catalog picture of a PSG that had surprising similarities to a Bigsby (yes, one piece key-head-metal-necks) but was dated some time in the late '40's. Bigsby's first PSG was built for my hero Speedy West sometime in the mid '50's (and didn't actually even yet bear the "Bigsby" logo).

... J-D.
[This message was edited by J D Sauser on 02 July 2001 at 07:54 AM.]

Mike Weirauch · Post by **Mike Weirauch** » 30 Jun 2001 10:21 pm

Didn't the Harlin brothers invent the pedal steel?

No! It was really Smiley Roberts.

ASK HIM!

Bob Knight · Post by **Bob Knight** » 1 Jul 2001 2:55 am

Shot Jackson is already in the SGHOF, but he's another one who's more well known for his guitars than for his music.

b0b,
Rarely do I disagree with your opinions, but I have to on this one.

Shot was a pretty well known picker to some of us "old farts".

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>One of the premiere steel guitar and Dobro players of the postwar generation, Shot Jackson was a solo and session artist who also gained fame as a designer and manufacturer of musical instruments. Born Harold B. Jackson on September 4, 1920 in Wilmington, North Carolina, he earned the nickname "Buckshot"—later abbreviated to simply "Shot"—while still a child. His interest in music also began at an early age, and he became a devoted fan of the Grand Ole Opry, in particular of Roy Acuff's Smoky Mountain Boys and their Dobro player Bashful Brother Oswald. In 1941, Jackson joined the house band on a local country radio station, and in 1944, he moved to Nashville to sign on with the Opry as a sideman for Cousin Wilbur Westbrooks.
After a year in the Navy, Jackson began playing electric steel guitar with the Bailes Brothers, and continued performing with the group throughout their tenure on the Shrevport, Lousiana station KWKH's Louisiana Hayride program. After the Bailes Brothers left the show, Jackson remained at KWKH, where he performed and recorded with the likes of Webb Pierce, Jimmie Osborne and Red Sovine. In 1951, he joined Johnnie & Jack's Tennessee Mountain Boys, and over the next half-dozen years, he played Dobro on virtually all of the group's live dates and studio sessions. He also played on many of Kitty Wells' first hits, in addition to recording a few solo sides.

In 1957, Jackson fulfilled a personal dream by becoming the electric steel player for Acuff's Smoky Mountain Boys, and remained with the group for five years. During his affiliation with Acuff, Jackson and Buddy Emmons designed an electric pedal steel guitar; to market it, they founded their own company, Sho-Bud. Gradually, the company's success began to absorb more and more of Jackson's time, and he left the Smoky Mountain Boys, although he did remain an active musician, particularly as a steel player for Melba Montgomery, who had also left Acuff to go solo some time before. In addition to working with Montgomery (on both her solo work and her duets with George Jones), he recorded with many other artists, and even cut his own solo LP, Singing Strings of Steel Guitar and Dobro, in 1962.

Jackson rejoined Acuff full-time in 1964, but his tenure abruptly ended in July of 1965 when he, Acuff and singer June Stearns were all sidelined by a near-fatal car crash. After a long recovery period, he began performing with his wife Donna Darlene, a former vocalist on the Jamboree program; in 1965, he also issued the solo record Bluegrass Dobro. His latest creation, a seven-string resonator guitar called the Sho-Bro, hit the market not long after, and again, Jackson distanced himself from music to focus on business. Still, he continued to play on occasion, rejoining the Bailes Brothers for a number of reunion concerts and recordings. He also hooked up with the Roy Clark Family Band for a pair of albums and appearances on the TV program Hee Haw. In 1980, Baldwin-Gretsch purchased Sho-Bud, and three years later, Jackson sold his instrument repair business as well. Soon after retirement, he suffered a stroke which left him unable to speak and play music. In 1986, he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame; shortly after suffering another stroke several years later, Shot Jackson died on January 24, 1991.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> — Jason Ankeny
[This message was edited by Bob Knight on 01 July 2001 at 04:48 AM.]

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 1 Jul 2001 7:40 am

I stand corrected.

Mike Cass · Post by **Mike Cass** » 1 Jul 2001 10:53 pm

I believe Speedy's Bigsby was a '48 ??? help please from Paul Warnik ...btw, I did mention Paul Bigsby as a candidate in an earlier thread dealing with this subject, but it cant be said too often , imho

J D Sauser · Post by **J D Sauser** » 2 Jul 2001 6:56 am

Yes Mike. Thanks! We just cleared this up in the new thread History of the Pedal Steel Guitar (let's have it!) over at the Pedal Steel section of the Forum.

Thanks! ... J-D.

Paul Warnik · Post by **Paul Warnik** » 4 Jul 2001 8:03 am

The Gibson and the Harlin Bros multi-chord steels may have pre-dated the first Bigsbys but they are not highly regarded by most players and they had pedals that were attached between the left side front and back legs-Bigsby was the first to build a MODERN steel with pedals on rack across the front-not to mention tone that makes a multi-chord sound sick-the earliest date that I have seen on a Bigsby steel is in Oct 1947-Paul Bigsby deserves to be in the Hall Of Fame because any of us who ever pushed a pedal on a Sho-Bud,Emmons,or most any other steel,is picking on what evolved from the Bigsby