How many steel players are there in the world?

Peter Feller · Post by **Peter Feller** » 13 Oct 2003 1:07 pm

I was on the phone with Bobbe Seymour one time, and I asked him that question. Without an instant's hesitation he replied 'one hundred eight two thousand six hundred and forty four'. Then after some reflection, he revised the format of his estimate into a ratio of about 100 six string players to 1 pedal steel player. Does anybody have any thoughts about those numbers?

Nick Reed · Post by **Nick Reed** » 13 Oct 2003 1:15 pm

A Bunch!

Leon Eneboe · Post by **Leon Eneboe** » 13 Oct 2003 1:51 pm

Peter, who knows how many steel players in the world, but obviously there are not as many as we wish (at least in comparison to other pickers). This is easy to see when you go in to the average music store, and you are not going to see any pedal steels or related products, because they cannot tie up the money in somethings that so few people are interested in. Those music store operators who do stock and sell pedal steel "stuff" do a great job, and I know they are appreciated. Out here in the Dakotas, you would have to beat the bushes pretty hard to find a pedal steel in a music store, and I understand. Getting back to your question, there just is not a lot of people looking for such an instrument. But...I want to say that every steel picker I have ever met is having a great time with PSG and there is sort of a special bond of friendship, that I have observed in the PSG circles.

Leon Eneboe, ShoBud LDG, Williams S12

Rick Collins · Post by **Rick Collins** » 13 Oct 2003 1:54 pm

182,645

Bobbe might know me.

C Dixon · Post by **C Dixon** » 13 Oct 2003 2:02 pm

A long time ago, I was told from mailing lists that Tom Bradshaw and Jeff Newman has, that it was estimated to be around 30,000.

In terms of regular guitar players, that would make it hardly worth mentioning; which saddens me to NO end if true,

carl

John Drury · Post by **John Drury** » 13 Oct 2003 3:03 pm

Peter,

I heard Bobbe make that 1% statement also, if anyone could make an educated guess it would be him. A lot of players own more than one guitar but consider how many have been built.
I believe Duane Marrs once estimated the Sho~Buds at around 10,000. From what I have gathered about the first generation MSA's I figure there are somewhere around 17,000 of them. Not sure about Emmons but by now I would think there are at least 30,000 of them floating around out there. Add well over a thousand Carters to that and the Ricks, Gibsons, Fenders, Nationals, Dobros, and what have you, plus what many other limited or low production builders have made and the number of players should be somewhere between Bobbe's estimate of 182,645 and Nick Reed's "a bunch".

John Drury
NTSGA #3

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 13 Oct 2003 3:42 pm

I don't know about the Sho-Buds, but I'd say that '30,000' Emmons would be unlikely.

I had a new LeGrande in '98, then a second one twenty-seven months later - they'd made less than 300 guitars in all that time. I was going by serial numbers, but Jim A. confirmed that to me anyway.

I bet the real figure is less than ten thousand.

RR <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Roger Rettig on 13 October 2003 at 04:42 PM.]</p></FONT>

Fred Einspruch · Post by **Fred Einspruch** » 13 Oct 2003 3:48 pm

If you could determine the number of pedal steel guitars ever made, and divide by how many guitars the average PSGer owns, you might get close. I think you would have to divide by at least 2.....

I was wondering just how many Sho-Buds were made though.......

John Drury · Post by **John Drury** » 13 Oct 2003 4:24 pm

Roger,

Yeah, you are probably right, that would put them at about 800 axes a year since the company started and now. That would be a lot. I bet Seymour has a close idea of the total number of Emmons made. I reckon he could tell you within a dozen how many Push-Pulls were made, when I was working for him at SGN he once showed me a detailed sheet showing the production numbers w/sn's of the Push Pulls.

John Drury
NTSGA #3

George Kimery · Post by **George Kimery** » 13 Oct 2003 4:50 pm

A quick, short cut way to figure the number of Pedal Steels would be to just count the legs and divide by 4. Of course this method, as ingenious as it is, would not tell you how many of each brand there are.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 13 Oct 2003 5:03 pm

Right, John.

I recall Jim saying that it was a good month if they 'shipped' twenty guitars.

At between, say, $2500 and $4500 per steel, it's easy to see that there's not a fortune to be made, and Emmons are, or have been, at least as prolific as anyone in the field.

Now I've done the sums, I'm even more grateful to the guys that build them!

Roger R.

Gary Walker · Post by **Gary Walker** » 13 Oct 2003 6:53 pm

Knowing the number of steels produced isn't necessarily the amount of players as some pickers have more than one and maybe some have gone to the bonepile. Add these to the steels sitting around in closets, shops and storage areas now in the possession of heirs of departed steelers, the figure keeps getting smaller. I was hoping one of my sons would take up the steel but one is a drummer and the other doesn't playing any kind of instrument. Too bad.

Post by **b0b** » 13 Oct 2003 7:04 pm

Moved to the 'Steel Players' section of the Forum.