The Steel Guitar Forum

Here's my '99 400 Series Williams, it still looks, plays, and sounds just like the day I got it. I have broken a couple of strings on it, but I don't change them nearly as often as I should. On my other guitars, I probably break 3 or 4 a year.

Jani,
Man that is a sharp looking guitar, I am sure you are having fun with it!

Darvin,
I like that two tone look. Very sharp. I live down the road, we might need to get together sometime.

Mack

Beautifull geetar Jani!!
I'm coming to test drive it!! Maybe next week?

Matti Viitala wrote:Beautifull geetar Jani!!
I'm coming to test drive it!! Maybe next week?

You drink coffeé? I know you doo. youre welcome

Jani, congratulations on such a fine looking, playing, and sounding steel. The one Bill & Tim are crafting for me these next few months looks like a dead ringer with the exception of the extra pedal and fretboards. Great looking maple, eh? Have lots, and lots of fun. steve t

Darvin,how's the pedal travel on your Williams guitar,short,or long?

Kenny,

I have 2005 Williams D10 and the best way to describe it is medium and extremely smooth in it's travel.

I find that if a guitar has too short a travel it becomes very difficult to get half pedal moves and the strings pull to pitch so quickly that it makes it harder to play with expression.

Hey Dick Wood, I had to screw the pedal connectors further into or up the pedal rod to raise the pedal height. I found, by doing this that I did not have to pivot my foot as much when playing the split pedals also my toe end of the shoe did not come into contact with the pedal rods with the additional pedal height. I guess everybody has to make their little adjustments to get better playability.

Darvin Willhoite, 1999, is 9 years for two broken strings...not a bad record...you are going to send the string companies into bankruptcy...have a heart...LOL

Hey Jani, Your new Williams 600 Steel is a knockout..what a beauty...you are now KING OF FINLAND. Remember, in an earlier post, I told you it was worth waiting for. Jani, I have had my Williams 600 for 9 months now and have not broken one string yet and I am now using the C pedal a lot...just to see if I can break that E string.

Brad Malone wrote:Hey Jani, Your new Williams 600 Steel is a knockout..what a beauty...you are now KING OF FINLAND. Remember, in an earlier post, I told you it was worth waiting for. Jani, I have had my Williams 600 for 9 months now and have not broken one string yet and I am now using the C pedal a lot...just to see if I can break that E string.

you said it "worth waiting" we agreed with fedex that if the delivery arival is before 2 pm it should be delivered to my work, and if its past 2 pm itl be delivered to my home. And it came to my work, so i told the boss that ill go home earlier, and he said go go go HAHAHA

Jani, Does your new "Blue Marvel" Williams have wood or aluminum necks? My eyes can't discern from the photos. steve t

Steve. They are aluminum necks and they are polished from top to toe. usually they arent polished on top but i wanted it shiny.

I guess I get to be the newest member of the club! The fed-ex man brought mine this morning. Mine is a 400 series that I bought from Larry Beck here on the forum. I'll post a picture of it later today (after I wipe the drool off of it!).

Ok guys i need some new shots of your willy's
to get me through the next few months.

My new child is due late june /early july
Could you please help out a brother with a small fix?

Thanks

Mine is Blue 8-5, Ivory trim.




will post better picture when it arrives.


ernie

Here's my Williams 600 series, lacquer over curly maple. Larry J.

Hey Larry J., Your Steel looks exactly like mine except you have an extra floor pedal...how many knee levers do you have? Is yours a S10WB or SD10? The 600 series with the newly designed changer is miles ahead of the others IMHO...had mine since July 2007 and have not broken a string yet...less bending of the string at the changer is the answer to less string breakage and the Williams 600 does the job...good luck with your new Willy.

Hello Brad,
My Willy is the wide body, a little narrower than a standard single-double ten. I had this one built with the Franklin pedal and five knee levers.
I have owned this guitar less than a year, It stays set up in my shop for practice while my mica guitar goes out on the gigs. Bill makes a very nice product. I really like the fact that I'll never have to fish a ball end from a broken string out of this changer. And, I have only broken one string so far on my Willy...
Larry J.

Larry, The S10wide body you have is a wise choice...it is only 2 and 3/16" narrower than a D10 and the leg stance is the same, so stability is the same as a D-10. I have 7 knee levers on mine but only use 5...I just keep the other two folded up..never really needed them. Like you say, the changer on the Series 600 is great...no pin breakage to worry about and changing strings is so much easier..Bill has the patent on this changer and anyone trying to copy it may face legal problems.

All these pictures are awesome! I ordered a S12 Universal widebody from Bill about a month ago, I CAN'T WAIT TO GET IT!!!

Brad Malone wrote:less bending of the string at the changer is the answer to less string breakage and the Williams 600 does the job.

Mr. Broken Record here. Maybe everybody knows this already, but the Williams 400 series changer is no different from the 600 in that respect.

The 600 changer does have design changes--the fingers are steel rather than aluminum, and putting strings on is probably a little quicker and easier than on the 400 because the string goes through a hole at the back of the finger, but for me, at least, putting strings on is a breeze on the 400.

It's hard to say for sure, as the website is not yet updated, but I assume the 600 series has replaced the 400 and 400s are no longer being made. But the above information might be useful to potential buyers on the used market. I'm not certain if there are Williams guitars predating the 400 Series that lack the less-bending finger design, but the 400 definitely has it.

IF indeed there are NOT Williams guitars that LACK this feature, you could stop me from nipping at your heels, Brad, by just referring to the "Williams" changer design when talking about the less-bend-at the-changer feature (and the no-pin feature), and drop the potentially misleading (by omission) "600 Series" from those references.

It's a minor point, I know. Really. I'm just saying...

Hey Brint You are 100% correct, both the 400 and 600 changers are designed for less bending of the strings, resulting in less breakage.

Larry Beck wrote:

Curley maple apron, tiger maple top. Al. Neck 8 X 8.
(pedal 4 works on both necks)

After seeing how good your front apron looks I'm having Bill build my D10 with a quilted front and tiger top!

thanks for the pic

Does any of you guys have XR16'S on your Willy ?