The Steel Guitar Forum

I find it difficult to believe that, out of all the people who have built pedal steel guitars, past and present, sometimes devoting their whole life to it, and all the people who have renovated psg's, past and present, only one person has discovered a way to enhance the tone

richard burton wrote:I find it difficult to believe that, out of all the people who have built pedal steel guitars, past and present, sometimes devoting their whole life to it, and all the people who have renovated psg's, past and present, only one person has discovered a way to enhance the tone

Has anyone suggested that only one person done that?

Brad M. Wilburn Meeks is an honest and honorable man who has almost reached my age. Why don't you email him for the entire story. You might be surprised.


phred

Fred S, Wilburn Meeks just made a testimonial post on this thread on 3-17-09, I'm sure he is able to state his opinion without help from others.

RICHARD B. just wanted to ask you a few ?? did the WRIGHT BROS. have people before them fly , what about other people did they not do it first, I personally worked on this for 3 + years before even coming to the forum with it. and still finding new ways to do the mod on different guitars each day I work on them. Thats my nature never ever quit trying to improve what is not perfect. Is your guitar perfect in every way my friend, mine isn't and was never and further more in my BOOK never will be perfect but it is much closer than any I've played from anyone yet.

ps: There is very few that have played my personal guitar but as of now it is the bench mark for my e9th playing and what I try to achieve with every guitar that I work on. Do you take that kind of pride in your work???

What make is your personal guitar, Tommy.

If it was as bad as you say it was (when you first got it) then forumites should be forewarned.

Incidentally, now that you have told us that you are a player, we need to know your level of ability, as a poor workman often blames his tools.

A pedal steel, no matter how well made it is, will always sound bad in the hands of an unskilled player.

RICHARD; Soon as you answer my ?? someone that knows nothing always asks ?? without knowing what or whom he states his unknowing opionions.

FYI, I sat down to Tommys guitar in Dallas, it was alive top to bottom of the neck, I don't know what he does, but sounded good to me....

TY, my friend, I don't believe you could have bought this much advertisement for the tone enhancement(mod)anywhere else. Wow!

richard burton wrote:What make is your personal guitar, Tommy.

If it was as bad as you say it was (when you first got it) then forumites should be forewarned.

Incidentally, now that you have told us that you are a player, we need to know your level of ability, as a poor workman often blames his tools.

A pedal steel, no matter how well made it is, will always sound bad in the hands of an unskilled player.

You can look through this Forum and find many posts describing individual instruments of almost any brand losing sustain above the 12th fret.

Mr. Burton, I would like to see video of your playing. Your tone and chops must be awesome.

I apologize for the snarkiness of this post, but I ahd to say it.

Tommy,
I believe that there was a short, unrecognised flight, by Welshman, Suidae Bacon, before the Wright Brothers entered the record books.

To answer your other questions, yes, my guitar is perfect in every way, and, indeed, I do take pride in what I do.

Rich P,
I have plenty of videos on Youtube, look for 'steelie1955'

Hey people, I would suggest that you not judge TY's mod in the abstract but give yourself the experience of sitting down and spending some time with his "Max tone mod" before making a judgement. Many people have taken their time to give positive testimonials about TY's work so that means a lot. People who have not taken the time to experience TY's work should do so before making a judgement. People who make judgements without experience do not have the credentials to qualify for the job..get the experience, then talk...WALK THE WALK BEFORE YOU TALK THE TALK.

Brad Malone wrote:People who make judgements without experience do not have the credentials to qualify for the job..get the experience, then talk...WALK THE WALK BEFORE YOU TALK THE TALK.

Exactly! As I wrote earlier, "Ask the man who owns one."

Richard B., I listened to a few of your videos, and you do have a good tone and chops. Your steels do not "need" the TY treatment (although that does not mean they might not get some benifit from it.) There is nothing wrong with you having doubts about the "mod," but there is no justification in your certainty about it.

P.S. I've subscribed to your channel.

Just a note to add about Tommy's integrity and workmanship. I have been to his shop, traveled with him. This is his only form of renumeration. He has had many back operations and most of the time has great pain. Yet he will load up his van and go to a show and set up and do everything he can to help anyone there to do anything he can. Many times have to sit down from the excrutiating pain and can hardly get his breath from unloading 3 or 4 steels just so people can check him out. Most of the time the modded steels are always talked about and known mostly for cutting thru the mix with distingished difference in the high tones.
Tommy constantly studies steel sounds and has one of the best ears I have ever heard. He plays all the great steel players all the time and listens to the sounds they are getting. Most of these recordings were made in a studio to make the instrument sound its best, (that could be called a mod) I,ve seen the same people play on their favorite steel and, play the same songs they recorded and sound nothing like the recording. Course thats true of singers too.
If you haven't heard or played "The MOD" I would reserve my judgement until I did. If you have and don't feel your guitar needs it, Tommy will be the first to congratulate you. Every one has an ear for what he likes so let them like it. I communicated with Brad Malone and we discussed guitars for weeks and he chose the Williams 600 and loves it. Things are too tough and time is too short to do anything but support one another. Quit being so easily offended, including you Tommy. If you have a better mouse trap the world will beat a path to Ethelsville and you don't have to worry. Can you mod a singer, my high tones are getting a little thin.
Love and appreciate all you wonderful steelers who have blessed me and helped me so much fom the greatest player to the worst.This is a fellowship lke no other instrument can claim.
Love,joy, and peace to you all,
Doc Rickles
PS
Send Bob an appreciation offering for all he does
and let him know how much you enjoy this forum.
I don't even know if he needs it but he deserves it.

Rich P:
Thanks for your comments on my playing, and for subscribing to my videos

I haven't made any new videos for a while, I seem to have lost the urge, but hopefully I'll be doing another one soon.

"My guitar is perfect in every way"

I want one of those! A guitar that defies the laws of our physical universe!

Unrecognized is right, I googled Welshman, Suidae Bacon and got nothing.

For what it's worth: I own a pre BCT Carter D-10 that had Tommy's mod done before I got it. It's a very good sounding guitar, very clean and lots of sustain. I can not see any evidence of work done, except for the small sticker Tommy put on it. The Carter sounds great, but I don't think it sounds better then my '81 Emmons p/p or my Fessenden D-10. I do think it sounds better then the Magnum I used to own. So, I would say, if you are happy with the sound of your guitar, don't be worry about it. If you are not happy, perhaps consider having Tommy work on it.

I don't know Tommy Young, and from what I've read he offers a service for a fee that people find useful. That is Capitalism! If one doesn't like the product, don't buy it. If it is not a good product the market will decide if it has a future.

However, I tend to be skeptical of testimonials. Once someone buys something they tend to be proud of their "find" and be very defensive of the product. But, testimonials can be useful if you investigate and remain open minded and accept them for what they are; just that person's opinion!

Also, don't be surprised if something everyone seems to be convinced is ground shaking wonderful, turns out to be less than what you would like.

On the matter of tone. If our guitars had all of the tone we think they do, I'm not sure we could remain in the same room with them. All of the accepted brands of guitars we have to choose from sound great, and work wonderful, right out of the box! I think with many people it's like a new pickup truck. No matter how many options we ordered from the factory, it ain't enough.

Mark,
I agree, there is very little known about Suidae.

His other claim to fame is as the great-grandfather of a well known London based entrepreneurial family firm of import/export goods, Trotters Independent Traders.

They revolutionised delivery times by using a three-wheeled van, affectionately known as a 'Plastic Pig'

RICHARD THAT SURE IS A Strange VEHICLE you posted a picture of I'm just glad we here in the states don't have to drive close to those type of vehicles, the roll over is so great when turning these WILD DRIVERS here would be upside down all the time with a death rate the size of TEXAS.. BUT then again maybe we need a few to give the drug dealers for a while that might thin them down to a minimum.

But that has nothing to do with my MAX-TONE MODIFICATIONS, and your approach that I do nothing to these guitars,, the saying you had that you have a perfect guitar as I have never herd one ((perfect guitar)))and I did go to you tube and listen to your attempt to impress me with the tone you had.. your playing ability was good but the tone you reached wasn't what I liked at all, some was dark while others was thin and not at all rich, sorry but not what turned me on to the STEEL GUITAR,, you need to listen to some of the pros more and try to get their richness and clarity of notes without all the amp setting you had to do to achieve the ""TONE""you reached. or maybe you need to have a MOD done to get the guitar to reach those goals without all the darkness on the one guitar and the thinness on the other.That has nothing to do with your execution, as I stated that was good in my opinion..

I listened to some of Richards' Youtube picking; good stuff! I think his guitars sound very good. I don't know why someone would think Richards sound or guitars needed modifying.

I HAVE NOT LISTENED TO RICHARD'S VIDEO'S AND IM SURE HE IS A GREAT PLAYER. LIKE WHAT WAS STATED BEFORE DONT JUDGE BEFORE CHECKING IT OUT. STEEL GUITAR'S ARE MECHANICAL AND WEAR DOWN OVER TIME ESPECIALLY IF NOT PROPERLY CARED FOR.

TOMMY HAS TOLD ME HOW IMPRESSED SOME OF THE PRO'S HAVE BEEN IMPRESSED WITH HIS MOD. EVEN SOME BUILDER'S. YOUR WRIGHT, DAVID WRIGHT, HAHA. TOMMY'S GUITARS SOUND GREAT AWESOME SUSTAIN ALL THE WAY UP THE NECK AND RICH FULL SOUND.

OK, I LET TOMMY MOD MY MULLEN I BOUGHT USED OFF THE FORUM, HAD NO IDEA HOW WELL IT WAS TAKEN CARE OF OR HOW OLD IT WAS JUST KNOW IT IS A PRE ROYAL PRECISION.
IN MY OPINION MULLEN MAKES AN AWESOME GUITAR AND THE NEW G2 IS GREAT BUT I AINT GOT $5000-6000 LAYING AROUND TO GET ONE. ANYWAY I LET TOMMY GO THROUGH MY GUITAR CLEAN IT UP PUT HIS MOD ON AND THE DIFFERENCE IT MADE WAS AMAZING, BETTER SUSTAIN, FULL RICH TONE.

I DOUBTED HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE THERE COULD BE IN CABLES BUT TOMMY HAD SOME FROM A CERTAIN VENDOR I TESTED AGAINST MINE AND THE PROOF WAS THERE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME.

SO EVEN IF YOU HAVE YOUR DOUBTS ABOUT IT, BEFORE JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS OR MAKIN HARSH REMARKS AND EVERYBODY GETTIN IN A BATTLE OF WORDS MATCH, TRY IT OUT AND SEE WHAT YOU THINK. IT IS A LITTLE MORE DIFFICULT TO TELL ON A GUITAR THAT IS NOT YOUR OWN BUT NOW THAT I HAVE HAD MINE DONE I HATE THAT I WAITED THIS LONG.

IT IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE YOUR SIGNATURE SOUND, JUST LIKE YOU HERE JOHN HUGHEY YOU KNOW ITS JOHN, SAME WITH BUDDY, PAUL JR OR TOMMY WHITE. BUT WE ALL HAVE THAT SOUND WE ARE LOOKIN FOR. FOR OURSELVES.
IF I SOUND GOOD TO ME THEN I PLAY BETTER AND ENJOY IT THAT MUCH MORE. IF YOU ALREADY HAVE WHAT YOU ARE LOOKIN FOR THEN THAT IS AWESOME, AND SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF.

TOMMY YOUNG IS ALSO A GREAT PERSON AND WILL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY HE CAN, AND HE IS STRAIGHT FORWARD WITH YOU AND TELLS YOU LIKE IT IS. HE HAS REALLY HELPED ME OUT AND I MUST SAY A GREAT BIG THANKS. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK TOMMY.

Jeremy, thank you for responding to this thread and giving your positive testimonial about TY's Steel guitar Max Tone Mod. You are the third guy from Ala. to Chime this thread.

Well I going to chime in from Louisiana, Tommy I am seriously thinking about calling you and possibly see about doing a mod on my guitar. Can do a mod on an Emmons P/P? I have an older Emmons and would like to me it feels like the tone has gone away some what.
Tommy Shown

TOMMY;;; WOULD BE GLAD TO DO YOUR """EMMONS P/P""THERE'S ONE IN THE SHOP NOW, ANOTHER IS ON ITS WAY BE HERE TOMORROW ALL P/P ISN'T THAT A COINSIDENCE OF THAT PARTICULAR CONSTRUCTION,


THEY DO HAVE THEIR ON VOICING EVEN AFTER THE MOD IS APPLIED IT JUST ENHANCES IT. THANKS 205-658-1005