The Steel Guitar Forum

Joe,

Experience is the best teacher. I'm reminded repeatedly by a few members to cool it, give it up, pick up your tools and go home! One said, I'm "In the fog", another claims that everything I say is B.S., while a few are very fond of correcting my grammar. I can't complain, lest I find my way home, to enjoy the freedom from verbal bitterness. When your tire blows, call the garage just over the brow of the hill. I will have vacated the area.

The car suddenly veered off the road and we came to a sliding halt in the gravel. I was hurled against the dashboard. My attorney was slumped over the wheel.

“What’s wrong?” I yelled.

“We can’t stop here. This is bat country!"

Chris,

Reminds me of the black as ink night that my wife and I were driving along the State Forest section of route 20 in Chester, MA. Traveling at 50 m.p.h. the lights of the vehicle switched off. After traveling a few tenths of mile in total darkness my wife applied the brakes to stop the forward movement of the vehicle. You can talk about your bats, I doubt if you and your lawyer friend could top that frightful moment. I'm very lucky to be around after traveling to and from jobs along country highways for 30 + years.

Chris, are the cables used on aircraft trustworthy? Your profile has you listed as an aircraft mechanic.
I thought it might be worthwhile to inquire for many reasons. Mainly their usage in steel guitars.

Bill - Considering 90% of the aircraft I fly are 65+ years old and all cable controlled, I'd have to say they are very trustworthy. I put my life, my familiy and friends lives and customers lives in those cables every day.

Of course the bats were not as bad as the bullets hitting the plane the last time I flew for the government.

"In God we trust, everything else we check".

Chris,

I wouldn't want to delay in thanking you for this vital information. To say that I'm pleased to learn of your trust, would be the understatement of the day. What a marvelous conclusion to offer your faith in cables as testimony of their exceptional usefulness. I'm indebted to you for providing the forum readers with information that can be taken to the bank. I'm very gratified to learn from someone whom is most trustworthy in the work of providing safety features to protect others from harm.

Mr. Bill,You won't post photos if some one asks you,won't post music clips of you playing if someone asks you,but you can come up with such BS excuses faster than a speeding bullett. You should get on America's Got Talent. YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

50 MPH in ink black darkness with the lights switched OFF. ..Guess we don't have to wonder any longer.

Charles,

By the same token, you would excel in painting abstract pictures. It's very difficult to characterize your motives. You must know by now that my respect for the players who perform on you tube is unlimited. I wouldn't consider presenting a haphazard production. I simply know better. If I proceeded in filling your request, I'd not want to goof around by jumping into a situation that was lacking in necessary accompaniment. The more professional... all the better.

This thread should probably be moved to "Pedal Steel", since it seems to be mostly about cabled guitars.

Bill, the guitar I saw cable breakage on was a Domland Stereo. The only other cable guitars I ever remember messing with (and not extensively) were Fenders, and 800 and a 2000. I would wage that the Domland probably had a worse time with cable breakage than the Fenders, because the changer was tighter and the cables were smaller gauge, as I recall. The Domland at least had cables that probably had an especially hard job as far as cable jobs go, having the slack yanked hard out of them every time you hit those pedals, and again, being pretty darn small gauge for the job. Actually, I only broke one or two as I recall, but the owner before me had all manner of trouble with it.

I'm sure you can agree that cables are just like anything else: they come in different sizes, have different construction, are made of different materials, and do different jobs. There may be more appropriate gauges than what that particular guitar had but Bill...that was just one possible reason among many that cables have fallen out of favor.

This has all gotten me thinking about this subject of cables on a steel guitar. I can see one or two other disadvantages — namely the need for a changer that works a different way, and the difference in pull timing — but not too many advantages...except for one: one might be able to make the mechanism quieter and more gentle. As far as cables running out of slack (which, even if this didn't wear out the cables, it's still not a nice feeling) I guess you could insert a tough spring on one end of the cable or the other, and have a positive stop on your pedal and that should take care of the problem. The changer, if you had it like on the 2000 where you had "strips" (I call them that because that's kind of how they were as I recall — whatever they were, they were the members on the changer that you hooked the cable ends directly to) and two degrees of raise for both lower and raise, might not work out for those who want up to three different degrees of raise and/or lower on at least one string. Then again, one might be able to engineer one that had three, and then you could do darn near anything, so that might also be and advantage. The tuning would be even more accurate, in theory. Now as for timing the pulls...I don't know what you'd do about that. If you've got a pedal that pulls two strings, one is really short and one is really long, and if you have a cable hooked to a pulley as on the steels I've seen, the pulls will just get there when they get there. On cross-shaft-and-rod guitars, you can make them go at different speeds relative to your pedal. This problem wouldn't bother everyone, I know, but it might not be a good selling point. Cabinet drop might be affected by the difference between rod and cable, but I don't know how much...negligible I'd guess.

I'm sure that builders would use cables if they were better, but I'm very, very sure that they could tell you more about drawbacks and such much better than I could. But you know, Bill, if I were going to build a steel, I'd give cables some consideration. If I were going for world's hairiest copedent, cables would probably be the best choice.

I like the idea of a positive stop on the pedal and a stretchy spring buffer, actually. That might make for a smooth riding guitar.

Duane,

Your response is an excellent example of logic. It certainly deserves very well thought out answers on my part by focusing on each strong point that you've made. If you will excuse me, I want to spend some time winding down by calling it a day. I'll get right to it by responding in the morning. Thanks for the category reminder. On second thought, I do not wish to be booted out of steel players column. Please... no more cable discussions. I'm in full agreement with your suggestion. Thanks for the enjoyable message.

Bill,as allways NOTHING but BS,in responce to any POST. Can't you see what a lame excuse it is [I WON'T POST A CLIP BECAUSE IT MAY NOT BE PERFECT] Talk about LAME .Do you think someone would think you should rent a top dollar studio and spend BIG bucks to put an example of your playing on Mr. Tilly's site.I have cuts on there I just did at home on a little cheap recorder,[I'm sure a lot of other guys put home made music on there.]They or myself are not afraid or ashamed of what we do,[ARE YOU] YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

In keeping with the thread's title, "Road To Stardom" Duane Reese has reminded me to heed the categories. I had previously spent some time exchanging ideas that may have awakened incentives, which in turn produces the will to devote more time practicing on "The Road To Stardom". I'm aware of the reasons for a great number of "beginners" laying down some serious hard earned cash for various makes and models of manufactured steel guitars. I'm sure that a 1000 page hard cover book, published in fine print, entitled "Marketing Steel Guitars", would cover just a small portion of the bickerings and sales pitches that have have ensued since the early 50's. Chapter after chapter of verbatim quotations of such "Road To Stardom" professionals as Curley Chalker, Jimmy Day, Pete Drake, Buddy Emmons, Paul Franklin, Lloyd Green, and so many others. None would be excluded. If only it would be possible to bring together the treasured quotations for posterity. The smotherings of pertinent data could be revitalized for as long as young hearts beat with enthusiasm when they hear the sounds produced by steel guitarists, all through the 21st century, and beyond. Speaking of climbing mountains, the analogous similarity between publishing such a book, and climbing a lofty peak is worthy of mentioning. A concerted effort by a great number of enthusiasts may tip the scales in favor of accomplishing such a feat.

Okay Bill, I started a spur thread over in "Pedal Steel" just for the topic of cabled guitars...
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... 9f#1646457
Now this thread can get back to a discussion about being "apprised of the road to stardom".

b0b,

Please close this thread. It isn't doing well in terms of participating writers. The lull is lasting into overtime. Thanks..

b0b, please keep this thread open. It kinda keeps everything in one place. If you close it, another will open and then we'll be right back here. Maybe this post will top the ZB post for the greatest number of posts in SGF history.
Bill, if you are no longer interested in continuing this post. Why don't just stop replying to it and start another one?
Duncan

Hahaha!!!!!!

Duncan,He will allways ask for a thread to be closed when people start asking questions he does NOT want to answer [Because he's afraid to ]When he can't skirt an issue with BS and nonsense then he starts yelling close this thread. YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

Hey Duncan, I think b0b is already ahead of you on this. Bill has asked for this to be closed several times and it hasn't happened yet. Let's see if we can't rekindle things...

Bill,

Regarding the original topic of this thread, that being an analysis of amateurs "apprised of the road to stardom" and inspired to chase after the dream of emulating the likes of legendary supporting musicians...let me just clarify: are these the same people who you have observed turning into songwriters, producing lyrics which not as many people can relate to?

Duane,

No, the people that I admire, recognize a hot trail. They set out upon it, and never look back. They blaze trails never traveled before, opening one door after another, asking questions, or skirting around obstacles that obstruct his line of vision. His forward movement gains momentum as he reaches the outer edges of the turf of hope. Like breaking the sound barrier he swoops into the land of country music.

Actually, I didn't close it because I haven't been following it. Now that it's been called to my attention, I have closed it per Bill's request.

Bill owns his topics. You don't.