The Steel Guitar Forum

Russ, after hearing you play I'm thinking of throwing all my pedal steels in the trash. You sounded great. Well, maybe I won't throw them away... I probably will send the ZB to you, and the other one to Chuck. I think I'll have to concentrate on mandolin. I hear that I show great promise in that genre.
Again, you sounded great, my friend.
Duncan

That guitar in the picture Chuck posted is #1034, Sonny's 1st ZB. It is now owned by John Borchard. On the Zane Beck invoice list, I have everything from Dec.1964 to Dec.1968. Sonny is listed on a total of 6 guitars. He and Tom Brumley sold them right from the stage. There are several that both he and Tom never played but were invoiced to them. Zane had a couple of salesmen working the road with the biggest names in country music!!!! Smart business!!!

Greg

Duncan you are too kind but that was Rusty Young off the Suite Steel album from 1970. The pictures were mine though.

Duncan.

See, that was not Russ!! No sense in wasting perfectly good ZB`s!
Again, considering the alligator in your back yard and the height of your roof, the "30 side," do consider sending your guitars to our safe ZB heaven in Norway.
A dry, cold climate perfectly suited for finicky, little ZB changers, and absolutely no reptiles!
Doo da right thing, Duncan! DUNCAN!!

ps.
By the way, are your two guitars from the Bakersfield era?

B. Greg Jones wrote:On the Zane Beck invoice list, I have everything from Dec.1964 to Dec.1968. Sonny is listed on a total of 6 guitars. He and Tom Brumley sold them right from the stage. There are several that both he and Tom never played but were invoiced to them.

Is this the story with #1163 aka my baby?

Thanks.

Ian,

#1163 was invoiced on Dec. 17th, 1968 to Sonny Curtis. If this was one of Sonny's personal guitars that he used, it would only have 2 pedals (A & B) on the E9th neck. It would have also had a designated knee lever raising the 4th string from E to F#, I believe his was RKR. If your guitar is set up this way, it was more than likely used by Sonny. Another interesting thing is Sonny's E9th pedals work the opposite of what everyone uses today. With his A & B pedals down, it made for the standard E9th tuning. He still plays that way today and its really something to watch!!!

Greg

steinar...Norway ain't no place to raise a ZB. True, many of them may have been built in "dry" climates like Bakersfield, California and Arizona, but supposedly, and reportedly, the best ones were built in Arkansas, a notoriously hot, wet and sticky southern climate.
So far, the alligator hasn't eaten mine, so I suppose a ZB is not a favorite food of the American alligator.
BTW, we are about 72F today (22.2C), what is the temp in Norway?
Thank you for telling me that, Russ, before I went and (yet again) did something stoopid.
Have a beautiful day,
Duncan

Oh so I shouldn't be watching for a package Duncan?
You are such a tease.

Duncan: Historically a dry climate is best for old people and ditto guitars, - consider the benevolent climate of Arizona to old bones and changers.
As for the gourmet tastes of your backyard alligator when he/she feels a wee bit peckish, - we`re not talking about the guitar, here, Duncan. With some dijon, I suppose the `gator would far prefer what`s behind your ZB, and we ain`t talking about the seat, either! And you don´t wanna leave your poor ZB an orphan, would you??
72 degrees over there?? Well, you`re sticking it in and twisting it now, we`ve got minus 10 Fahrenheit.
To alleviate my pain, you should ship your ZB ASAP to me!
Hurry, before your `gator invites all his friends over!

As ever,

Steinar

I got this from Wally Murphy around 1980.Serial is 2003.It is double eleven,8-6.It was blue long ago and now is a purplish light blue even though it has been in its case for fifteen years.Is this typical key arrangement for dbl-11???

Another pic

Thats not typical. It looks like a Kingsland Texas guitar. Just goes to show you how they changed the design over the years. The earlier ones had the fishtail keyheads with straight rows of tuning keys.

This is one of the 1st variations of the "Custom" model that were cut down and shortened. Don't know how many they built this way for sure but I have only seen 3 or 4 including yours thats like this. The keyhead is actually an original that they cut the horns off of. For sure Texas built when Tom Brumley was sole owner. They still built the guitars with the "horns" but called them the "Legend" series. They later changed the keyhead design for this model to a short, hornless one with 6 tuners on one side and 5 on the other. Cant tell what the date is from the serial number but I would guess 78'-79'ish in that ballpark. You have a really nice piece there!!!!! I wonder, did Wally leave any of those hot licks in it when you got it from him?

Greg

So how many ZBs were made? How many are accounted for? How many are MIA?

The hot licks have been gone for a long time.I think this is the one he used on his flying fingers album but I think it was when they first went to the smaller steels and it was a little too tight for him.I believe he got an orange one after this one.I bought a Dekley from him after this one,but all the hot licks were gone from it too.

Dave,

Cant answer your question. Zane only built 170 guitars from 64' to 68'. That, we have the invoice records for and then add a couple more to that like Brad Sarno's guitar and Norm Hamlett's old D-11. From 69' on into the late 70's the serial numbers were consecutive starting with #0001. I have seen some numbers up in the 0600's. When the company moved to Texas, the serial number scheme changed. So from about 78'-91' not sure how many were built. No one seems to have the records for that. Maybe someday they will turn up.

Greg

Greg and I have seen a number of Zane guitars that came to us literally in trash condition. Billy Knowles also. Left outdoors in garages without cases, under houses, etc. I have traced some originals to dead ends. I am sure that some were trashed given the condition that I have seen. I have never seen worse neglected steel guitars on a consistent basis than some ZB's. The finishes worn right down to the wood. On the other hand a good 40-50 guitars at least have been restored back to excellent condition, and more continue. To me, these are some of the best sounding steel guitars ever made. They record beautifully.

Kevin, I remember too well!!!! LOL Dave Flavin's guitar was uner a house for 5 years without a case and then restored. Just about pulled my hair out on that one. I did another one that was left in a garage next to a wood burning stove. Needless to say it was really rough too. By the way, wasnt your old green/blonde D-10 in the #0600 range???

Yes, #632. Its in Montana and being played and heard again.

Hallo Kevin and Greg, Happy New Year to you both !
I don't know if this is of any interest to you ,it's
a list of ZB's imported into the UK by ZB Guitars UK
in the early '70's. I have all the original invoices
from Eric Snowball and am still ploughing through them ! All the best
Frank. Corfu

Frank,
I would LOVE to see those invoices!!! Thanks for posting this on on here. It clears some things up for sure. I own #0458 D-11/10 and according to your invoice list makes it a 72' model. I actually thought it was built later than that. Thanks again and Happy New Year to you too!!!

Greg

Is this Hal Rugg on a ZB?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMXnu31- ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prcl-k8UwEA

Thats Sonny Curtis on his ZB.

Here's a picture of my ZB its seria #1056, and a link to a soud file of me playing it. With the help of Greg Jones and Billy Knowles I installed E to F on on my LKR and moved E to Eb over a little to accommodate my seating postion. I play Day style pedals and this guitar was shipped from the factory set up Day : ).

Sound file thru Sho Bud amp http://picosong.com/cPt

Mike, Great playing and a beautiful tone!!! That ZB sounds incredible. Dont know if I relayed the info to you or not but, that guitar was invoiced Dec. 19th, 1966. You have a keeper for sure!!!!

Greg