The Steel Guitar Forum

Eric Dahlhoff wrote:For the holidays this year I convinced my wife to travel down to southern California & visit Jim Palenscar's shop. I've been trying to play pedal steel for less than 2 years, and it was such a BLAST to finally get to see and play all these different makes & models.
And well... here's what I came home with. Jim made sure it was set up & played well. I am a very happy camper!

Ser# 0560. Any idea when it was born?

I just missed out of that one, congrats!

I'd say 73-74'. I owned that guitar for awhile. Great sounding guitar.

A recent shot of me in the studio. The green scranton that Marv finished and Greg did the rest was sounding like a ZB should. If only it had an operator like Al Perkins or Tom Brumley. Oh well It's mine to love.

Very nice Chuck ... and I'm sure the shirt helps to get the proper vintage vibe!

Russ I ordered that shirt 2 months ago and Rusty himself sent a little Christmas message, signed on a card with thanks and he sent me a CD. I guess he and his wife are taking care of the swag. It may sound a little teenage but it gave me a warm fuzzy at my age. He is one of many players that made me want to play pedal steel when all my friends were rocking on guitar. The new CD is great. Love the music.

Chuck, don't you feel great playing that restored ZB tone monster? Very nice. Enjoy.

Kevin I am a lucky guy.

If they only knew.

When I met Sneaky Pete in 2005 I was a 50 year old teenager again! Rusty is the best and I'd feel the same meeting him.

... and yes Kevin you are so correct!

Here is a link to a song my friend Paul asked me to play on for a CD he was doing and I did some guitar and steel including the 1969 ZB Custom I got from Chuck. I don't get to play much so this was fun.

http://soundcloud.com/tonecaster/take-me-away

Very cool Russ. Slick pickin brother. Very west coast. I wish I could have met Pete. Such an interesting character.

Chuck,

What are you playing through in your rig? I have some stuff but seem to play through a Bandit 65 the most. Easier to lift!

Russ

Russ my rack is a Mesa formula pre with a Lexicon Mpx 1, a Stewart amp and a Peterson tuner. Works pretty well for most gigs. I come record out of the Mesa to do sessions direct in. I have a Marrs 15" D140 loaded cab for live and a Hilton Pedal.

Sounds like some good stuff. I'd like to have something so I can get a nice sound direct, as that seems to be how most like to record. Seems like a while since these days!

Chuck, that guitar is beautiful!!!

Chuck, that guitar is beautiful!!!

Unfortunately I don't have time at the moment to go through al 100 pages of this post, but I do have 1 question! Whats the deal with the far majority of ZBs having 4 digit serials? Mine has 13!

Well, tell us the number John. Pictures?

The serial is #0115230000013.

Looks like a Basil Smith guitar. No fish tails.

I picked it up from consignment at a music shop in Prairieville, LA (a little south of Baton Rouge). All I know is it was owned by an older gentleman (or gentlewoman??) who passed away and his grandchildren were selling his music equipment. Hadn't been played in many years, decade or more possibly. The tone is amazing. Here is some more pics.






It also had this Goodrich pedal with it. A clue maybe?

Sloppy job on the mechanics. Greg Jones or Billy Knowles could straighten that guitar out and make it play like new. Needs disassmby, cleaning, and a good setup.

Thanks Joe. It was the D11 Ben Elder had for sale here on the forum.

Brendan Mitchell wrote:Al Perkins is probably why I play steel today .

I'm late into this thread. Al plays Anapeg now, but still keeps a ZB in UK for Europe tours. I did some work on it a while back. Also in this thread is mention of Eric Snowball, who had "the Steel Mill" shop in UK. Al's ZB has a plate on the front that says it was made for Eric.
I found this thread looking for ZB info as I just got a blue D10 and it needs a little work to get it smooth again. I read here the colour often fades, but mine is a strong blue. Serial #0552. I'll try to get some pics up soon. Tony.

John's guitar is not a Basil Smith guitar. This guitar was built in Texas between 79' and 85' when Tom Brumley owned the company. I have never seen a serial number like that before either. Looks like its in pretty good shape!!!

Greg

Send it to Greg and let him work his magic.