The Steel Guitar Forum

uh oh..............pelvic lever......

The steeler in Garry Vanderlinde's picture is indeed Rusty Young with Poco. (You can see Timothy Schmitt on bassguitar)
Rusty was known for playing a wide variety of instruments both on stage as on the records.
He would switch from pedal to lapsteel to dobro to banjo to guitar and indeed the melobar too.
He would connect his pedalsteel to a Lesleybox (Rotating speaker) to get an organlike sound out of his pedalsteel.
What strikes me is his Sho-Bud. I know he was a ZB man and nowadays he plays the Carter but I never saw him show a ShoBud.

Peer

Late 80s or early 90s, Sierra made a stand up PSG called the ROCK SLIDE. A Canadian rock band used it for a while. It had hip levers, and could be tilted forward so that the audience could watch the picking.

I wish there were some functional ergonomic solution(s) for the stand-up pedal steel factor.
I'd play one exclusively.

I have a Sierra S8 5x4 that started life as a "Rock Slide". I remember their ad in Guitar Player for that axe.
Very Cool.

If you look at photos of early Western Swing and Rockabilly bands, most of the steelers played non-pedal console models and stood up. It was the advent of pedals which made standing up no longer practical.

I use a white curly chord when I play my Gretsch, I better get some of those shoes!

I just saw this thread so I'm chiming in late. I have a stand up pedal steel and its works quite nicely. I don't typically incorporate much volume pedal into my style, so falling over is not an issue. When I do occasionally want that effect I simply play non pedal style for those parts. It started its life as a console steel but I missed the pulls so now there are 3 pedals. I'm planning on adding at least one more next week.

I gave up on sit down steel because I play standard elec guitar most of the time in my band and in many live situations, especially small club stages, it was impossible to find room to set up the steel and my normal rig. So I made a lightweight steel that is supported above, and by, my effects pedal board. I haven't wanted to yet, but I could even switch from guitar to steel within the same song.

Its really nice having all of my instruments go through my switching station. I can access any combination of guitars, steel, and effects with a simple press of a footswitch.

Where there's a will there's a way, eh?

If you view some of the old video clips from Town Hall Party, and Tex Ritter's Ranch Party, you will see Marian Hall playing a pedal Bigsby while sitting on a high stool. The Bigsby was made with long legs and long rods to the pedals. She was up and even with the shorter entertainers and could also use the volume pedal. Marian is no longer with us but she was super player and a good friend from back in the 50's.

I'm so happy to see you here Mr Tonnesen!! For a long time I've been a big fan of your work with Ole Rasmussen! And I second everything you said about Marian Hall, she was a true pioneer too, I have hours worth of video footage of her with Town Hall Party gang. What a swinging scene you had back then around LA!!