The Steel Guitar Forum

Al,

Without a word of exaggeration, the Jackson Blackjack comes closer tone-wise to that Baldwin than any other guitar I've owned, later Sho~Buds included. David tells me he designed the Blackjack pickup after the original Permanent pickup, and the changer on mine is a prototype that was also designed after the Permanent. The Blackjack is the biggest sounding S10 I've played, and in my periods of G.A.S. I've tried many.

Thanks ,Chris, Enjoy!....al.:)

Wow Chris!
That Baldwin looks KILLER!!1
Thanks for posting those pictures. It look really interesting how they added the knees. Were those knees put there in the factory? Were they smooth and stay in tune well? It doesn't look like a well thought out concept of design. Almost like they had the Baldwin frame and just took some spare parts to force it to have the knees. Do you know what I mean?
The Blackjack has also caught my eye. Seems like the most guitar for the money. It sounds like you prefer the Blackjack to your Pro-1's.

Josh, those knees worked pretty good. It was a bit of a pain using a hex wrench to tighten and loosen them, though. This was at a time when knee levers were just getting their legs, so to speak.

I do really like my Blackjack a lot because it has the old sound with new mechanics. I parted with my Pro 1 a few months ago to fund another Sho~Bud project which is still in the works. There's nothing like a Sho~Bud, but this Blackjack is becoming my best buddy. Like the Baldwin, it comes alive above the 12th fret.

As mentioned, Curly Chalker played at least 2 Crossovers in the late 60s until sometime in early '73.
He did some of his greatest sessions with the Baldwin for Carl Smith, Don Gibson, Stan Hitchcock, Dick Curless, plus a lot of others. Saw him in person in July of '69 at Dewey Groom's Ballroom at the Steel Guitar Show and he made it cook. He can also be seen on the Wilburn Brothers show playing the same. His was special made 7 & 5.