The Steel Guitar Forum

Music is feeling and emotion.
The guitar is the means through which we express it.
At that moment the guitar is an extension of yourself, you need to have a "click" with it.
Why you can have that feeling with one guitar and not with another is just a miracle of nature i guess.

Isn't it like with people? Personality seems to increase with age?

Seriously, I believe in this, and it's interesting.

I've sat down behind very good steels that i expected to like, but didn't.
I've played "low status" and low budget steels and just didn't want to stop playing.
I had a hard time getting used to my Emmons at first, but it grew on me and now i love it.

It's that "let's make music" feeling you get from certain instruments, and it has nothing to do with brand.

Of course, my old "AWH Viking" (think Maverick) had lots of personality too. It was not the music making kind though and i'm doing fine without it.

chris ivey wrote:mark...how do you pronounce your last name??

HA! You're gonna love this one...in Polish, it's pronounced CHEA-POTCH. However, the English pronounciation (as was adapted years ago when my Grandparents came over from the old country) is TREEPAZ. Either way, sounds nothing like it's spelled. With the exception of when I'm with the Polish crowd, I use the English pronounciation (TREEPAZ). It makes life alot easier! Better yet, when I was on air doing country radio I used the air name Mark Hammond. Much easier yet.

Over the last 40 years I have had only three Steel Guitars that Had It. This is out of seven guitars that I have owned in all of those years.

My old ZB Had It, my 91 Emmons Legrande Had It and my present Guitar, a Mullen Pre-G2 has it.
Even steel guitars from the same manufacturer don't always Have It.

In 1996, I bought a 1991 Emmons Legrande D-10 From Bobbe. Wow, what tone. I played this guitar until 2002 when I had a few bucks to spend and went to Burlington NC and ordered a new Legrande II. This was one beautiful guitar but Did not have it. When I sold this guitar to Bobbe, he sat down and played it and I could tell by the look on his face that he also knew it didn't have it. I don't know if Bobbe was able to put IT back into this beautiful guitar or not but I moved on to another.

I in no way mean there was anything wrong with the way it was built or against the Emmons Company, it is just the way it is. Some have That Special Tone and Some Don't.

If you have one that HAS IT, hang on to it until you are sure that one your about to buy also has it. Just MHO. Alan

Michael Johnstone wrote:I had a late 60s ZB that "had it" and a rack & barrel 'Bud that "had it" but they were both rag-a-matics underneath. So I started buying more playable guitars and quit worrying if they "had it" and started worrying whether or not I "had it".

Now there's an attitude I can appreciate!

I agree, Donny, but, well, as it goes,

"By the time we have it, we've had it!"

thanx mark..it's nice to have a sound in your head when you look at their name.
i kind of like the polish pronounciation.

I think Tamara hit the nail on the head, good job.

I had a late 60s ZB that "had it" and a rack & barrel 'Bud that "had it" but they were both rag-a-matics underneath. So I started buying more playable guitars and quit worrying if they "had it" and started worrying whether or not I "had it".

Indeed! I agree as well. Couldn't have said it better!

I think my old Sho-Buds HAD IT but now they've ABOUT HAD IT.

Interesting topic. To quote the late and great Jery Byrd;

"Talking about the instrument, I have found that every steel guitar has its own personality, even instruments of the same make and exactly the same design. Some will seem to fight you, resist you, and even push you away. Others will invite you into their hearts and respond to your every thought and touch. We who have lived with steel guitars for years and untold hours of playing have found this to be true."

Michael D - I think that sums up what you said originally.

Ken, thank you for that. I believe that says it perfectly.

Michael,

I read through the replies, and unless I missed something, there are no suggestions that implicate incompatabilities in sound systems. A steel's performance is only as good as the wisest choices made in sound amplifications.

I can only relate to this as it pertains to guitars, because I'm too new at steel to feel the difference. Besides, I have only owned two. One day a couple of years ago, as I often do, I stopped in at Corner Music here in Nashville. Having time to kill, I went into their acoustic room and picked up a guitar. I'm not a big fan of acoustics, mostly into Telecasters and other cool American hardware. I could NOT put this guitar down. Everything I played on it made me sound better than I'm used to hearing myself. I can't remember the brand name, but I will always remember that feeling of the instrument almost reading your thoughts and playing FOR you. Egging you on, pulling you forward, placing your fingers and letting you know EXACTLY how much vibrato to apply to a note, and so on. I have a late 60's Dobro roundneck with bisquit bridge and a metal body that HAS it. A 1934 Harmony archtop that HAS it (even though it has some technical problems) I recently bought a Korean made resonator wooden body that HAS IT, even though it has some mechanical/hardware problems that I'm working out. I don't know what IT is, but I am totally open to the possibility that another guitarplayer could pick up one of my favorite guitars and put it right back down because they did NOT like the feel or sound of it.
Terje.