The Steel Guitar Forum

I get blue
whenever I see you,
Big Blue,
cause you'll never be mine.

This one is a work in progress by my friend Peter den Hartogh.
The cabinet is brand new.
It will be a 5x5 S10.

Hi, I'm new to the forum but have built my own Pedal Steel guitar from scratch (except the tuning keys and a True tone pickup)

Hi Stuart,
So you're the guy on the steel builders forum on MSN.. I saw your Rebel in progress there. You had many good ideas and you do some beautiful painstaking work.
Congrats!!
Bent

Hi Stuart,

Hey...here's your baby on the forum. After all our emails back and forth it's sure lookin' great! Congratulations on an excellent looking steel. I've just started building two more....just the bodies for now, when the weather gets ugly I'll be working on the undersides etc.
Cheers,
Mac

Hi Bent,
Thanks for your comments about my baby as Mac calls her. I've been aware of your work for a long time now and you have been an inspiration to me and many others.
Another two people who I should mention are Ron ! who founded the Steel guitar forum in Europe (which is no more), he helped and advised me along the way, and is a very clever individual.But the man who became my mentor, friend and a true gentleman throughout my project is Mac Knowles who I see as a near genius at invention and building, without whom I would never have started the project,many thanks Mac and keep building,

Stuart

Richard B
You really must stop taking on gigs that require you to play in the rain.

DB..
Here are a few snaps of my latest homemade PSG. It is a D10 keyless with 7 and 7, E-66 pickups, and it is a bit unusual in that it raises on the bridge end of the guitar and lowers on the nut end. I have been thinking about this for 25 years or so and decided it is now or never. It has turned out very nicely for me and plays great. ANother difference that you might see here is that I have included "gaged string grooves in both ends, making it much nicer when playing in the higher register. The body is hard white maple, inlayed with 3/8 wide checkered inlay. My other two guitars have been formica covered. Thought I wanted a wood one this time. I am a retired toolmaker and have a small machine shop here at my home.
Hope you like what you see
Reg Diller

Homemade D10's (3) PRofex2,Nashville 400,Bandit 112,
Hilton pedal etc...

Reg,
I toyed with making a steel that raised on one end, and lowered on the other, but I couldn't come up with a satisfactory design for initially tuning the strings.
Could you show more pictures of the fingers with the tuning element, to satisfy my curiosity?

Hey Reg: That sure is a beauty. What is the waiting time? Hope it plays as good as it looks.

awesome instruments, you guys rock, I was thinking about making a steel for myself one day (more like never , huh) , and was wondering how many other guys made their own steel guitars and what do they look like, from this tread I can see that we have quite a few gifted machinists and wood workers on the forum..why don`t you guys sell them..?? did you just want to make one for yourself and stop..? these all look like a first class instruments....congratulation everyone, beautiful instruments...

Db

Stuart Tindall wrote:Hi Bent,
Thanks for your comments about my baby as Mac calls her. I've been aware of your work for a long time now and you have been an inspiration to me and many others.
Stuart

Thanks for the kind words, Stuart. To hear that from someone across the pond is a big inspiration to me.
I'll have to make an effort to look up Mac next time I am in the Ottawa area.
A person I have learned a great deal from is my friend Ed Fulawka. As you likely know, Ed is the only top-line steel builder in Canada. Not to take anything away from anyone on this thread, your work is outstanding. I have so much to learn from all of you.

This is a great thread and also a joy for us hobbyist builders to see all this 'eye candy' in one place.
Damir, thanks for starting this thread.

b0b, would you want to start a "Steel Builders" department?

Damir Besic wrote:awesome instruments, you guys rock, I was thinking about making a steel for myself one day (more like never , huh) , and was wondering how many other guys made their own steel guitars and what do they look like, from this tread I can see that we have quite a few gifted machinists and wood workers on the forum..why don`t you guys sell them..?? did you just want to make one for yourself and stop..? these all look like a first class instruments....congratulation everyone, beautiful instruments...

Db

Damir, thanks. Recognition means a lot to this tinkerer.
I am sure a lot of the home mades are excellent for sales. As for me..I have only built one, with plans of staring #2 and 3 shortly. I have so many bugs to work out, and so many work routines to iron out. I also have oodles of hobbies so it is likely that this will be kept on a hobby basis. Although it would be a thrill to have some steelers play it and give his/her opinion.

Thanks for the great thread, Damir.

I was always amazed with instruments people can built at home, that is why I started this topic, and now I'm resurrecting it, to see some more guitars...keep it coming, let us see what you got

Db

any picks of the ! push-all-pull super guitar?

made by this retired gentleman at home
Spain's 1st psg has become a reality
Built by Mr Miguel Angel Conesa Sierra
https://www.facebook.com/miguelangel.conesasierra

no, i have'nt tried it yet but expect to

I love the desert scene on the front apron, Crowbear. Nice to see some stylistic innovation.

What's the purpose and function of the apparatus surrounding the changer? I see two arrays of capscrews, but I can't see any detail and don't have enough imagination to guess what this does.

Here are some more guys:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... edal+steel

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... edal+steel

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... edal+steel

Enjoy!

I wanted to experiment with a quadruple raise, triple lower changer to accommodate the copedent I came up with. Here's the results thus far. It's still in the tweaking stage. I haven't completed all the little details and adjustments I want. But it's quite playable none the less. I used a George L E66 pickup on it. Some cosmetic details are planned also.

niiiice guitars guys, love seeing all those new ideas and designs..

Db

I bought this on the forum about a year ago. It appears to be a homebrew. The seller did not know who the builder was. He found it in a Texas pawn shop a few years earlier. It is a pretty cool little steel. I have since changed the setup to my slightly non-standard E9 and used it on a gig or two. It works but could use some tweaking, and might benefit from a few modifications. I knew it was a gamble when I bought it, but I loved the idea of a super small keyless steel and I couldn't resist. Hopefully someday soon I'll have time to work on it. I would like to know a little more about it, so if anybody knows who might have built it, and when, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know.

that looks like a well designed piece of machinery to me .... interesting, somebody invested a lots of effort and work hours in this instrument, and then didn't put the name on it...

Plays great and sounds good.



Jimmy.

chris ivey wrote:any picks of the ! push-all-pull super guitar?

This guitar will be ready and launched on 1 April 2014, according to the builder.
I wonder why he chose April the First?

Here is one A.J.Smith and myself made before the metal end plates came into being.
Bill Stafford