The Steel Guitar Forum

richard burton wrote:Costs could be kept down if the PSG was sold in kit form.

I'd probably buy one.

"Bill, it doesn't have to be the manufacturers offering the rent-to-own programs. After all, it's not the band instrument manufacturers (e.g., Selmer) who offer it for those instruments. It's music stores that do it. "

I hear you Jim, but it still doesn't make sense from a business perspective.

Music stores make their money from the monthly rental fees (I'm assuming). The survive because of the music programs in schools which will guarantee that x number of trumpets, flutes, violins, etc get rented making it worth while. I just don't see schools getting behind it to generate the kind of volume that would make sense.

I can see a passionate individual store owner MAYBE buying one or two to rent out, but I can't see it as a real solution to the problem.

...One lever and three pedals will keep you busy for a long time to come....

Woops I was wrong.
I just looked at Winnies book and it is almost all for 3x1.

$1200 dollars was A LOT of money in 1974 and a bunch of us figured out how to buy one.

$1200 dollars was A LOT of money in 1974 and a bunch of us figured out how to buy one.

I was suggesting doing something like they do with school band instruments, not doing it thru the schools.
Somehow I don’t see a PSG working very well in a marching band

The only reason I brought this up is because this is something I’ve been working on for a long time.
I’ll be showing you pictures of my new office building with studio and list of available steels, amps, accessories teaching methods and details.

No I’m not dreaming of a franchise. Way to much investment and time consuming to be profitable as a one man operation but I will have students traveling long distances to take advantage of what is offered. I fact I think the closest student will be 18 miles from the studio.

I’m just old guy trying to make it into heaven and hoping maybe get a break on my taxes.

Good luck Bo.

I think we will all be curious if you can make it work. As I said in a previous post, it would take someone who wants to do it as a labor of love. I don't think there is any financial incentive to do it.

Somehow I don’t see a PSG working very well in a marching band

Around here, and I think many other places, Marching Bands, the ones that actually compete, have pits (So do the indoor percussion ensembles - drum lines)

In addition to the large drums, timpani, gongs, marimbas and vibes, etc. they also have keyboards, and electric bass and guitar. I was wondering, and thinking that for some shows a pedal steel might fit in.

Anyone know of PSG in the Band pits, most likely in the South or South West. I think it would work better for the indoor drum lines.

It may be that the rarity of a steel-guitar may be it's greatest draw. Drawing on my own experience, when I was a teen-ager almost everyone played guitar or fiddle. As a 15 year old wanta-be I soon learned that I was too far behind to catch up, so I started looking for another instrument.

The steel guitar played in Bob Wills Western-Swing bands was that instrument. When I first began I wasn't very good, but I was the only player of the steel guitar in my geographical area.

As a result of those early experiences, I advanced from a beginner to a mediocre player in a relatively short period of time. I benefited greatly from that anomaly until the really good players like Emmon's etc evolved.

Professionally, I have hung-on for dear life ever since.