The Steel Guitar Forum

The use of heavy-duty vs. lightweight clamps is certainly an important factor. And someone mentioned the wisdom of periodically checking to be sure everything is tight and proper.

I'd speculate that a third factor could be the times when we reach, lean, twist to get a drink, or a pick that dropped, or whatever. The seats are designed to be sat on, in normal fashion. In theory they should be solid enough for shifting and leaning, and no doubt out of the box they are. But give a seat a few years wear and tear, maybe it has not been checked for tightness, a few too many awkward leans to grab something, and one day it all adds up.

So the remedy would be:
1) buy a good quality seat to start with
2) take a look at it every so often to be sure things are tight
3) Limit your contortions and gyrations while sitting on it.

Bob, glad you were not injured!

Many steel guitar accessories are made for the player who ONLY OCCASIONALLY goes out of his house to perform; among those items are seats and cases. And for the most part, those accessories are adequate for the task they're required to perform.

Professional players, especially those that play "one-niters" frequently over the course of even a week, can put extra wear and tear on equipment not encountered that often by occasional players. So that factor should be taken into consideration when purchasing, and performing maintenance upon, some parts of our "rig" more in Harm's Way than others.

That said, my opinion is that Joe Naylor at Steelseat.com, and Dan Rollans at Steeler's Choice make seats of equal quality (professional grade), and equal value price-wise. And their products are not inexpensive, but a valuable addition to a steel guitarist's equipment list, regardless of the player's stature within the profession.

Thank you, Herb!
I would like to make note that all Steelers Choice seat legs are installed using two clamps per leg. Each clamp has two mounting holes that are bolted through using carriage head bolts. Clamps are also lined with nylon strap bushings.This design has not changed since Dad, Kenn Rollans, began building seats in 1978.
Check us out at www.steelerschoice.com
Thanks, Dan Rollans

Measurement's in MM

New Walker Clamp


Old Sho-Bud clamp

@Don R Brown

So the remedy would be:
1) buy a good quality seat to start with

ANS: From anything I read on the Forum or from anyone I asked personally about a Walker seat did I get any info that would lead me to believe that it was a bad seat. I still thing it a great seat however, there may have been an over site on this particular model because of the wider base(with side cart) and the way the weight is distributed, more on one end than the other. Also, I personally think that a better grade clamp could have been used and they should have had 2 mounting holes instead of one per clamp. However, I'm no mechanical engineer. The only reason I posted the info was that I was afraid that someone else may be in the same situation and it could result in personal injury to them. I had hoped that a simple solution could be found and I am currently working with the vendor to find a solution and get this resolved. Potentially it could be as simple as replacing the clamps with a better quality one. I't certainly not the end of the world

2) take a look at it every so often to be sure things are tight

Ans: Yes, we all need to maintain our equipment over time and schedule maintenance as required however, this is a brand new sear with 2 weeks(or less) of usage.

3) Limit your contortions and gyrations while sitting on it.

Ans: I don't really think that reaching for your coffee would be considered either a case of "contortions and/or gyrations" However, I'm sure that's good advise for those that need it. LOL

In our family we have an original Sho-Bud seat and someone (mostly my Dad ) has been using it and reaching for coffee, drinks, etc since it was new and from the mechanical side it's still extremely solid.

Bob, I didn't necessarily mean YOUR contortions and gyrations were responsible, but speaking in general terms. I know there have been times when I have dropped a pick and instead of standing up and looking, I bob and weave from one side to the other until I can find it and reach out, usually defying gravity and the laws of physics to avoid a crash. That's a habit I'll try to break myself of.

And I must have missed the point about your seat having only 2 weeks of use! Sounds like something was not right from the get-go.

And FWIW, I have a Steeler's Choice which I bought new about 5 years ago and have had zero problems with, and an Elite Seat which I bought used from a forumite. That is not as nice as the SC seat but is solid and quite functional.

Thanks Herb -

The first two email congratulations I received some 8 years ago when I bought steelseat.com were from Ken and Dan - both congratulated me and told that I had any questions be sure to give them a call.

I just had a call earlier this week wanting me to tell them why my seat is better than the Steelers Choice.

My first comment was we do not play that game. As far as I know they do not do that tom and I will NOT say anything negative about their seats.

Their comment is same as mine - neither of us could build them all.

There are differences but as with most things there are many good solutions to the same problem. My parts do not fit his and his do not fit mine.

They have loyal customers and so does steelseats.

Back to building seats.

Joe Naylor
www.steelseat.com

Bob Lawrence wrote: ... The only reason I posted the info was that I was afraid that someone else may be in the same situation and it could result in personal injury to them. I had hoped that a simple solution could be found and I am currently working with the vendor to find a solution and get this resolved. ...

There you have it. From here, it looks like the builder/vendor will take care of Bob and make some changes to the design so a future customer doesn't have the same problem. To me, this is the way that things ought to be done. As Joe just pointed out, the community needs more than one conscientious builder.