The Steel Guitar Forum

Here's me when I was 17..
PSG is a D10 Framus.

Hi david, wow your a bit of a looker there,
I must post some of my photo's here , talk about hair I think I had some of the biggest in the business, me and John Virgo ( snooker ) we both had our hair curled at the same time in the same hairdressers, we sat across the room from each other and when they took the rollers out of John I said you look a right pratt,he said so do you.
Happy days. If I'm right Micky had his done too. Could be wrong though...

John - I'm still playing with Denis Cremin in the Ridgeway Band. We're very busy with loads of gigs already for 2008. Trying to fit them all in with the day jobs. Denis is coming up for 60 in January. He always tells the following story;

"I was playing fiddle in the band at a concert one evening, and with me being Irish one of my speciality fiddle tunes is Danny Boy. As I played it an elderly lady in the front row had tears in her eyes. During the break I went and spoke to her. I said, Excuse me but I couldn't help but notice that you had a tear in your eye when I played Danny Boy. Are you Irish? She said, No - I'm a violin teacher!"

Ken. I know that one, He's a funny guy . Ask him about the time he was coming back from the Tennessie club down at Wimbldon when he was driving a mimi when he chased a guy round a roundabout, mucho Guinness. Only Dinis can tell them old stories..

Hello to all from the island of Jersey

How does one start playing such an unconventional instrument. In my case it was equally unconventional. Thirty years ago, I was driving past a music shop in Addlestone, Surrey, and saw an Emmons steel guitar in the window. The price was very low - I seem to recall about £70. [It had been bought from UK Customs amongst a collection of keyboards and other instruments which had been brought into the UK without paying customs duty, and confiscated]. I recall thinking “I wonder if I could get a tune out of that”, at the time an impossible task, because I had never played piano, keyboards, guitar or any other musical instrument.

So at the age of 32, I joined a rehearsal band in Leatherhead Surrey, whose name escapes me, which gave me the taste for playing publicly. Eddie Doran of the Prairie Dogs gave me my first real opportunity, although I dread to think of the musical standards I achieved at that time. I moved to Country Gentlemen (a group based in Kingston-Upon-Thames, Surrey) replacing Brian King on steel, subsequently joining the St.Louis Union based in Redhill, Surrey.

Moving to the island of Jersey in the early 80s, I was invited to join the Barnstormers, where the immediate work included a TV series.

My current group is Country Sunshine, and we are resident at the Jersey Country Music Club throughout the year.

I have also played ten times at the British Steel Guitar Festival in Newbury, Berkshire.

After the Emmons, I bought a ZB from Eric Snowball, then an MSA Universal from John Edmed (Shakey has it now) then a MCI Universal and Carter Universal. My new toy is an Anapeg that I bought from Dave Kirk - it wase originally made for Tom Brumley - guess what - it plays Together Again all on its own !!!

Garry Procter here from Wilmslow, Cheshire. “Discovered” the PSG in the very late 60’s as a teenager but could never afford an instrument. Played six string (acoustic and electric) since I was 13 (45 years ago!). Moved to the USA in 2000 and finally managed to buy my first PSG in 2004, a Carter Starter. In 2007 I upgraded to a (black) Carter S10 (standard E9 set up) a Peavey Nashville 112, and we moved back to the UK. Still practicing… Also play some lap steel (home made, with Lollar pickup), Weissenborn (Burgin), and mandolin (Eastman). Current 6 strings are Goodall, Lowden, and PRS electric. I keep promising myself that one day I’ll learn to play some of them properly!

Ted Nesbitt here. First time I heard the sound of a PSG I was blown away, and just had to get one. My first guitar was a Fender 400. I sold it a month later at a profit to buy a Sho-Bud Pro 1. Kept the Bud 2 weeks, and sold it for a profit. Hey! there is a demand for this type of instrument I thought to myself, so I became a buyer and seller of steel guitars, and since those early days, I have sold Pedal Steels to nearly every player in Ireland, and beleive me we have some real good pickers here. Richard Nelson,Martin Cleary,Percy Robinson,Aiden Cunningham,Phil O Neill,Al Mc Quilken,Paul Gallagher,Brendan Napier,Stevie Hamilton,Stephen Smythe,Ivan Mc Lernan, and the list goes on and on. I have sold steel guitars to UK,Holland,France Germany, Sweden,Norway,South Africa and USA. I am currently playing an Excel SD10,Peavey NV 112, and a Pro-fex2. We have a wonderful Steel Guitar Festival in Ireland every year, which I am proud to be one of the organisers. We invite players from all over the planet, and it is probably the best Forum for steel players in Europe. Long may it last.

Rick Batey wrote:Stephan, I met up with Steve Bloomfield of Matchbox last year. He's still playing and has some cool guitars, plus a few good stories to tell. He sold me a Fender 8, a nice steel, though it didn't suit me.

Thanks for the reply, Rick, I didn't know if Matchbox were still active. Is Graham Fenton still their singer? I think we shared the bill once, at the time where he was going for a solo carreer, that was, like... woah... 21 years ago!!! Flying Saucers was on that night too.

But never got to meet Steve B

Colin
Your Anapeg is a beaut!! Hope it sounds as good as it looks.

Hello Ken

The Anapeg sounds really good - very clear and full sound. It is a heavy beast but that is made up for by ease of playing and very high quality construction. And the gidgee wood is particularly well grained, so it is a good looking guitar.

There is a clip of Tom Brumley playing this guitar on youtube.

I seldom get over to the UK these days, but when I do and if I have the Anapeg with me, I'll let you know

Best wishes

Colin
I have watched that clip a number of times in the past and your guitar sounds great. Having said that, anything that Tom plays sounds great. Interesting to see him lower his B string with a lever to get that classic move in Together Again instead of sliding down one fret.

While on the British scene, I went to the Bluebird Christmas steel guitar show last night. It was very enjoyable. The featured players were:

Gus York (who I haven't seen playing for about 30 years)
Dave Wheelhouse playing his Sheffield pedal steel
Paul Mitchell
Jimmy Pritchard (who organised the event)
Dave Kirk
Gerry Hogan.

Gerry played a sublime version of Sweet Memories in his set, and dedicated it to Jeff Newman and John Hughey.

The hall was packed, and congratulations must go to Jim P for all the hard work that he put into the night.

The B to Bb knee lever I had on my previous universals. The only change I made on the Anapeg was to put it on the left knee up, so that I can have a E to F# on the right knee left for the Mooney licks.

Back to the Tom Brumley video, you will notice that after the modulation he plays it the original way rather than using the Bb lever

Regards

Sounds like the Bluebirds 'do' was something NOT to be missed, but I did miss it, drat..

howdy , also went to bluebirds, wonderful atmosphere, great evening, brilliant steel playing, got round to meeting the steelers in the flesh, down to earth, pleasant personalaties, glad i never missed out, thanks, lew.

Hi all

Ian Finlay here from Harrow, near London. I've always been a rockabilly, Western Swing, Big Band, jump/jive etc. fan. Main musical activity is as a guitar player, some bass and vocals mainly playing Doo Wop with my band the Metrotones (check on youtube for some footage of us headlining a massive festival in Italy this year).

Started with a National Console D8, found a very cheap T8 Stringmaster on a business trip to San Francisco years ago, bought a D8 Fender 1000 a couple of years back and traded the Stringmaster to BasilH for a single 8 Deluxe.

I should also mention Moe Kabir, an old friend of mine, who has a killer PW Bigsby and can really play, and Stu Pannaman who had a Rick and some other stuff last time I spoke to him.

Ian

This is a rendition of my performance at the Whitefriars in Coventry in 2005 by the artist and poet Colin Dick.

Jim Gorrie,your Green Steel jus sold on Ebay for £500


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pedal-Steel-Guita ... 7C294%3A50

Here's a bit about me.

Cameron Tilbury. Originally from a small town west of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Moved to Peterborough, Cambridgeshire about 4 years ago. Working in Hammersmith, London.
-started playing when I was 7
-took lessons with Eric Golding
-mentored by Bob Wingrove (as far as I'm concerned, the best damn steel player in Canada!)
-Bob built me two steels--an S10 and a D10
-I now play a Sho Bud Super Pro D10

I didn't formally play in any bands, but was fortunate to sit in once in a while. My last session was about 25 years ago when I sat in with Tim Taylor & Anita Perras at a bar in Hamilton. I never played after that--until a couple of months ago when I visited John Davis.

Now I'm back! And I'm never walking away from my steel again!

A couple of people that I have come across, one in person, and one only on record, but both based in Yorkshire, are Paul Middleton and Gerry Wogan.
Paul,now of the Angst Band, and formerly of Wally, I first met in the seventies when he was playing a cheap six-string lap steel (on a toy ironing board) with Wally.
It was the stuff that he did on the two Wally albums that made me think of trying steel.
I only know Gerry's work from a recent album by Roy Webber, who was the lead singer and writer for Wally, but he is good, much more Country than Paul.
Cheers
Dave

Hi Carl
I think Faron Kelf is dead. I recall recently hearing he died in Germany in a road accident.
Barry

Barry ,I was told the same thing by Mark Dunn (another great Brit player!) He was very friendlywith Faron.......

Graham ~ many thanks for alerting me to that ebay sale !

I had thought I'd never see or hear of that steel again.

It's amazing how threads can lie dormant for two years and then suddenly spring back into life again.

Not been playing long...about 8 months...I'll get the hang of it in a few years

I play lap steel 6 an 8 string and I also make them.

I haven't tried selling any as yet. I'm better at making them than playing them but hopefully this will change....anyway back to the woodshed...bye