Gene Fields RIP

bruce fischer · Post by **bruce fischer** » 29 Nov 2014 2:49 pm

our condolences to the fields family & all his friends.
may he go rest high on that mountain!
what a loss.
bruce & lynn

Eddie Lane · Post by **Eddie Lane** » 30 Nov 2014 6:02 am

Very Bad News. I don't believe that there was a bigger name among musical instrument designers and builders. Plus he as a great man. He will never be replaced.

Buddie Hrabal · Post by **Buddie Hrabal** » 30 Nov 2014 3:58 pm

Sorry to hear this news. Gene was truly an innovator in the steel guitar industry. Our loss is Heaven's Gain.
RIP My Friend

Bill C. Buntin · Post by **Bill C. Buntin** » 30 Nov 2014 4:04 pm

Rest in Peace Gene. This is sad news to me. Gene was a good friend and mentor to many people.

Charles Tilley · Post by **Charles Tilley** » 1 Dec 2014 10:35 am

Just got this sad news. No doubt of Gene's talent in the steel guitar world not only as a builder of guitars but as a friend to all he met.
I have a GFI D10 and it is one fantastic piece of work. His craftsmanship will surely be missed.
My condolences to those he left behind.

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 1 Dec 2014 11:04 am

Back in 2001, I met Gene at the Choo Choo City Steel Guitar Reunion show, and I remember when he walked up to me and said, "Hey Brett, I want to hear you play". I wasn't playing shows yet. I played a GFI for six years and loved it! RIP Gene Fields

Godfrey Arthur · Post by **Godfrey Arthur** » 1 Dec 2014 7:48 pm

Shocked to say the least to hear the sad news.

I heard about Gene through his long time friend Blackie Taylor and the GFI guitar.

Blackie gave me my first steel lesson and couldn't say enough good things about Gene. Showed me pictures of Gene and he hanging on his shop wall.

l also owned a Starcaster when they came out.

Godspeed Gene Fields, you've left a huge legacy behind.

We are proud to have been your contemporary.

Quentin Hickey · Post by **Quentin Hickey** » 2 Dec 2014 6:20 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D0--q282lg

Skeeter Stultz · Post by **Skeeter Stultz** » 2 Dec 2014 9:21 pm

Wow! Shock! This is hard for me right now. Gene and I were decently close when he lived out here when he worked at Fender. I've been to his house several times. When I started to play again I had to take my D10 Ultra to Blackies to do a little thing on it . My greeting first thing inside the door was "Gene said to get Skeeter's phone number".
I feel like I've lost a leaning post.
RIP Friend.

Chris Harvey · Post by **Chris Harvey** » 3 Dec 2014 4:49 am

I wish my heartfelt condolences to the family and may Gene rest in peace.

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » 4 Dec 2014 12:31 pm

I loved to talk with him in St.Louis every year. RIP, Gene.

Dan Burnham · Post by **Dan Burnham** » 4 Dec 2014 12:54 pm

This breaks my heart, my prayers will be with the family,

Dan

Emmett Roch · Post by **Emmett Roch** » 4 Dec 2014 8:12 pm

I became friends with Gene in 1997. When the time came to upgrade my guitar, I got a GFI D-10, and later got the S-12 that I've been playing ever since.

When he lived in Arlington, I would stop at his house when I was going through town and take him to lunch. He always had time to visit.

Any time I needed any parts, he would find or put together whatever I wanted, and he would not let me pay him.

Several years in a row, he sponsored me at the Dallas and St Louis shows, paying for my room and a lot of my food, and all I had to do was sit at the booth in the main ballroom and try to sell guitars. When we would drive back to Arlington on Sunday, he would always insist that I stay the night so I could safely drive the 300+ miles to my home the next morning.

Knowing Gene meant that I got to meet a lot of his friends, many of whom were my steel heroes, among them Ralph Mooney and Norm Hamlet.

I could always count on hearing some great road stories, steel guitar history, and having technical details explained to me any time I was around him.

Gene was a fine, family-oriented man who would do anything to help a friend and always appreciated anything you did for him. He loved his family and friends, and was very proud of his son-in-law, Bob.

I'm not the only one who is going to miss Gene Fields.

Larry Behm · Post by **Larry Behm** » 7 Dec 2014 8:03 am

Gene worked at Sierra for a while developing a 6 string guitar line, talked with him often over the years. Always good to see him at a steel convention, always that little smile. RIP my friend.

Chubby Howard · Post by **Chubby Howard** » 7 Dec 2014 10:18 am

I had to wait because it is with a very heavy heart to talk about my friend who i first met in Chicago it was just me and Tiny murphy And Gene playing downtown we were just kids I didn't know anything but I had Gene as a friend then and for LIFE!!!! I am so PROUD to be going in the Hall Of Fame with him and I know he will be there in spirit. I will alway's miss you my friend. RIP!!! Chubby Howard

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 14 Dec 2014 9:37 pm

Well, Gene's legacy will live on in my own musical experience, and in many other musicians' as well... After reading this post, I thought about my own connection to Gene, even though I have never met or even talked to him... Lets see..
I was the proud owner of an original Starcaster, and it was a superlative guitar.. A stroke of genius. It had the big full sound, warm crunch and sustain of a good 335, but with the bite and "twang" of a good telecaster.. One of the absolute best sounding and playing guitars I ever owned..

Where else??.. Oh yeah, 2 Fender 800 steels.. Gene designed the changer from what I have read, and it was a great changer indeed.. Still is..

Also had an MCI which he had a hand in... Oh yeah, and a GFI Keyless...

So, many of us that never knew the man personally will remember him for his engineering genius of course, and for the enjoyment that the work of his mind and hands bestowed on us.. I LOVED the instruments that mr Fields designed, and that I was proud to play for others.. He does leave an impressive legacy... RIP Mr Fields.... bob

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 15 Dec 2014 10:03 am

To me Gene was always a real mensch. I had hoped to visit with him again at some steel shows but alas that is not to be.

Laurie Ayres · Post by **Laurie Ayres** » 17 Dec 2014 7:27 pm

My prayers and condolences to Gene's family. Roy and I always visited his room in St. Louis. They talked about each others work. Him, of coarse GFI and Roy about his work at Fender and the Bronco. May God give you all comfort and peace. Time is God's best healer but there are always days even for me. Laurie

Willie Sims · Post by **Willie Sims** » 21 Dec 2014 2:03 pm

I just learned of the passing of my long time friend GENE FIELDS. I am probably the oldest friend he had, we grew up together IN Paducah Kentucky when we were very young teenagers. His brother and sister-in-law formed a country band and I played Lapp steel with them. This was before GENE even knew what a steel guitar was, one year at the steel guitar convention he told Norm Hamlet that he would sneak my guitar out and learn to play on it. This I didn't know but I didn't doubt it. He got his brother Charles a Fender 210 double neck, I played this guitar for several years after his brother passed away. It was truly a masterpiece of design, it's a shame it never was promoted like it should have been.

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