The Steel Guitar Forum

http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum10/HTML/001291.html

------------------
Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047

...heard a sound on a record in 1969 (POCO "Pickin up the Pieces)...said "what the heck is that?"
i found out somehow it was a "pedal steel guitar" and was so intrigued by the sound and concept that I knew I had to try it for myself... 'stalked' POCO's Rusty Young at every DC area gig for two years... saved my allowance and worked odd jobs to save enough for an Emmons 2 pedal 8 string student model (no knees, no top chromatics) bought thru CHuck Levin's in '71...I was 17... no amp no volume pedal... carried that li'l critter everywhere,played thru friend's amps and played my first"gig" within three months.

acquired a volume pedal some months later, and got an amp as a high school graduation present 1972 "Acoustic" Solid State combo amp... sounded like crap but what did I know... it made it louder and had pretty blue trim!

acquired a Fender Deluxe Reverb and My FirstZBCustom, an S10 E9 in 73.

Back in the early '60s, I was at Sunset Park (one of those many family-style music venues that were popular in the mid-Atlantic area back then), and Stu Basore was playing with Kitty Wells. In talking to him, I learned he had his old 1000 for sale ($350, I believe). Wayne Tyler was there too, and he had one for sale, as well. I bought Stu's because, well...he was "famous" (to me anyway), and had 2 knee levers installed on his. Knee levers were just getting popular about then, and I decided it would be better to get a guitar with them already installed, rather than to attempt it myself. About a week later, the thing arrived via Greyhound bus, and I've never been the same since! I played that old 1000 for about 7 or 8 years, and it never let me down.

So, y'all can blame Stu for my present-day (and rather unique) setup!

Saw a post on here a while back about a Sho-Bud on sale at Matt Umanoff Music... $500 on consignment. I went there that day at lunch, and the thing was a little rough, but it did work... the crossover worked too, surprisingly (from what I've since heard) well and without slipping out. I ended up having to take a cab home, the thing was so unbelievably heavy... so it seemed to me then, at least. No regrets; I had wanted to find one for a while, and it gave me a chance to sit with a steel and figure out that I really did want to do it.
The Bud has since gone to another forumite... someone he knew wanted one to rebuild.

My first guitar was a single neck Shobud I bought from a fiddle player in Seattle. Soon after that he had a sex change and his name now is Christine. Pretty wierd huh!

Sure is weird, what was a fiddle player doing with a steel? Oh, you mean the sex-change thing..... See, there's solid proof you should never sell your steel, it has been proven to cause identity confusion

Anyway.... I got my first steel from my uncle Bud from Milwaukee, Oregon, in the early '60's when I was a kid.... It was a Diana Oahu 6-string lapsteel, then he traded me a double-8 Rickenbacher for it, sure wish I still had that one. I doubled with it and regular guitar until I heard Steve Chet play "Charmaine", his Fender 1000 in Portland, Oregon. I went to Portland Music and got a used 1000 from them for around $250 I think, that was around 1971. I still play both steel and regular guitar, but the truth is the steel has gotten me more gigs than the guitar ever did, even when I was much better on the regular guitar.

I had gone after a six string Ovation after saving up about $650. I went to the music store and was playing the Ovation when I saw a sign on a Sho-Bud maverick that was a "rent to own" deal with a small Fender amp and six weeks of lessons. So I went home with a maverick. Took lessons from the steel player(rock lead guitar player) at the music store. I took the lessons for six weeks and bought the guitar that he was teaching with (Sho-Bud Pro II) and joined a band. Played in joints and fairs for 21 years. Quit for 4 and then my wife buys me a new Zum for my birthday and now I'm playing a few steel shows and enjoying playing more than ever and meeting new "steel buddies".

------------------
'01 Zumsteel D-10 8&9
Evans Amp,Profex II