The Steel Guitar Forum

Gosh I just realized that this is the 600th post, I also did the 400th I think.


Larry Behm

...and you don't even own a ZB.

Larry, that green guitar above was originally ordered for a D-11 and was turned into a D-10 at the last minute. Yes, the body is bigger than the standard D-10 body. Very interesting. The sound is typical ZB Custom fabulous. Its had the knee levers replaced/repositioned with new polished aluminum adjustables.

No Russ, I haven't given up on a S-11. I received several possibe offers, but none appears to be "the one". I can afford to take my time on account of I already have a great ZB. Also, I have to sell my Marlen in order to afford the S-11 and I'm having a hard time letting that one go.
I'll say it again, Kevin, that is one pretty piece of wood and confounding mechanics. Just looking at it sounds good.
Happy 600th post and thanks to Larry for starting this insanity. And Larry,I didn't think about the boots being strange being that I play a lot in flip-flops here in Florida.
Duncan<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Duncan Hodge on 02 April 2005 at 04:18 PM.]</p></FONT>

I started on a single, after about 1 year I got a double. I was at a Reece Anderson seminar in Spokane area. I told someone I was looking for a Blue D-10, the guy told me to come to Eugene Oregon he had just the one I needed and it was for sale.

It had a Day setup, but I was so eagar to play it I just crossed the rods for the first night or two. I really love the look of the ZB's, they emit an attitude just sitting there.

Larry Behm

I think I still have a couple of pictures of Richard Sinkler playing his ZB back in the '70's. If I can find them I'll scan them and try to post. It was a great sounding guitar. I have a reel to reel tape of or duo from then, too.

Anybody seen this one?It's a price that I like.Maybe there is a ZB lover on the forum stationed in Europe that like's to buy it. http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=324&item=5571554563&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW#ebayphotohosting

Ron

LA-area steelers and the Southland ZB Curious: over in Events and Announcements, in the 33rd post (4/7) regarding LA Jam 4/3, I've floated out a dreamy idea regarding my ZB D-10, a guitar that's too big an obstacle for a beginner, but too much of a treasure to sell. For what it's worth...

I thought you might like to see a better picture of my D11/10

Russ

Very nice Ross. Got the extra pedal on the E9 as well. I think you got this one at a good price. Was the description on E-Bay accurate? They say it packed at about 50lb; mine shipped in the case at 79lb and it sure feels like that when lugging it around. I'm gonna have to put castors on the case.

All the best

Pat K

Pat,

It shipped at 81lbs so the fifty was a bit low. This guitar sounds great! I need to have a setup done but the tone is great.

All the best,
Russ

Pretty, pretty and beautiful, Russ.
Duncan

Could someone please e-mail me some pictures of the underside of your ZB, particularly focusing on the knee levers, especially if you have an older model with original parts. If my e-mail is full, please try again a little later-I am always deleting junk. Thanks

I wanted to talk a little about the fourth and eigth strings not returning to dead "0" on ZB's. There are a couple of primary reasons for this. One is lubrication at the roller nut. Also, sometimes just loosening the fourth or eighth string and turning the roller will free up the roller. The other is lowering return springs either tightened too tight or too loose. The method that I use for adjusting the four and eight string return springs is this. I first tune strings four and five open on the tuning meter dead "0" and make sure that there are no audible beats when they are played open. I then make sure that the E's lowered on both four and eight are tempered down at least minus ten with the lowering knee lever. Again I check for no audible beats with the knee lever engaged and hiting strings four and five. I then go to the tenth fret and engage the E lower knee lever and slide to the third fret and release the knee lever. If I hear any audible beats I check strings four and five on the meter again and see if five has moved from zero or four has returned sharp or flat. I find that checking strings four and five between the first and third frets reveals beats very clearly. 90% of the ZB's that I've checked have their E's returning sharp and need to have the return spring adjusted back a number of turns to have the E's return to dead zero. I just went through this on a friends guitar and a new one that was just built.
Another reason for non accurate return could be a binding changer cap. Greg Jones and I just went through this on a new build and it threw us for about a half an hour until we changed the roller cap. The old cap was probably machined too big and was binding. Another reason for non accurate return could be binding underneath the guitar. Check the four and eighth rods for any binding right up tp the changer. Also keeping ZB's lubricated is very important. I have a new build that was just adjusted out and I learned alot. Again, check your E lowers. I think that alot of ZB's were given up by people because they were'nt adjusted properly. When they are, they are dead accurate and play like a dream. I hope this helps.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Kevin Hatton on 11 April 2005 at 11:15 PM.]</p></FONT><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Kevin Hatton on 11 April 2005 at 11:16 PM.]</p></FONT>

Beautiful steel Russ. Also the fence around your deck has given me an idea about finishing my new deck. I mean my wife calls it a front porch.

Thanks, Russ, for posting the pic. Beautiful!

And thanks, Kevin, for the roller nut tip, too. We'd all love to see pictures of your restorations once Greg is done with 'em! By the way, owning more than one ZB is A-OK by me!

All ZBest as always,
Larry

Tom Anderson---Re: "Could someone please e-mail me some pictures of the underside of your ZB...If my e-mail is full, please try again a little later-I am always deleting junk. ..."
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4/16: Your email is full again. In the meantime, here are some links to pics of my ZBeast* I took for you. Anyone else want to look and comment (anyone see anything weirder here than ZBs are anyway?), enjoy:
http://home.earthlink.net/~wardrobewitch/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/zb182.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~wardrobewitch/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/zb183.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~wardrobewitch/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/zb184.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~wardrobewitch/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/zb185.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~wardrobewitch/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/zb186.jpg

*--D-10 8+3 s/n 0131 fwiw...

Played an early ZB D10 set up like mine at the Southern Illinois Steel Guitar Conference at Benton Illinois over the weekend. A first generation with wonderful tone and mechanics. A fellow from south-east
Tennesee owns it anbd he knows who he is.

I asked once before on this thread but no one seemed interested. Try one last time. Has any one any other ideas on the 11th string on the D11. The e seems too far from the D to make any contribution melodically. Does anyone use any changes on this string, Does anyone infact play this instrument set up for 11 strings. Any other comments.

Pat, my 11/10 is in the shop right now and I haven't had it long enough to really get into the 11th string that much. I've had it at E for lack of anything else, but I am wondering how it would work to tune it to something in conjunction with using the D lever? It would make playing swing on the E9 neck more feasible if you had a lower string. I hadn't thought about this before. I'm anxious to get it back to try it.

How old is your D11/10? The one I bought is from around 1980. It needs some work but sounds great!

Russ

Mine is serial 0008, which is one of the first Bakersfields assemblies. The parts were made by Zane and the fretboards have his signature, but from what I understand, it was assembled in BField.

Webb,

Where is Berwick, PA? I was born in McKeesport near Pittsburg. 1968, pretty great! Who's working on it?

Russ

Russ, Berwick is about 30 miles South of Wilkes-Barre, 75 mi. N. of Harrisburg.

It has a short in the switches. I took it up to my engineer buddy's to have him go over the wiring.

I got this guitar from a guy last Nov. who said it sat in his garage for about 15 years. It looked so bad when I got it that I almost didn't take it. The guy told me to take it home for a while and see if it was worth cleaning up. I looked at it for about 3 days before I even had the guts to try cleaning it up. Once I started on it, I didn't stop for about 2 months. It's all original and a real beaut. You can see some checking on the back side, but other than that, it shines like a new one.

I put strings on it, tuned it up, barely adjusted the A pedal, and it was ready to play. I couldn't believe it would ever play that well without completely overhauling it.

The 8th pedal isn't hooked up and some of the other C6 pedals are not set up to my liking, and it doesn't have an F pedal.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. It sounds phenomenal, but of course it weighs a ton. My back is shot and I may just get the copedent set up and sell it so I can buy a universal. Even my D10 GFI does a number on my back anymore. But then I sit down and play the ol' ZB and think....Wow! I got the Zeebee Geebees!!

I'm thinking another G# or G with a raise. A with a lower? Any other thoughts?
Pat