The Steel Guitar Forum

My copy of the book still hasn't arrived...I've came pretty close to tackling the mailman everyday in anticipation of him having the book.

Instead, each day I watch him walk up to my house and drop more junk mails & bills in my mailbox.

Casey

Interesting stories/photos of Bob Meadows. I wondered what ever happened to him. I assume he's deceased now? In addition to Los Angeles and Phoenix, he also lived and played in Dallas for quite a while in the late '50s and '60s.

Here is a picture of him with one of his Bigsbys (and Standel amp) in Dallas:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30643196@N00/229391516/

Andy Volk wrote: I wish Joaquin's photos were bigger and that Vance, Tiny and Budd got the real estate on the page they richly deserved but all-in-all, it's a great book presented in very high quality.

Agreed, but let's face it, unless you're an expert on country music it isn't obvious that Tiny Moore, Bud Isaacs, and Vance Terry were important/influential players.
The guy who wrote the book is a rock guitarist so he was basically working from scratch when he started on this book a couple of years ago. Fortunately he had the good sense to recruit and listen to Deke, the #1 authority on all things Bigsby.

Jussi Huhtakangas wrote:Yes Ron, and I'm wonderin' how many "under the bed" Bigsbys are still out there...

Probably not many, but I know of one totally undocumented Bigsby steel here in Texas, so there's still hope!

Jussi Huhtakangas wrote: Fast forward to July 3rd 2002, I'm in a small town in AL opening a case of a -63 Bigsby and find it to be totally original and like brand new. Everything was there, even the cigarette butts in the ashtray. Pedals were stiff due to being in the case for 23 years but it was in perfect tune! During that weekend I played that guitar there ( the owner's mint condition blonde Fender Showman was at hand too ), had some real southern bbq, gallons of beer, talked and listened music and just had generally h...ll of a time. I not only bought a guitar but found a bunch of nicest people that became my dear friends for the lifetime.

Great story Jussi, this is the ideal way to purchase a fine vintage instrument...rather than from some shyster who cares nothing about the music, and only about his profit margin!

The documentation on Eddie Gabbard's steel in the book is great. I love the letter dated August 1, 1958 that says the next available delivery date is April, 1962. You had to REALLY love and cherish the Bigsby steel to be willing to wait four years to get one.

It's fun to compare the prices listed on Gabbard's receipt (on page 165) adjusted to inflation:

1 Bigsby Electric Steel Guitar $600.00 (=$4,000 in today's money)
5 Pedal Attachments $450.00 (=$3,000 in today's money)
Total $1,050.00 (=$7,000)

So maybe not the best investment in the world circa 1963...but what are mere "investments" compared to owning a Bigsby steel with your name on it?

Deke Dickerson wrote: I guess we'll milk the "All-_____ Band" until the well is dry. I'm thinking about the All-Gibson Harp Guitar band, or the All-Danelectro Band...
Deke

How about the all-Harvey band, Deke?

Deke Dickerson wrote:Ha! The problem with an All-Carvin band is that we'd have to represent the company from the beginning until now. So we'd have guys playing little blond wood steel guitars and then guys playing heavy metal on those hideous PRS-style guitars they make now! ha.

Personally I think that would be hilarious. Do it!

Chas, you are a sick man.

chas smith wrote:While we're at it, ever see a Bigsby 9-neck? 8-8-8-8-8-8-10-10-10 with pedals on the middle necks. You had to have "knuckle-draggers" to play the 10's.

Andrew, RE Vance Tiny and Bud.
I would say not including them, does the Bigsby story and there artistry a disservice, and relagates them to more obscurity.
Lee

I have to agree with Lee. If it were a general book on the west coast country scene, I can see leaving out Vance and Tiny but the book is a historical retrospective on a specific maker and the players of those instruments who, in the context of their era, were extremely popular musicians. With Tiny being arguably the best-ever electric mandolinist and a Bigsby player and Budd, of course, THE player (on a Bigsby) who created the modern country steel sound, they're noteworthy omissions IMHO. However, this takes nothing away from all the wonderful things that ARE in the book and the hard work it took to get it to press. That they were able to get a publisher to go full color with fold outs and high-quality treatment all the way was a coup.

Andrew Brown wrote:

Jussi Huhtakangas wrote: Fast forward to July 3rd 2002, I'm in a small town in AL opening a case of a -63 Bigsby and find it to be totally original and like brand new. Everything was there, even the cigarette butts in the ashtray. Pedals were stiff due to being in the case for 23 years but it was in perfect tune! During that weekend I played that guitar there ( the owner's mint condition blonde Fender Showman was at hand too ), had some real southern bbq, gallons of beer, talked and listened music and just had generally h...ll of a time. I not only bought a guitar but found a bunch of nicest people that became my dear friends for the lifetime.

Great story Jussi, this is the ideal way to purchase a fine vintage instrument...rather than from some shyster who cares nothing about the music, and only about his profit margin!

The documentation on Eddie Gabbard's steel in the book is great. I love the letter dated August 1, 1958 that says the next available delivery date is April, 1962. You had to REALLY love and cherish the Bigsby steel to be willing to wait four years to get one.

It's fun to compare the prices listed on Gabbard's receipt (on page 165) adjusted to inflation:

1 Bigsby Electric Steel Guitar $600.00 (=$4,000 in today's money)
5 Pedal Attachments $450.00 (=$3,000 in today's money)
Total $1,050.00 (=$7,000)

So maybe not the best investment in the world circa 1963...but what are mere "investments" compared to owning a Bigsby steel with your name on it?

Exactly Andrew! What I found fascinating about Eddie, was that he was a long time Bigsby customer, the vol/tone pedal he had was among the very first ones, it has the big logo on the front, like Noel's, Vance's and Speedys'- PA soon switched over to smaller logo. I also have a Downey post stamped box of Bigsby strings, bar and picks dated -64. And just awhile ago The Gabbards found a some unfinished raw cast Bigsby pedal steel parts in one of Eddie's foot lockers. There's also correspondence letters with McCarthy's Bigsby co that clearly indicates that Eddie was planning on building a D10 using parts from PA's left over inventory. Total of the parts; two necks, fretboards, pedals etc in -72 was something like $30 !!! He never got around to it anyway, but instead ordered a D10 Marlen Speedy West which too is still in mint condition along with an Edwards beam pedal. The guy was totally hip to the gear!!
While my deal was pending, the Gabbards asked Gruhn for an appraisal for the steel. He quoted them somewhat bluntly that it's probably worth around 3K's. Needless to say, they pretty much considered that as an insult.
I also found it fascinating that Eddie, like PA was a Mason, probably another connecting thing for the two, those Mason cards and PA's printing business cards, Xmas cards are from Eddie's files. Also, the book comes with that cd of PA's voice letters, I have hours and hours of similar Eddie's tapes he sent home from Vietnam while serving his two stints over there. I'm not sure whether he took the Bigsby over to Nam but I do have photos of him playing a Stringmaster in a tent in Vietnam in an impromptu jam. The bass player is playing a Mosrite btw.
Sorry again for the long rant

Rant away, Jussi! This stuff is mana for us musical history geeks.

Oh yeah, I also have a photo of Eddie playing a T8 Fender Custom with a pedal rack that is very Bigsbyish. No one knows what ever happened to that guitar or what the pedal stuff on it really was! The photo was taken in an army base in Germany in the late 50's.

I don't have the book yet, but is there a picture of Noel Boggs playing a Bigsby ? I don't remember Noel playing anything but Fender's. (after 1945)

Yes Billy, Noel had one of the first ones in -48
and there's a Bigsby ad in the book of Noel playing his guitar. He acquired it while playing in Tommy Duncan's band in the late 40's.

Can you guys take a look at a thread I just started in the "Steel On The Web" forum regarding a 1945 Spade Cooley soundie?

Got to check the book out last night and found it better than I'd imagined it would be. The fold-outs are terrific, and there are many up close visuals of the guitars and great pix that I'd never seen as well as tons of new info. The steel guitar section was too brief for steel lovers, but overall, quite decent. Murph got plenty face and print time, that's a plus. Even the minimal pages of Bigsby'ed rockers at the end section were worthy of inclusion, except Conan O'Brian, and at least he provided humor just by his looks...
There were (possibly) a few inaccurate info bit's I saw, just in the short reading's I had time for, but that can easily happen, and will hopefully be corrected in future printings.

Superb job, long over due, and kudo's to all involved!

I got mine and think it is by far one of the best guitar geek books I own.
I have 0' plenty

Its unbelievably well done with crystal clear (big) photo's, and tons of valuable information (unkown to many)
Allot about the man himself and his vision etc

Regardless of who's missing and who didn't get enough print
(I like Paul Buskirk) maybe Vol 2 will have the rest of the folks in it?

I think its just a wonderful thing to sit and read and enjoy a book that full of great info & pics etc

Thanks to "ALL" involved in making the PA story availible for us vintage homo's to read!!

Redd Volkaert

Once again I'd like to describe a little bit to the steel guitar guys on the forum how this Bigsby book was put together. Fred Gretsch paid for it to be produced, and they hired a professional photographer to do photo sessions in Los Angeles, New York, and Nashville. Anybody that physically brought their instruments to one of these photo sessions got it in the book. THAT is why some instruments have the big deluxe treatment with the fold out pages, and other instruments are reproduced smaller.

There were many people who had instruments that obviously couldn't travel to have them photographed. When I found out about an instrument's location, if I was going to be touring through the area, I would go and take pictures of it. I did my best to shoot as many instruments that I felt were important to get in the book--all at my own expense (they didn't pay me anything to do it). I felt it was important.

So on my own dime, I went to Hank Thompson's house in Dallas to shoot his two Bigsby guitars, the Chief Mack Thomas monster steel & Martin Thomas' steel guitar out in the middle of nowhere, Kent Kistler's spanish guitar, Smokey Stoltenberg's tenor guitar, Keith Holter's spanish guitar, the spanish guitar on the left of page 121, etc. etc. These instruments wouldn't have been in the book at all if I hadn't gone out and done this. The point I'm trying to make is that I COMPLETELY agree with you all about the instruments that were left out of the book. It was inexcusable, but we were working up against not only a complete lack of budget for additional photography, but also a print deadline.

I mentioned that there was some discussion of getting the Bud Isaacs steel photographed, and then nobody from the higher-ups told me that they didn't follow up on that, so that's why the Bud Isaacs steel is not pictured in the book. This was a glaring mistake.

I had also been trying to find out the location of Tiny Moore's mandolin and didn't know who had it until about a month ago, and then it was too late to get it in the book.

Ditto for Martha Carson's acoustic and a few other significant instruments. If I had known how to find them, I would have gone and photographed them.

I guess the point of all this is that I did what I could, but under the circumstances and the deadline, certain things were left out and you have my apologies! And I totally agree, somebody SHOULD have ponied up the $$$ to fund a photo session for these instruments left out.

Hey Redd--there's a big story on Paul Buskirk coming up in the Fretboard Journal soon. I didn't write it but Nate in Houston is doing it.

Deke

I really enjoy the beautiful pictures in the book. The book is also a pretty good read from a historical standpoint. Like Bobbe, I too would have like to have seen a bit more emphasis placed on Paul's steel guitars, but I'm not going to split hairs. Great book!!!!

Cheers!
Benton

My book finally arrived today...OH MY GOSH!!! Talk about a great book. The steels could've certainly been featured more in depth. All in all, it is an extremely awesome book...perhaps visual porn for the guitarist & steel guitarist.

Three things I noticed:

1. On some of the guitars, I wish they would've explained more about who owned them. Some seem to be missing this info.

2. While talking about the "Monster Bigsby", P.A. talks about Marian Hall & her ideas that she wants...and he doesn't understand them. To me, it sounds like she was wanting half-stops...I wonder if she was the first to think about that.

3. It would've been nice to have a comprehensive list of Bigsbys originally built & maybe how many are currently M.I.A.

I would love to see someone make a "companion website" with more photos of each bigsby that was included & the ones that were left out.

THIS IS A MAGNIFICENT BOOK!!!

Casey

...there was a segment on Bigsby and the book on NPR a while back - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =101583548

Here's the proud new Bigsby owner Eddie Gabbard in -63. The photo was taken in Germany where he was stationed at the time and where Bigsby shipped the guitar ( note all the Hofner guitars ):



Here's young Gabbard in the early 50's with no Bigsby steel but the vol/tone pedal is there:

Deke, we all owe you a tremendous vote of thanks ..... for producing the Guitar Geek nights and DVDs, all your work on the Bigsby book, and for ALL the legwork, detective work, time, money and energy you've put in to preserve, document, bring to light instruments and people who are part of America's musical history. If you didn't track down those guitars and shoot pics perhaps they'd be lost to history in another 50 years. What's fueling all that commitment? Obvious passion for this stuff!

As much as we're passionate about this stuff, the world at large is indifferent. I can well understand how you couldn't get everything covered in the book that you'd wish. I chased Ben Harper for 6 months for my lap steel book and had to go to press before we could coordinate an interview. Jerry Douglas' management ignored multiple request for a clip for the Museum of Making Music video. Something important always gets left on the cutting room floor, or left out of a project. It's just the nature of the beast.

But speaking personally, you should know that putting in all that extra sweat work on the Bigsby book is mightily appreciated by all of us who dig musical history and vintage instruments.

Thanks, Andy.

The main reason that I did all that legwork for the Bigsby book was because I realized about 3-4 years ago that most of these fine gentlemen who knew Bigsby and played Bigsby instruments were in their late 70's or their 80's....so I felt it was very important that those who knew Paul were interviewed, and their instruments photographed, and their photographs scanned, before it all got scattered to the wind (or sold to a famous collector on Long Island and never seen again).

There are worse things to do than poke around in Hank Thompson's attic, looking in guitar cases and going through stacks of photographs. So, selfishly, research for the book was also an amazing way to have a legitimate excuse to get people to open up their homes and see this stuff....stuff I'd always been curious about but couldn't get the answers to before.

I appreciate your kind words....and I know that you have done the same thing with your "Lap Steel Guitar" book! So you're a man who knows.

Deke