The Steel Guitar Forum

Mike Perlowin....
I don't have much adjust time going from E9 S-10 to S-12 Uni. Ten minutes or so and it is just fine. I do have a lot of fumbling on the C-6 neck though. I gave this some thought and figured that I must think from top down when looking for strings, so the S-10 E9 guitars feel just the same. If I play on the 10 string C-6 neck, I find myself grabbing the wrong strings quite often, and predictably, picking higher strings than I want.

Since I don't get much call for straight C-6 playing, I think that my last D-10 is going to go away, and I'll just use the Uni to handle 6th tuning type situations, if and when they arise.

Most of my work is in Rock, Pop, and various flavors of Alt. The Uni works great there.

If I played only in straight country and swing bands, I would probably just stick with a D-10.

P.S. I do think of the Uni as one big tuning.....

I have four pedal steels.
A beautiful Carter D10 with blue quilted mapple, a push pull Emmons D10, a Jackson Madison D10 and a Schild SD10 witch I use most of the time.

Two Mullen G2's, 9+9, One single neck 12 string MSA Superslide and one DoBro.

Too many... way too many.

mike nolan wrote:
Most of my work is in Rock, Pop, and various flavors of Alt.

Good for you Mike. There will always be country music, and country steel. But new kinds of music are emerging. And if our instrument is to survive, we need to be playing with these kinds of bands.

I have a pen pal in India who plays lap steel. He'd love to have a pedal steel, but he has no money, literally none, to spend. If anyone wants to donate a pedal steel to him, I might be able to come up with the money for shipping. Email me if this is something you'd like to do.

He's a good guy. I've been corresponding with him for about 10 years. He speaks English, and his letters are fascinating.

Just two, a ZB SD-10 and A Fulawka S-12. That's the house rule, "one in, one out". Now that my wife is becoming quite the guitar player and has many Martins and Gibsons I believe I can call a "do over" on the two pedal steel rule...but she did buy me a really nice mandolin, though.

Darvin Willhoite wrote:Wow, that's quite a transformation. Are those reel to reel decks in the background? I haven't seen any of those in a while.

Yes, they're a couple of Teac 4-channel machines. I also have two Teac 8-channel reel-to-reel portastudios, which are like a big version of the Portastudio I, but use open reel tape instead of cassettes, and the running speed, of course, is a lot faster.

Ken Byng wrote:You are a real craftsman Alan. The man hours alone must be massive, which makes all of your projects one thing. A labour of love.

They are, Ken. It's a hobby of mine. I've been building and restoring instruments since 1963. I've never sold one, but I've built several for other musicians which I've just given away. I'm building a console steel right now for someone who doesn't realise he's going to be getting it.

Alan, Maybe you could build a pedal steel for b0b's friend in India.If you're not comfortable with the mechanics involved, you could make the cabinet for one, and collaborate with one of our builders.

I have a long list of projects. I'm not going to spend time building an instrument for someone I don't know and have never met, especially a pedal steel. The last pedal steel I built was in 1972 and, not being a metal mechanic, I built the entire thing out of wood. The wood would swell and shrink according to the humidity, and the thing would never stay in tune.

Well lets see .
!. ZumSteel D10 9 +9
2. Dekley S12 7 + 9
3. ThielSteel Dobro
4. ThielSteel not pedal T 9
5. ThielSteel Pedal Dobro 6 + 6
6. ThielSteel Lap steel 20 string (ten string ovtave set-up)
7. ThielSteel D 9 (non-pedal)
8. ThielSteel lap 9 string now in the possession of Audie Shields in Nashville. (one of my strudents)
9. one experimental project under-way S12 8 + 10

Three steels;
Emmons SG-Three pedals, one knee
GFI Ultra D-10-Eight pedals, five knees
Jackson Blackjack Custom(my favorite steel) with three pedals, four knees

The Jackson is my favorite for many reasons-playability, sound, tone, pedal action-it gives me the sound I've been lookin for for fourteen years now