The Steel Guitar Forum

This program is coming on right now on the Science Channel (193 on Dish Network) The last item on the show is going to be pedal steel guitars. FYI

8:30 Central Time November 2, 2007

Thanks for that post, John.
I ran in and caught the steel segment just in time.
Cool!
It is on Channel 272 here in Portland, Oregon (on Comcast Cable, at least).
I like this show in general.
pb

Wish the steel section could have been a little longer but it was interesting. I've got it on my DVR. Last night they did a show on electric guitars and they were at the Godin Guitar factory.

I wonder how or who put them onto the pedal steel segment...

Here's a YouTube link to it if anyone's missed it.
Click Here

Thanks Andy

It's not a very long segment but very interesting none the less.

Thanks for the link . Was that Ricky Davis' Blue Darlin they showed there ?

Thank you Andy, very much.

Brendan, Ricky Davis's Blue Darlin' is the blue one you see Ricky pictured with - in his avatar.
The one that Ollie Strong played on the segment, was Eddie's own guitar I believe...the one he has set up in his living room.

Andy thanks for posting that, I have been searching for that ever since I heard about it...

Would have been better if they had actually used steel guitar music behind the voice over. Probably did not have any canned steel music or more than likely did not know what a steel sounded like!

Yea, but then there'd be the argument about who's licks to play...

I think they took the safe road...

The one thing that is brought out in this video is that you need a workshop with a lot of expensive professional power tools to build a pedal steel, and that more time is taken building the jigs and templates than the guitar itself. They show you parts being made, but what they don't show is the machinery set-up process.

Alan, on the contrary, Ed's shop does not paint the picture of lots of expensive tools.
He has an old manual milling machine plus 6 or 7 drill presses set up with different bits. He has a band saw, a cheap disc sander, a polishing machine and a home made manual pickup winder. The rest is a collection of hand tools. You are correct about one thing though: He has 1000's of jigs that he made himself

That show coulda been a full hour and probably not covered everything but it was interesting to watch.

Ollie Strong (the steeler on the show) said they taped all day, then it was condensed down to what was shown. He said they had Eddie go through various production steps so they could tape them.

Thanks Andy.

Bent Romnes wrote:Alan, on the contrary, Ed's shop does not paint the picture of lots of expensive tools.
He has an old manual milling machine plus 6 or 7 drill presses set up with different bits. He has a band saw, a cheap disc sander, a polishing machine and a home made manual pickup winder. The rest is a collection of hand tools. You are correct about one thing though: He has 1000's of jigs that he made himself

Compared to the Fender Company he doesn't have a lot of machinery, but what he does have seems quite a lot to an amateur like me. I don't have a milling machine, a band saw, a polishing machine or a pickup winder. I would buy those tools if I were to go professional. But it just reinforces my thoughts that I'm not going to attempt to build a pedal steel from scratch, as I don't have a machine shop.

If you ever take a close look at a Fulawka guitar, you will notice the hand work that Ed does on his creations. Some other brands of pedal steels may have a more "finished" look to some of its components but Ed's hand crafting just adds to the "charm" of his guitars. Besides owning a D-10 Fluawka, I also own an 8 string Fulawka lap steel w/legs. Love both of them!