The Steel Guitar Forum

I would love nothing more than to plunk down some cash for standup lap steel playing on either a Lap King Bel Aire like Jerry Douglas has been playing, or an MSA SuperSlide, but a recent job change has tightened up the budget. I find myself in the bandleader situation sometimes playing dobro standing up (and doing vocals), but I would like to utilize a lap steel as well.

I could perform surgery on my old Supro, but I'm not real big on that idea.

So to the rescue comes Hartley Peavey. I was reading (as I'm sure many of you have) in my e-mail the latest edition of Bobbe Seymour's newsletter from Steel Guitar Nashville, and it turns out that Peavey is going to produce an affordable lap steel for standup playing:

"Our Peavey representative came by yesterday and showed me a prototype of a new lapsteel type electric slide guitar, a la Mellobar kind of six string instrument. I immediately ordered a dozen of them. As with everything Peavey, the quality was over the top and the price is extremely low, less than $400. Ive had many people ask me over the last several years for a good high quality square neck lapsteel or slide guitar. Many steel players on shows when they are featured, need to and like to get up and move around the stage. Lets face it, theatrics in this day and time as about as important as what you play. We will give pictures and demos as soon as we receive these for stock. One thing I find very interesting about this unit is that it was designed 100 percent by Mister Hartley Peavey himself. Shades of Leo Fender hanging around the company. Youd think these multimillionaires would have something better to do but I guess they just have to have that hands on creative gene satisfied. I personally think this is wonderful."

I'm looking forward to taking one of these for a test drive!

Whoops!

I didn't realize that the following thread was all about this new guitar:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... sc&start=0

Mark,I got to check one in out at the Phoenix show,Dan Tyack was playing it in the Desert Rose room.It is a good sounding instrument,I noticed a couple of things that could be improved upon.I hope that they redesign the bridge to have a steeper break angle I think the guitar would sustain better,and the nut had some grooves in it making the guitar buzz,so that tells me the material that it's made from is too soft?Maybe they have fixed this already...Still a nice guitar.

Thanks for your comments, Stu.

I posted the following awhile ago on the other thread:

"A question for Mike Brown, or anyone who has "trialed" this guitar:

When I play a dobro standing up, I will sometimes anchor my picking hand on the palm rest to give stability so that the guitar doesn't shift.

How about some sort of pickup cover for this new Peavey which will enable one to stabilize the instrument, or by having two attachments on the tail piece does this take care of that potential problem?"
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And along the line of Stu's comments: on the issue of the nut, and any other components that might be sub par - I'd rather pay a little more from the get go and have decent quality components rather than get the thing home and have to do after market modifications.

I just hope Peavey doesn't have to cut too many corners to hit a certain "price point." I wouldn't want to be getting some sort of glorified version of an Artisan lap steel.

It would still be a huge savings over the instruments I mentioned in my first post (lord knows I do want those instruments in my future as well!)

I've seen some Squier Strats and the like where before too long, pickup switches and cable jacks go funky - and if Fender had put about $25-$30 more wholesale into the thing you wouldn't experience those problems.

Check it out boys and girls - Hartley Peavey himself presenting the new Power Slide at NAMM last month:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEK4rGt7-As

Sounds like the steel guitar is gaining interest alright. It sure has been a dead issue for guitar makers for a long time.

I can't picture a Hawaiian using one, but that's only one type of music being played on those these days.

Until he said it in the video I didn't realize it was meant to be able to be played like a "conventional" guitar. Ought to be interested to see how they comprimised between the string spacing and height you'd want for lap-style playing and that you'd want for regular/conventional guitar--even bottleneck-type slide players still fret notes. Very inventive thinking, eager to see how it goes over once they release it.

Vince

Good point, Vince. One would hope that Hartley isn't introducing something that would fall loosely under the category of "jack of all trades, master of none."

I'm looking for an affordable, respectable quality lap steel for standup playing as an electric alternative to my dobro. And something that is ergonomically more suited to the job than converting a guitar like an old Supro.

Not sure if I'd ever play the thing like a regular guitar bottleneck style.

I hope to be selling these soon with eight string mods and pro steel legs, extendable for standup or seated positions. I have several lap six string guitars on order now.
Lets see how this works out, I'm excited about it. It should be wonderful with the "Bo-Bro" unit also!

Bobbe
Steel Guitar Nashville
615 822 5555

Those additional options sound great, Bobbe, thanks for posting!

But sorry, man, you lose me on any dobro simulators (I'm not just picking on yours).

I'm not predjudiced - I hate 'em all equally!

Sign me up for one Bobbe!
I've been wanting something like this for years to play with the blues band. Playing lap steel I was tied to a chair so I set up a Les Paul to play standing up similar to a Dobro but the balance wasn't right.
This looks like the ticket. at least one I can afford. (and won't worry about dinging it at a bar gig like a nice custom steel.)
Jam On!
Joe

That belly cutaway looks great, especially for portly players who can't see the Dobro they're playing because of their beer gut...

On a serious note, the cutaway wouldn't fit all. Skinny folks might find the shape unstable.

Alan Brookes wrote:

On a serious note, the cutaway wouldn't fit all. Skinny folks might find the shape unstable.

Alan, when people play for example, a dobro standing up, you will see a lot of variation in height as to where they hold the guitar.

In the demo by Hartley, and the first photo in the other thread, the guitar is being held pretty high. When I play, I hold the guitar around my belt buckle height (which is always hooked on my left side to avoid "belt buckle rash").

The cutout appears to me to be pretty adaptable to most folks by virtue of its shape. No six-pack abs here, but I don't have any kind of beer gut either.

Don't you think the Peavey people thought their way through this?

I usually play the Dobro or National Tricone sitting down. In all those years I've never attempted to play it standing up. That's because when I play I'm usually playing for myself or recording in my den. When I've backed other people I've always been sitting down.

I bought a couple of Melobars a while back, the electric Skreemr and one of their acoustic versions, but found the dimensions didn't help for standing up, or for sitting down. They kind of fell between the two.

I do have what people charmingly call "Middle-Aged Spread". A friend of mine's wife once told him that if he kept on eating he would need a pedal steel with a cutaway, so when I saw Harley Peavey referring to the belly cutout I couldn't stop laughing...

...even though in reality it looks very practical.

When Hartley Peavey said the "Power Slide" can be played conventionaly, surely he meant as a slide or bottleneck guitar. I don't think that instrument would be playable as a Spanish guitar, even with the "rebated" neck.

What confuses me is how can it be a dobro as he claims? It's a solid-body electric. Isn't a dobro an acoustic instrument?

I like the looks of the Power Slide anyway.

Keith, I think you have to cut Hartley some slack on the terminology - it didn't seem like a very well-rehearsed interview - it appeared to be pretty "off-the-cuff."

Of course it's full-time slide (it better not be possible to fret it with one's fingers), either steel style or bottleneck style, although even with the "rebated neck," it would seem pretty awkward to me to play it bottleneck style - that's a pretty wide neck on that thing, never mind the actual thickness.

I just hope that nut height and the bridge is high enough so that it will do a good job as a guitar played with a steel bar, lap style - otherwise I will be looking elsewhere.

I wonder if Peavey will make them with various sized cutaways !!....1X ....2X ...... 3X ....4X ....

I like the look of these things....They finally made something that my belly will feel at home in !!...

Vince Luke wrote:Until he said it in the video I didn't realize it was meant to be able to be played like a "regular. . .or blues or country" guitar. Ought to be interested to see how they comprimised between the string spacing and height you'd want for lap-style playing and that you'd want for regular/conventional guitar--even bottleneck-type slide players still fret notes. Very inventive thinking, eager to see how it goes over once they release it.

Vince

Vince, Hartley didn't say it could be played like a regular guitar, he said it would appeal to regular guitar players. This is a pure steel, no frets anywhere on the thing. You could play it in a 'slide guitar' position with a bottleneck, but this thing isn't meant to be fretted.

I sent some comments to Mike Brown, haven't heard back yet.

Dan:

I see, I think. I edited my earlier post to better reflect what led to my misunderstanding--both times he talks about playing with the guitar suspended from the strap buttons on the belly hooks and moves his left hand back and forth up & down the neck he alludes to "conventional slide" and "play it conventionally." But even in that position you'd still play it sounding notes with only the bar/slide/bottleneck, right?

I look forward to hearing the thing once y'all start getting your hands on them,
Vince

Vince Luke wrote:But even in that position you'd still play it sounding notes with only the bar/slide/bottleneck, right?

Yep. As a bottleneck player I wouldn't use it for bottleneck slide though,- one of the few advantages bottleneck has over steel is the ability to combine fretted notes with slide. Since that's not possible on the Peavey I really can't see how it makes sense as anything but a lap steel, unless perhaps for those who find playing with a bar awkward and swear to bottleneck style.

Steinar

I did an acoustic gig with a guy last week - he was on a six-string, and I was on dobro.

He is a long-time guitar player and very good. He loves the sound of the dobro, and we enjoyed playing together.

But he's never taken a shot at anything in the steel guitar family, and he made a comment: "I can't even imagine playing a guitar horizontally with a steel bar."

Since I started out on lap steel at age 10, many moons ago, it is difficult for me to fathom how someone else can't even imagine playing that way.

So it's all in one's "frame of reference."

Bobbe, save one for me buddy!

Steinar Gregertsen wrote:...I really can't see how it makes sense as anything but a lap steel, unless perhaps for those who find playing with a bar awkward and swear to bottleneck style.

That's exactly what I was thinking. He mentions several times that's it's not a lap steel, but it obviously is.
I don't play bottleneck style much these days, but if I did I would want a guitar with proper frets on.

Alan,you are right,It's a lap steel no frets...It wouldn't work for bottleneck,It is well made except for the nut,it had a groove in it from the high string digging in so it buzzed,an easy fix with harder material.