The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anyone know what ever happened to the Bigsby T-8 that was played on The Louisiana Hayride in the mid 50's by featured steel guitarist, the late Bob Murphy?

Marv Erickson

What artist did he play for?

It's in LA, the last I heard two months ago. It has been restored with original parts, looks great. The new owner seems tolove it.
Bobbe

Hey guys, tell us more about this Bob Murphy!!

Hi Ray, As i understand it he was a back-up player for different artists. I saw a photo of the marque at the Hayride naming him "Featured Steel Guitarist"...all in big lights. I bought that Bigsby from him in 1955 or so, but sold it back to him two or three months later...felt sorry for him. He missed that guitar and really regretted seling it. He later sold it to a steel player here in Rock Island, IL and that fellow promptly cut the centers out of the aluminum necks and replaced them with wood. Last i heard it was in Nashville. Thanks for the LA info. Bobbe

Was that Bigsby a pedal steel or without pedals??

Pedal ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

At the time i had it, as i recall, the inside neck was high C6th, the center neck was a kind of E13th, and the outside neck was an E6th, just like the low C6th of Jerry Byrd, only tuned up to E. Bob was a great fan of Joaquin Murphy, and i believe he even named one of his children after Joaquin. The guitar at that time had five pedals. Bob played this steel through a Wilhelm amp, These amps were hand built by John Wilhelm using the "overdrive" concept that is used today in modern amps. John was way ahead of his time for the early 1960's or so. These amps would make a Bigsby sound MORE like a Bigsby, and a Fender sound just ABOUT like a Bigsby!

Thanks Marvin and Bobbe for the info, that's very interesting, especially about the Wilhelm amp. Now if I only could see how THOSE looked!!

Hi Jussi, No two of those Wilhelm amps looked the same...John used whatever he could find to fit what ever type he was building for the customer. Some were piggy-backs w/separate speaker cabinets, some self-contained, even a couple with built-in tape reverb that had more adjustable speeds than a Ferrari, or some such sports car!Cosmetically, his amps. had a rather "industrial" look with stainless steel and aluminum trim and handles. One thing was for sure, they all sounded the same....GREAT!!! Make Fender AND any other guitar close to Bigsby sound.

Sounds like he was one of those amp innovators like Bob Crooks with his Standels.

Marvin, unfortunately, you are correct.
Bigsbys have a big warm rich beautiful tone like no others for sure. The secret isn't the pickup, but it doesn't hurt either. I have done much expermenting with the Bigsby guitars and pretty well know what is myth and what isn't. It is still a magic guitar, just like the original Standel amps were magic. These two items were really just "qurks" of the time. And great ones they were. Two guys that really didn't know what they were doing hit on an incredible pair of sounding music machines. Bob Crook of Standel amps and Paul Bigsby of guitar and steel guitar fame.

Bobbe

Hey guys, check GOOGLE for: Standel, and then Google: Paul A. Bigsby. Some great info on these subjects.
It's our great history, these are two guys that should never be forgotten. The daddies of everything we see in the world of steel guitar today.
Bobbe