The Steel Guitar Forum

So, I found this older push/pull online and I negotiate a price with owner. The owner said that it had been rebuilt by a [well-known rebuilder]. He said he doesn't play out and, other than lubing it, he never adjusted it after the rebuild. I think "great", I buy it, it gets shipped to me, and I find the receipt for the rebuild work in the case with all the guitar's other paperwork. Receipt dated not long ago.

So, I play it and it plays very rough. Oh-oh. Pedals work very hard and some don't bottom out. Action is very hard. Push/pull tone is not there. Change strings. No improvement. I think to myself, "Self, maybe this is the way an Emmons is supposed to play." (I have an 81' p/p, too. and it wasn't much better.)

So, I contact TC Furlong and ask him for a recommendation on a push/pull guy. He says he takes his to Dave Peterson in Wheeling, a suburb of Chicago. I drive there and take both my Emmons to him. Dave spends time meticulously going over each guitar to assess it's condition. It's not one of those "write a few words on a tag, put the tag on the case handle and see-ya later" things. I'm immediately impressed.

He works on them and I pick them up a couple of months later when I can schedule a trip back. He spends an hour explaining all the things he did to the guitars. A lot of work, parts replacement and adjustments. I tell him that the '74 had been rebuilt by [so-and-so]. He makes no comment which is comment enough. I play the guitars before leaving. They play like butter and sound great. Incredible. Just incredible. Later, I thank TC for his recommendation. TC understands when I mention being so impressed.

So, am I writing this just to tell a story? No. Maybe it's just to suggest that not all rebuilders are what they're reputed to be. You say that the rebuild you had done was great? Maybe ask yourself compared to what? I now know what a bad rebuild is. And I certainly know what a great rebuild is.

About ten years ago I had a minor problem with a Bud. I had found a guy (unnamed) that claimed to be a teacher. He offered to fix my steel so I left it there for a week. When I picked it up, he charged me $150. and hadn't done anything to it. I paid him and never went back, not for lessons or anything.

I haven't seen him at the last several get togethers. Wonder why?

I'm really bad at rebuilds myself. It never stopped me from trying. If I ever offer to rebuild your guitar, don't let me. I'm a hack.

i'll fix my own steels, thank you...

This is a perfect example of pedal steel guitar maintenance. Pedal steels, especially the older pedal steels MUST be gone though occasionally to be lubed and adjusted. That goes triple for the older pedal steels. Emmons Push Pulls are notorious for playing stiff if they haven't been set up by a COMPETENT Push Pull mechanic. Same with ZB's, and the same with Sho-Buds. I get insensed by people coming on the Forum and selling out right old junk and thinking that they are going to get decent money for a pedal steel that hasn't been adjusted or cleaned in 30 years. If you are buying a used pedal steel off the Forum always aske the owner WHEN it was last brought in to be cleaned, lubed, and adjusted, and WHO did the work. Check references. It makes a HUGE difference in how the guitar will play and sound.

i don't necessarily consider myself a 'competent' anything, but i have acquired two different d10p/p's over the years. both were trashed and set up weird. i took each completely apart underneath and logically set them up for my copedent. it's not rocket science...go to the john lacey wilderness guide! they both have worked perfectly for over ten or more years...

cost....nothing!!!

Eric,

Thanks for the tip. I took my new to me 1971 PP to Dave last Sunday. He set up both necks and really went over the whole guitar. You will not find a better PP tech or a nicer person to deal with. I picked it up today with less than a week turn around. Dave had it done last Tuesday so I could have picked it up sooner had I been able to get back to Wheeling!

Russ

There are folks out there that do excellent work on these PP's. Jerry Roller has been great too me in helping me out with mine but around this area, I would only trust my guitars in the hands of Billy Cooper. He has done a lot of work for me and NEVER let me down on anything.

can you imagine how the playing field would be levelled if singers had to record with their road band, midi and strings weren't allowed, steel players had to play, service and repair their own steels, and bad ass harley riders had to work on their own bikes (like in the true biker era) and there was no harley boutique with pink leather jackets??!!

Will some one please explain how a steel plays like butter?I tried it and the picks sunk down in the butter and made a mess.

Tracy,

You have to put the steel in the freezer before you play it.

Don't try to play it at room temperature! Duh!

Now why didn't i think of that.

This tale is why I tell new steelers to beware of old steels from unknown sellers. They are so often out of whack, with strange changes. And how is a newbie supposed to know what good adjustment and a standard copedent are? If a newbie is going to buy used, he needs to have an experienced player help him. Or, he needs to take it to a class steel mechanic and have it adjusted and set up properly. And if you have to ship it, and it needs extensive work and parts, it could end up costing as much as a new instrument. While Chris' experience proves a mechanically inclined player can figure it out and get it right, that's not a chore I would wish on a new player right off the bat.

Eric, sorry to hear of your misfortune! Im glad though that Dave was able to help you out. He's a close friend of Paul Warnik's so he should be quite familiar with the p/p guitar.
Ive had folks call or write me before asking about Ebay sales where my name had been mentioned as having last worked on the instrument. Upon inspection of pictures Ive found that while I may have worked on a specific guitar, the owner may have had a hankering to try to tweak my work for one reason or another, thus undoing my efforts. I say this in defense of repair people everywhere, as once a guitar leaves your shop you never know what happens to it.
That having been said, I once sold a fine, restored '67 p/p to a customer only to have it return a few years later from a new owner for copedant changes. It was in nowhere near the same mechanical condition as when it left here. Upon investigation I found out that the seller had had it "gone over" by a local, well known repairman long before its sale to the new owner. I was quite surprised to see the work as Id always heard good things about this persons work. No shock springs anywhere, mangled rods, parts missing etc... not how I did it. The original owner told me was ashamed to call me for help after letting this fellow work on it. He was rather coereced into the job by the local repair guy in the first place, and he just put it under the bed after he got it back as it played about like you'd expect, per my description.
Also, you cant trust eBay; just look at the one that was supposedly being offered last week by "Buddy Emmons' son...."
I encourage anyone buying a psg to contact whomever the seller mentions as having owned or done work to a particular instrument. Most of us can tell our own work(and that of others) and Im sure most of us would be helpful in providing you with the nature of the work done, etc.

We are really fortunate to have Dave Peterson in the Chicago area.

Cheers!
Mark A.

Check out the cool work Dave did to get the feel stops on my RKR and RKL knee levers. The RKR lowers 2 from D#-D-C# and lowers 9 from D-C# and the RKL raises 1 from F#-G-G# and 2 from D#-E. I also had Dave re-setup the C neck. He also added a pull on the RKL raising A-Bb on string 4. Great work on a great steel!




Topside

Yeah, Dave really knows what he's doing.

Dig these coil tap pickups he made and installed on my Emmons. The chicken head knobs are on 3-way rotary switches so each pickup can be set to 17.5k, 12.5k or 9.5k. It's got a big range of sounds. The 17.5k setting is really close to the sound of the stock Emmons pickups, and the lower impedance settings are voiced with more highs and presence. I just picked it up last week and I'm having fun trying out the sounds. Man, the 9.5k sound on the C6 neck is really something!

(It's all completely reversible, by the way. No holes drilled or anything and I held onto the original pickups and electronics.)



Russ, Dave was working on your guitar when I picked up mine. He did some pretty fancy work under there. That case of yours won't get lost in a crowd, huh?

Hi Justin.

Emmons must have got a deal on that case. Dave told me about the taps on the pickups for your guitar and the cool knobs. His pickups look like exact Emmons pickups as well.

One more picture ... and this time with the case.