The Steel Guitar Forum

Can someone who was at St Louis tell us which guitars were played and who played them. Thank you~!

Pretty much everyone I saw was playing an Emmons, mostly push pulls.....

The only Sho-Bud I saw was Red Kilby's hat!

i played my d-10 blackjack Jackson steel does that count it was built by david N harry jackson

In the past ISGC's I use o see the odd sho bud on stage. But they are all probably owned by bedroom pickers who keep them in the house. Serious musicians who pay their bills from playing, mostly seeem to play modern pedal steels, and not sho buds. When I say modern I mean since 1985. That is 25 years ago.

TbHenrymy guitar is as close as you can get to a sho-bud seeing shot jacksons boys built it so i concider it to be a sho-bud in every way possible

I've got to give credit to Rusty's tone to the bone sound! I heard it first at Indy and this weekend at St Louis and it's AMAZING!! Straight out of the guitar to the volume pedal and right into the amp. And it blows away any guitar I've ever heard.( sorry guys ) Granted.. a lot of it is because of the musician himself but even tuning this thing it sounded amazing!! You have to hear it to believe it.

tbhenry wrote:In the past ISGC's I use o see the odd sho bud on stage. But they are all probably owned by bedroom pickers who keep them in the house. Serious musicians who pay their bills from playing, mostly seeem to play modern pedal steels, and not sho buds.

Just curious after this, and not meant to side track the thread, but are the Super Pro's and later Pro II's III's etc. with the 3/2 changers considered modern? Is the push-pull considered modern? I don't know about the push-pull, but I would consider the later Buds, although out of production, to be modern due to the all-pull 3/2 changer and the ease of adding splits. What is the standard thinking on what makes a pro modern guitar?

Could be I was wrong that Scotty was getting like the radio. "Not letting history play a part".
If this year was an all Push Pull show looks as the old timers was the complete show ?
The dieing steel thread could apply here.

Cliff Kane said:

What is the standard thinking on what makes a pro modern guitar?

I think anything from the mid-sixties is modern day.

Push/Pulls and Sho-Bud Fingertips are the first steels that come into my mind as worthy contenders.

I think the era of the modern steel guitar began with the changer in the MSA Micro collaboration in the very early 70's. That's the changer, and level of precision machining of the undercarriage, basically still in use today, due in large part to Bud Carter.

Sounds like coinsidence that there were no shobuds on stage this year. Sounds like shobud players just were not on the invited list-no biggee. So why would anyone conclude pro players don't use shobuds anymore, just because one wasn't seen on Scotty's stage this year? Ever hear of Lloyd Green, or Ricky Davis? There's still a few out there!!

i think you'll see sho-buds and push/pulls forever!

but i finally agree with herb. msa set the mechanical design/function bar back in the 70's and aside from slight refinements by newer builders not much has changed. it's like improving the telecaster.

What did Dicky Overbey play?

Some example of modern steels would be MSA, Jackson, Carter, GFI, Rains - these have replaced most sho buds and even some Emmons.

With the exception of the Clinesmith and the ProMat, I would offer that every pedal steel being manufactured today would be considered a guitar of the "modern" variety.

Just off the top of my head, I saw Zum, Justice, Mullen, BMI, Sierra, Derby, GFI as well as others. It's interesting that some only see what they want to see. If the push/pull is as fantastic as it seems to be with a certain group, then surely there is a gold mine to be made in making them again. Why doesn't someone who believes this to be so, start up the manufacture of the push/pull?

Doug
There has been someone doing so. The ProMat guitar, for all intents and purposes a direct copy of the Emmons Original, is being made in Europe and being sold there to European players, with some coming to the USA. Also the Emmons Co. itself offered some reissue guitars made from NOS parts recently.

But primarily, there's an ample supply of used Emmons Originals (the "PP") on the secondary market to handle the demand currently, so new Originals coming into the market would face competition from owners of older PP's for sale at prices lower than a new guitar could be offered.

I believe most builders of modern steels wish there were fewer companies making guitars that differ from each other primarily in cosmetics, anyway.

Owners and drivers of classic British sports cars love them and get ooohs and aaahs when they tool down the highway, but not enough to have contemporary car manufacturers tool up to recreate them on a level necessary for mass purchase. They're a specialty item, like the Emmons Original.

I find the argument that "if they're so good, why aren't more players playing them, and why aren't they being made again?" to be a specious argument. The only people that need to feel the Emmons Original is "so good" are the players that own them and play them, and there are many of those.

Personally, I couldn't possibly care less what another player thinks about my 1964 Emmons when he sees me perform onstage with it, though almost to a man they come over and admire it.

Hi James, Chris Ivey hit the nail on the head, IMHO. Somethings will always be around. Forums are Forums. Whenever I post about my beloved (on any forum), Sho Buds, Pre War Dobros, or Pre war Martin D28, I always have responses about XYZ being so much better. All part of the game of life. Anyhow, keep up your work, it is much appreciated. Take care, Jay Y.

Jim Cooley asked:

What did Dicky Overbey play?

Dicky had the best sounding rig at the convention this year. Hands down/No argument. The crowd went absolutely wild from 1:00 to 3:00 am Sat morning when Dicky took the main stage.

Dickie's rig consisted of: a Silver Faced Fender Twin Reverb, a digital Delay/Reverb stomp type box, a Hilton Volume Pedal and a 1966 Emmons Push/Pull.

"Dicky had the best sounding rig at the convention this year. Hands down/No argument."

Well, maybe one argument. Dicky's tone was somewhat shrill to my ears.

Does it really matter what brands were on the stage? Except for looking to see what Emmons was playing, I never really thought much about what was or wasn't played on the stage.

Maybe if someone had a Harlan Bros Multichord it would get special attention, but that's about all.

The tone of Johnny Cox's Jackson Madison in the Jackson room was, as they say, 'To Die For'. Coupled with the fact that it was in the hands of a master, WOW! Dicky on the Emmons, Johnny on the Jackson! I wish mine sounded like those...even remotely....and yes, I have one of each.

I don't keep an accurate count of who played what, but it's fun to observe what guitars are most played in a given year, as it seems to run in cycles. This year, I saw a lot of Zums and Mullen, and the number of Emmons and Sho-Bud guitars at the show was below normal...

Did anyone keep a count this year?

Contrary to some peoples thoughts I make a good living and pay my bills on time with my 1980 Sho-Bud.