The Steel Guitar Forum

Not sure when this is from, but I just stumbled across it. Really nice writeup on Roy and his guitars:

http://www.countryroadsmag.com/~country ... &Itemid=54

Thanks for posting this. Very enjoyable,well written!

I believe this article was written about Roy in 2007.

Pee Wee Whitewing plays a Pedalmaster S-12U guitar.

Joseph, Thanks for that one! I just love reading about the builders and how they operate.
Roy Thomas is 84 and still going strong wow. He is 2 years or so older than our own Eddie Fulawka here in Ontario.

I beleive Roy is 87 years young now. Two years ago I wanted to purchase a Pedalmaster SD-10 from him. He told me that he had too many back orders to build left handed steels, and did'nt have any right handed in stock. He said if I wanted to buy the personal one that he played in his own home he would sell it to me. I purchased that 95 Pedalmaster/General SD-10 from him and it is a great looking and sounding PSG.
Within the past year to year and a half, Roy's beloved wife Addie passed on. I talked with him at the time, and he thought he might close up his shop. A couple months later he decided he would continue to keep building steels, as he had a backlog of nearly a dozen lefties that he was working on. He is a true southern gentleman and a highly skilled craftsman who takes a lot of pride in his work.

Roy Thomas is one of the nicest people on this planet. I have been playing a Pedalmaster for a several years. Love them. Jody.

I saw the gold-plated guitar mentioned in the article. Roy told me that included in the agreement was the proviso that he would be allowed to take the guitar to the convention and show it before the owner took delivery.

In all my years of playing I have never met anyone who loved the steel guitar more than Roy. He helped me get back into playing after a 4 year layoff(unintended) in 1990 by selling me a mint Sho-Bud Super-Pro and Evans amp combo for a price so low I will not mention it here. Four years later I bought a custom Pedalmaster that I played for 6 years and let a friend have it and it will probably outlive both of us as it is so well constructed. I am sure there are many similar Roy stories but I guarantee you would be hard pressed to find a finer gentleman.
thanks,
Billy

I got my S-10 from Roy in April. He was a great guy to deal with and I wouldn't have guessed he was in his late 80s had I not known beforehand. He reminded me of his age several times anyway. Roy was excited to tell me about the progress of the guitar and what he had been doing as he was building. What I really wanted was an SD-10, but he said he was in the process of banging out a bunch of "Sonic" models, which mine is, and he could deviate to make the SD but it would be X amount more dollars and that much more of a wait. I settled for the S-10 Sonic and it's great.

One thing I noticed and another steeler comfirmed when looking at it was the tension on in particular the C pedal and most of the levers. They have some resistance on them and also make a metal creaking noise when depressed. I think it's because of how the springs are pulling on a threaded screw and it's making noise in the process.

Can anyone help me out with this, or at least know what I'm talking about with Roy's pull system?

Ryan