The Steel Guitar Forum

Saw Merle and Kris K. last night in St.Louis. Norm Hamlet was playing a dobro but no steel.You could not hear the dobro and Merle even announced when he introduced Norm that they were fighting it all night.Just wondering if the dobro has permanently replaced the steel in Merles band. Sure would have like to have heard Norm on steel. The show was great btw!!

I saw Merle Haggard in Branson within the past year and Norm Hamlett was playing steel then.

All steel guitar last year when i saw him,

John - show was advertised as an acoustic performance so perhaps that's why Norm only performed on dobro.

Much too sad about the dobro's sound level in the mix.

Ron someone else told me they seen it advertised as acoustic but I never did. Thr Fox website said Merle's legendary band. I would not call 2 telecasters acoustic lol Merle and his son both picked up a storm.

Norm was playing steel here in Lakeland in the last month or so. I can't recall the exact date I saw them. Lots and lots of steel, and dobro on at least one song. He had a gold tone with wooden tone mica GFI Ultra. Sounded great. After the show, Norm lingered on the stage packing up his own stuff. Really nice man. Got a chance to walk up there to compliment his playing.

Most likely norms guitar was in repair, i didn't know he played an...E......BUD ???? and they mean't his steel guitar was acoustic, it seems to clear up all this confusion up.
Without the public really knowing what 'ACOUSTIC' means'??
I have done thousands of gigs too, where the leader sayes; It's an acoustic gig, yet i'm plugging in a tele/sho-bud and not a dobro? What is a an 'ACOUSTIC GIG' these days.

Whoopsadaisymasters??

Thanks to all that came to the shows, we were supposed to do an accoustic show that was the original plan. Kris was used to doing shows by his self and suggested the accoustic set just him and Merle, however Merle has allways had a band to work with. So that was the reason for me to play the Dobro instead of the Steel guitar. I am sorry but the night you could not hear the Dobro I could not use the amp because the wiring in the theater just did not work with my Dobro so I had to use a Microphone on the Dobro instead of my pickup through the amp. I will be playing steel and Dobro on the next tours and will be sure to not leave the steel at home next time Thanks so much. Norm

Norm, what kind of pickup are you using in your dobro?

The pick up on the Dobro is actually a Bass pickup. It is an eight string dobro. It says Select Designed by EMG it has worked well for a lot of years. However every so often we are appearing in theaters that have old wiring and lighting. I am thinking about trying a humbucker pickup in it. any suggestion from any players that have had the same problems would be appreciated. Thanks Norm